Exit Interview
Exit Interview
What is an Exit Interview?
An exit interview is a discussion that takes place between a firm and a worker who has decided to leave the organization. It can be beneficial to think of them as the reverse of a job interview, where you ask applicants why they would like to work for your business as opposed to why they have chosen to leave. Exit interview gives constructive feedback behind that employee's decision to leave the organization to change how things are done at the business and stop other employees from making the same decision.
This discussion may take place during a face-to-face meeting between the employee and an HR manager. Exit interviews are frequently conducted by companies when an employee leaves the organization to learn more about the reasons why a worker is leaving the company. Employees have the chance to submit feedback and recommendations for the organization to help them improve at this meeting.
While we invest a lot of emphasis on getting ready for job interviews, exit interviews don't usually receive the same degree of attention. While a job interview is the first impression you make on a potential employer, your exit interview is the final and, therefore, the equally important impression you make on your current employer. Therefore, it's crucial to know how to conduct yourself politely and professionally at an exit interview. Use this advice for exit interviews to feel more prepared and certain.
Why are exit interviews important?
A lot of HR professionals believe that leave interviews are among the most significant conversations you'll ever have at work. It will be one of the most open discussions you have with your staff members and your one chance to learn the true feelings of your group. And it's crucial to understand the reasons for someone's departure from your firm, to put it simply. Rarely do people opt to leave their careers for unimportant reasons.
If they have taken this course, they were likely unhappy with some significant component of their role. Finding out why they might quit as well as what might keep them is essential if you want to keep your top staff and recruit even more. You have the ideal chance to learn the answer at a well-run departure interview.
- It's important to make sure that employees part ways peacefully because many workers rejoin their former firms after resigning.
- Orderly Departure By concluding any outstanding duties, such as equipment returns, non-compete clauses, intellectual property agreements, and more, an employee exit interview can help you set up an orderly departure.
- Comfortable Q&A Employees may like to ask a few questions for clarification or closure, and an exit interview may be the ideal venue for doing so.
- Private Communication some departing workers could still have grievances and resentments they'd like to air. They may choose to raise their complaints in public if you don't provide them the opportunity to do so in an exit interview. This may not only harm your firm's reputation but also prevent your company from receiving critical criticism before it's too late.
How to conduct an effective exit interview?
Companies use exit interviews to learn an employee's thoughts on their position, supervisor, work environment, company culture, and other topics. An exit interview is a discussion between HR professionals and an employee who is being offboarded.
For the HR department, this is an opportunity to collect departing employees’ thoughts. Conducting interviews often reveal issues in the organization that could have been addressed and resolved long before the employee decided to leave the job. Open and frequent communication between HR and the employee is essential for retention throughout the job relationship.
What Does HR do with Exit Interviews?
Employee retention is one of HR's main concerns, with the cost of losing an employee to another organization being perhaps the greatest convincing argument. It amounts to approximately 33% of an employee's yearly compensation (and possibly much higher).
- Human Resources can reduce employee turnover and its costs by conducting exit interviews.
- By using the interview comments to draw lessons from a leaving worker's expertise, they can do this.
- HR carefully examines the information provided and makes use of it to enhance the experiences of both current and future employees.
- Before performing a quarterly or annual analysis to look for trends, they redact all personally identifying information
- Certain findings cause HR to launch inside investigations or inform law authorities of a potential crime.
How to Prepare for an Exit Interview?
Be an expert. Do your best to maintain composure because this will likely be the last impression that the firm has of you. Your professional reputation is not worth losing over an exit interview. Practice your responses to the aforementioned typical exit interview questions with a trusted friend, mentor, or career coach to aid you.
Share your satisfying encounters. It's crucial to let the business know what it is doing well. Try to remember a good aspect of your time spent working for the company, even if you detest your job. It can have been a project, a talent you were able to master, or work relationships you built with your coworkers.
Avoid these Mistakes at Exit Interviews
Don't get too worked up. It can be simple to answer some of the departure interview questions emotionally if you're quitting because of a terrible experience or burnout. While telling management what you actually believe may feel nice at the moment, doing so won't improve your professional image over time.
It would be beneficial for you to make some notes to bring to the interview. Take a moment to gather your thoughts before addressing the most challenging questions directly and prepare exactly what you want to say in advance. Don't criticize your boss or coworkers in public. Speaking poorly of the company's current employees won't go you very far.
Related: Turnover (Employee Turnover), Must ask Exit Interview Questions - eGuide for HR