Simple Exit Interviews Help Reduce Turnover

There’s turnover, and then there’s turnover. There’s
the kind we welcome, as when a marginal,
pain-in-the-neck employee quits, and the kind we dread,
like when a valued employee resigns to go elsewhere.
Once an individual’s decision to resign has been
formalized, there may not be much that can be done to
prevent the loss of that employee. But we can, however,
take steps to learn why valued employees leave and use
what we have learned to help prevent similar losses in
the future.

by Charles R. McConnell

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Exit interviews are often described as locking the barn
door after the horse has been lost. But the purpose of
an exit interview is not to reverse an individual’s
resignation, but rather to reduce future turnover by
learning the reasons for leaving so conditions that
might be driving good people away can be addressed
constructively.

Many large companies put every departing employee
through an elaborate exit interview and accumulate
statistics related to departures. But a constructive
exit interview doesn’t need to be lengthy or complex,
and not every departing employee needs to be subjected
to such an interview. There’s little sound reason to
pursue the occasional welcome instance of voluntary
turnover, and certainly no reason to exit interview
persons leaving because of retirement or disability or
those whose departures are unavoidable (for example,
resignation owing to spousal relocation).

People leave their employment for various reasons. When
examining voluntary departures of good employees, look
most closely at those who leave for other employment
and those who resign for "personal reasons." The most
frequently encountered reasons for leaving include, in
no particular order:

* Lack of recognition; the feeling of being unappreciated,
of never having one’s contributions recognized.

* Poor quality of supervision; unhappiness with how
one is treated by superiors.

* Personality conflicts; frequent differences with coworkers
and supervisors often cause one to seek a new work
environment.

* Lack of advancement opportunity; the perceived
opportunity for promotion and growth is important to
many employees, and its absence prompts some to find
work where this opportunity is more likely to exist.

* Money, often important in one of two senses: the
desire for a larger income; or seeking change because
of a belief that one is unfairly paid relative to
others.

Valued employees often consider changing jobs because
of unhappiness with some aspect of the work situation,
and often their reasons relate to how they believe they
are treated. Look at the role of the immediate
supervisor. Recognition, quality of supervision,
personality conflicts and perhaps even a portion of
perceived advancement opportunity fall within the
immediate supervisor’s sphere of influence. In other
words, the supervisor’s relationship with the employee
is often the strongest factor influencing an employee
to either remain or depart.

Departing employees are most likely to speak honestly
if exit interviews are conducted by someone other than
the immediate supervisor, say perhaps another
supervisor, the immediate supervisor’s manager, or,
preferably, whoever usually attends to human resource
matters. Even when undertaken by a neutral party, some
departing employees — usually those leaving for
"personal reasons" — may say nothing negative for fear
of affecting future employment references.

What to do when learning of employee unhappiness in an
exit interview? Over the course of one, two or a few
exit interviews you’re not likely to accumulate
sufficient information to act upon. To be reliable,
exit interview information must be accumulated until
certain patterns begin to emerge. Once a pattern
emerges, however, you’ll have a reasonably clear idea
of what needs attention if you are to head off some
undesirable future turnover. A pattern may tell you
that a supervisor’s style is objectionable, recognition
for work done is scant, workload is unfairly
distributed, pay and benefits are lagging behind the
community or any number of other undesirable
circumstances. Once this information is validated
through repetition, steps can be taken to address the
problems.

Your company’s exit interview questions may be
customized to your unique circumstances, but some
suggestions can be offered. Following are several
sample questions.

* How do you feel you were treated by your supervisor?
By your coworkers?

* How well do you believe your work was recognized
and appreciated?

* Do you feel you were given adequate training and
assistance in learning the job you were expected to do?

* What’s your opinion of the opportunities for transfer or
promotion within this business?

* How would you describe the general morale of the
employees with whom you worked?

* How fairly was the workload distributed among you
and your coworkers?

* What could be done to make this company a better
place to work?

An exit interview won’t always tell you everything
you’d like to know, but it’s often a constructive start
on learning why good employees leave.