Human Resources (HR) | Retention | Exit Interviews

Why are you leaving?

Staff turnover can be unsettling for any business and exit interviews are a great countermeasure tool.

When conducting exit interviews, I’ve found some of the most diverse and honest reasons behind why employees are leaving, and it’s not always about pay.

Reasons have included, bad management, toxic work environment, cultural fit, no Career progression, workload, unfair Practices, nepotism, bad performance reviews, head hunted and much more.

So why conduct them?

Exit interviews are not just about the person leaving, they are also about the next employee

Staff turnover can have a negative effect on any business, not to mention the expense. The cost of replacing an employee may reach up to 150% of that person’s salary. Therefore, it is imperative to understand why employees are leaving.
Why are they staying? Why are they leaving? What can the business do to create change? The exit interview can help businesses understand these points and make positive change.
If done well, an exit interview whether it be a face-to-face conversation, a questionnaire, a survey, or a combination, can really help businesses gain insight and achieve competitive intelligence. An effective exit interview can signal to employees that their view matters.

Preventative Measures

You can never completely stop employees from leaving however you can minimise departure.

Exit interviews are a great way to identify why people leave. By doing so, businesses can adopt strategies and practices to minimise departures.
A common practice that many businesses adopt are employee satisfaction surveys. These are great tools to really find out what is going on in your employees’ minds.
For this to work, businesses will need to use the data gained and adopt strategies to make the necessary changes. A great way to achieve this is to involve the employees in the changes.

Other preventative measures are to create opportunities in the business. For example, some employees only take jobs in a business as a way to make money until they find the right job for them. A great way to counteract this is to create roles in your business that employees will be interested in therefore retaining the time invested in development.

Questions to ask?

Get the most out of your exit interview

When conducting exit interviews, it is important that you are able to gain the most honest feedback possible. It helps to use an
employee who does not have a direct relationship with the departing individual.

Here are some questions that I have had great success with

1.    What changes would you like to see changed within this business?
2.    If you were the manager, what would you change?
3.    What does your new company/position offer that made you decide to leave?

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