We don’t mean to be harsh here, but we really don’t like exit interviews.
Anthony Sork
We’ve analysed the results of thousands of exit interviews. We found the results and methodology a little depressing.
Few employees are honest in them. They are mindful of how the information is likely to be used against them. Employers tend to execute exit interviews poorly.
Many exit interviewers tend focus on the immediate reasons behind the employee’s departure. They hone in on one or two easily-quantifiable issues. These might be money, location or the requirements of the job. We all know, however, that employees’ reasons for leaving are often far more complex than that.
We’ve also found few people are trained in how to conduct these interviews. For the exiting employee, interviews can seem like a “last minute” rushed exercise that has been fobbed off to a manager from another department. They can also seem like just another HR administrative process that has to be completed.
We’ve all had exit interviews where someone stumbles through a template with pre-prepared questions rather than attempting to understand our deeper issues.
All this can serve to make the exiting employee feel undervalued at an emotional time.
If an employee lacks trust in the process or the interviewer, they will not be open or honest. Nor will they provide anything of value that the organisation can build back into recruitment, induction and engagement initiatives.
Instead of just doing exit interviews, organisations should consider measuring the detachment perceptions of all their employees. These can provide a more quantifiable and consistent measurement of employees’ engagement and attachment – or detachment.
Measuring detachment perception is useful to measure at an individual level and at a trend level across organisations. This can allow greater insight and control over engagement initiatives for the existing and future staff.
If organisations deliver detachment surveys through a consistent survey methodology, and complement existing exit interview activities, not replace them, they can measure detachment consistently and in a non-threatening and reliable manner.
Ironically this is a much better measure all round as employers can act on the results of these to benefit all employees – instead of just closing the stable door after one horse has bolted.
