Exit Interviews: Are They Actually Helpful?

As employees leave, it becomes increasingly crucial for businesses to figure out why they left.

Knowing why employees leave helps you not only reduce turnover but also improve the working environment for existing and prospective employees.

Employees will always leave a firm, no matter how fantastic it is. The HR department frequently conducts exit interviews as a tool to understand the employee's experience with the company and, more importantly, the reason for resigning.

Exit interviews provide helpful information about the causes that lead to employee attrition. In this article, we'll look at how effective Exit Interviews are and what can be done to enhance them.

 

Exit Interviews Have a Lot of Advantages

• Exit interviews are used to gauge employee sentiment and perceptions of the organisation.

• It gives information on any problems with the work culture or environment (if any exist).

• It helps gather constructive criticism on the organisation's policies.

• It assists in providing feedback on onboarding and training needs.

• It can help improve employee retention when you know the pain areas and implement changes according to the feedback provided.

• When employees leave on a positive note, it helps to strengthen the employer's brand image.

 

The Downsides of Exit Interviews

Misleading data

Exiting employees may or may not provide accurate information. Most employees don't want to end up on the employer's bad side when they leave, therefore they avoid stating the truth during the exit interview. Instead of burning bridges by expressing anything unfavourable about the company or the management, they'd instead mark it off as a formality.

 

Incorrect/incomplete understanding of problems

The HR department is normally in charge of the exit interview, and they may or may not be aware of the context of the issue or feedback. Furthermore, they may be mindful of the problem but unwilling to acknowledge it or accept input because it would negatively affect the management.

 

No action taken in response to exit interview feedback

An exit interview's most important goal is to use the input to promote employee retention. It defeats the purpose if the inputs made during the interview are not taken seriously. Exit interviews are frequently treated as mere formalities, with the findings being put away with no action done.

 

The feedback's timing

One of the most significant disadvantages of an exit interview is that it is conducted at the moment of leave, when little can be done to dissuade people from leaving. Furthermore, there is little room for follow-up once an employee has departed.

 

To overcome the difficulties mentioned above, businesses should consider implementing a systematic feedback method that offers information on employee happiness at work.

More and more businesses recognise the value of ongoing feedback rather than a one-time evaluation or exit interview. Regular feedback provides valuable information that can be used to improve employee satisfaction and prevent churn.

 

Benefits of Soliciting Employee Feedback on a Regular Basis

Address the problems right away

Receiving regular feedback on problems allows you to address issues as they develop and take action as soon as possible. Collecting regular feedback from your employees will enable you to make changes at the workplace, team, or individual level at the appropriate moment, rather than learning about an issue after it is too late.

 

Keep an eye on retention efforts

Regular employee engagement surveys provide information on how effectively your HR initiatives perform. Timely inputs will aid in making timely corrections, saving money and lowering churn.

 

Enhance the working environment and employee motivation

You can lessen employee unhappiness and negativity by demonstrating that you are serious about addressing their concerns. Working on solutions for them also indicates that the employees are valued, which improves employee engagement.

 

 

To summarise, relying entirely on departure interviews will not help in reducing attrition or improving the working environment. However, regular employee engagement surveys can help identify attrition concerns and minimise employee turnover by providing more effective and timely data.

 

Source: Flexi Ventures