Exit Interview Meaning and Importance
Exit Interview Meaning and Importance: An exit interview is a survey that is undertaken with someone who is leaving a company or relationship. This most typically happens between an employee and a company, a student and a school, or a member and a trade group. An company may utilise the information gathered from a departure interview to determine what needs to be improved, altered, or left unchanged.
Exit interviews may also be used to minimise employee, student, or member turnover while also increasing productivity and engagement, lowering the high costs associated with turnover. Shortening the recruitment and hiring process, lowering absenteeism, increasing creativity, maintaining performance, and minimising the risk of lawsuit are some of the benefits of conducting exit interviews. In order to maintain the greatest levels of survey validity and reliability, each business must create its own exit interview.
The departure interview is part of the employee life cycle’s separation step (ELC). This is the last stage of the ELC, and it lasts from the time an employee gets disengaged until he or she leaves the company. Because the employee’s thoughts about his or her leave are still fresh in his or her memory, an exit interview should be conducted at this time. An off-boarding process allows both the employer and the employee to properly close the existing relationship by collecting company materials, completing administrative forms, transferring or documenting knowledge base and projects, gathering feedback and insights through exit interviews, and tying up any loose ends.
Exit Interview Meaning and Importance
In the business world,
Employees who are leaving a firm or who have finished a key project are the subjects of exit interviews in the workplace. The goal of this departure interview is to get input from workers so that the company can improve, retain, and minimise turnover. Employees will be questioned why they are leaving, what factors especially affected their choice to leave, if they are heading to another firm, and what that company provides that their present employer does not. Businesses may utilise this data to better match their HR strategy with what workers value in a company, as well as implement initiatives and policies that encourage top talent to remain.
Exit interview data was previously gathered by the company, but nothing was done to analyse the data and turn it into usable information. Metrics, analytics, benchmarks, and best practises are now available to assist businesses in making sense of and using data to proactive organisational retention strategies. Exit interview software has recently been created and popularised in a variety of ways. However, there are several fundamental faults in this way of conducting Exit Interviews, the most notable of which is that it identifies the incorrect reasons of employee departure.
In terms of education,
In education, exit interviews are done with students who have completed their schooling. These interviews are designed to learn about students’ experiences while attending that institution, including what they liked, what they didn’t like, and what might be altered to improve the experience of the future generation of students. This form of interview might also reveal areas where the school could devote more or less resources in order to improve a student’s learning and growth.
- Interviewing techniques for exit interviews
Exit interviews may be conducted in a variety of ways, each with its own set of pros and drawbacks.
- Interviews with people in person
Exit Interviews have traditionally been conducted in this manner (79 percent of firms), however this is increasingly changing. Internally, these face-to-face sessions are normally led by a human resources professional or manager, or, in rare situations, by an outside consultant.
The Advantages of a Face-to-Face Interview
The major advantage of this approach is that it has a high completion rate, as long as the interview is performed by a qualified and experienced expert (external consultant, HR professional or indirect manager). Furthermore, leaving workers may have a personal experience that causes them to talk more favourably about the organisation when they leave (affecting their ’employer brand’). Furthermore, if interviewers are well-trained, information may be well-structured and verified in real time to assure data accuracy, particularly when it comes to reasons for departing. This strategy also enables for the collection of high-quality data from those with limited reading abilities.
Face-to-Face Interviews Have Their Drawbacks
The input is seldom collected in a fashion that permits reporting on trends, with more than a third of firms utilising this strategy having no reporting tool linked to their exit data. This procedure might be costly if it is carried out by an outside professional. It’s also possible that the human resources professional conducting the interview is a factor in the employee’s decision to quit (for example, I was ignored in the salary review while on maternity leave, and my HR person didn’t answer my calls).
If the leaving interview is conducted by that HR expert, the employee is unlikely to be truthful. Unfortunately, just 20% of businesses give any exit interview training, thus the quality is typically inconsistent. Furthermore, if this procedure is outsourced, it is the most costly.
- Interviews over the phone
Telephone Exit Interviews are growing increasingly popular (41 percent of companies) and are the most successful technique of Exit Interviews.
The Advantages of a Telephone Interview
It’s simple to collect and code feedback in a way that enables for straightforward reporting and analysis. Because the interviewer’s visual attention is not focused on the person in front of them as it is in a face-to-face interview, they may record and code feedback in real time. The greatest completion rates of all techniques may be attributed to the fact that the interviewer and interviewee do not need to be in the same physical location, but also because the interview may be performed even after the individual has departed (see Timing of Exit Interviews).
If interviewers are well-trained, information may be well-structured and verified in real time to assure data accuracy, particularly when it comes to reasons for leaving. And, as with face-to-face interviews, the interviewee’s experience may be quite personal. It is simple to outsource this procedure, and it is less costly than doing face-to-face interviews. It also enables for the collection of high-quality data from those with limited reading abilities.
Telephone interview disadvantages
The disadvantage of this approach is that it is more costly than online and paper surveys. Outsourcing the interviews eliminates this job for those Human Resources professionals who like conducting them.
According to who performed the interview, what percentage of exit interviews were completed.
- Surveys on paper
Exit interviews performed on paper enable interviews to be conducted with persons who do not have access to the Internet and provide anonymity. However, receiving input takes longer, and respondents who are illiterate may find it difficult to utilise this medium. For this media, data must be manually input into a tracking system. Exit Interviews were still being done this way in 46% of firms as of 2010.
- Online polls
Exit Interviews were employed in 38 percent of businesses as of 2010.
- The Advantages of an Online Survey
With various free survey software packages on the market, this is the most cost-effective technique of doing Exit Interviews. It also captures data in an easy-to-report and-analyze format.
- The Drawbacks of Online Surveys
There are two major drawbacks to conducting Exit Interviews utilising online questionnaires. The most serious issue is that they pinpoint the incorrect causes of employee turnover. The reasons for leaving are not distinguished from those that prompted discontent but not resignation since online surveys do not allow for root cause examination.
Furthermore, there is no way to guarantee that the commentary for each reason for leaving matches the reason for leaving choice they selected from a selection. The second issue with utilising online surveys for Exit Interviews is the low completion rate of just 34%. This is almost half of the average completion rate of outsourced interviews (66%) and about a third of best practise for outsourcing phone interviews (95 percent ).
- Voice response surveys that are interactive
Because IVRs are accessible via phone, a widely used and trustworthy technology, they are a reliable technique of conducting exit interviews. IVRs, on the other hand, have fallen out of favour owing to the cost-effectiveness of web-based alternatives that provide data of comparable or superior quality. In compared to other solutions, getting rich data from an IVR, as well as adjusting and changing it, is challenging since any changes need fresh voice recordings.
Exit Interview’s Importance
- Employees who are leaving their employment are usually more candid than those who are still working.
- You’ll discover the cause for an employee’s leave (it may not be what you expect!)
- The departure interview provides an opportunity for the employee to provide constructive criticism and leave on a good note.
- That last touchpoint gives you the chance to go through the employee’s ongoing commitments (e.g., non-competes, intellectual property agreements, etc.
- It gives you the chance to inquire about any open concerns that you should be aware of. This may assist decrease risk and uncover issues that need to be addressed right away.
- You’ll get an honest appraisal of your company’s environment and culture.
- It’s possible to get insight on recruitment, onboarding, and training requirements.
- The input will assist you in identifying areas where you can increase employee retention.
- It is possible to identify areas for improvement in management development and succession planning.
- HR Acuity Exit Interviews are both cost-effective and simple to conduct.
- Exit interviews, regardless of firm size, give a chance for an employee to address the working climate, concerns about misbehaviour, or management difficulties.