In a recent article, we talked about the importance of exit interviews. Here we’re going to discuss how to do exit interviews, but first I wanted to draw attention to one more aspect of their value.
This is from Shelly Funderburg, the director of hiring solutions for Milwaukee-based Manpower:
“This information is so valuable,” says Funderburg, “it should be included in the company’s annual review, strategic planning, recruiting strategies, training plans, management development program and any tool companies use to evaluate themselves.” She recommends that the information is compiled and analyzed. “It doesn’t have to be a sophisticated tool, just something that can be rolled up to senior management on a regular basis,” she says.
Now think about this: how many companies really use exit interview data in their strategic planning and road mapping? I wouldn’t guess very many do. (Some call it “one of the more worthless activities HR has to undertake.”) But yes, more should. It’s often the clearest path to truly understanding your culture.
But how do you do them properly?
Mandatory vs. voluntary
This is the first question. There’s no legal context around it -- it’s company choice. Some make it a mandatory portion of the off-boarding process, but many do not. To reiterate: you can’t legally require an employee to do an exit interview, but you can make it a formal part of your off-boarding.
Preparing the right questions
The goal here is to get a good idea of your culture. Oftentimes, the executives will view a company one way -- because their vocabulary and daily activities are closer to the financials -- and a “regular” employee will view it another way. The executives can’t see that from their perch, but if any of this information is getting reported back, it needs to be direct. Consider questions like:
What did you think of leadership?
What did you think of your direct manager?
Give me an example of a stressful time.
Give me another example of a time you loved working here.
Best overall part?
Worst overall part?
What are the three main reasons you’re leaving?
What do you think we’re doing well?
What could we do better?
How could the management level be better?
Is the work too much, too little, or just right?
Some of these questions are more generic, and some are more specific, example-based. You want a mix of those types because some of the broader, generic ones make get the departing employee talking more -- and some of the specifics may pinpoint behaviors of managers or team members that need to change.
You should also prepare a list of “trigger comments” that the departing employee might make, i.e. flaming someone in leadership, etc. This can indicate anger and remove context from some of the other responses.
Have someone experienced conduct it
This is crucial because, by definition, exit interviews are highly-charged. It will likely get emotional, and some negative things about the workings of the company may be said. You need someone in the role who can handle all that.
According to one of the larger studies on exit interviews, about 71% of companies have someone in HR conduct the exit interview. (The rest is a mix of direct manager and external consultants.) This stat concerns me a little bit: while I respect what HR can bring to a company, the fact is many executives (true decision-makers) don’t let HR have that “seat at the table.” If 7 in 10 exit interviews are being done by that department, are the results actually being filtered to executives, and being heard? That’s the next aspect we need to discuss.
The pipeline for organizing and presenting exit interview data
To use a simpler number, let’s say in a given quarter you did 10 exit interviews. You have a wealth of information on likes, dislikes, and overall culture. That part was done successfully and emotions were controlled. All good so far.
How do you organize and present the information, though?
You could do a few things:
Group the data by category (specific manager, department, overall culture, etc.)
Look for higher-order themes and organize quotes (anonymously) within the themes
Any number-based questions (1-10, etc.) could be averaged out, i.e. if you did a net promoter score question
Once you’ve organized some of the information, you need to put together a presentation in the way that your executives prefer. Often this is a slide deck or something similar, but it could be a one-sheet. As noted above, much of the vocabulary at the decision-making level tends to be around financials, so this needs to be tied to that too. Some ideas:
Turnover costs us _________________
Recruiting costs are _______________
People are indicating these problems are causing turnover
If we can reduce turnover, we can make/save ______________
Otherwise, a bunch of anonymous quotes from people who already left their company probably won’t mean much to an executive; it’s a “nice to have” about the culture but certainly not a “need to have.” But if the fiscal tie is clear, it will resonate more.