Exit interviews are the most perfect way to get valuable insight and information about the company’s operations and ongoing processes. Generally these are conducted when an employee has decided to leave, instead of being fired or laid off. This is the best way to know the reasons behind the employee departure. Some of the business organizations limit the
exit surveys to departing supervisory, management, sales or technical employees, but exit interviews must be conducted for each and every departing employee, irrespective of their post or level within the company. Employers today realize the fact that when the employees leave the organization, they take with them a set of great skills, expertise and ideas, most probably to a new competitor company.
Exit surveys help to know about the opinions and ideas of the employees about the employer and the organization, which in the future can become ideologies which would help the organization to recruit better talent. These interviews are extremely useful for organization improvement, as you are likely to get honest and candid feedback from the employees. This displays that you are actually willing to act upon suggestions and really care why anyone decides to leave. It also offers a perfect way to prevent high employee turnover and improve employee engagement and satisfaction. Besides, exit interviews help to evaluate training and development needs, reducing absenteeism and turnover, strengthening supervision, streamlining communication and much more.
However, conducting the
exit surveys in an efficient way is very important in order to get honest and valuable feedback from the employees. It is quite essential to include all relevant and significant questions, like work culture, availability of the resources, orientation, safety standards, benefits and pay, supervisory control. Besides, you can include aspects like feedback mechanisms, treatment of employees, communications, efficacy of management, effectiveness of practices and policies, achievement recognition, opportunities for growth, development and career progression. Also, these questions must be open ended, for encouraging additional suggestions or comments.