Exit interviews: Why are they crucial to your business?

Exit interviews are a valuable tool for employers seeking to understand why people have chosen to move on from their organisation. In a time where employees are an asset that are costly to lose and even harder to replace, understanding why someone has chosen to leave their current role is an opportunity for improvement.

Yet despite this, our experience shows that few employers use exit interviews to their fullest potential. There are benefits and drawbacks to all interview approaches, but the key to a successful exit interview is in how the information gathered is then reviewed, translated and used. Do this right and organisations can use the process to better predict or mitigate high potential people leaving the organisation and lead to continuous workplace improvements.

This article will discuss what exit interviews are and how to conduct them, why it is crucial to conduct exit interviews, and offer some top tips that we share with clients on how to make the most of the leaving employee’s time and insight.

What are exit interviews?

An exit interview should cover multiple bases. It should explore the employee’s role within the company, their next steps and, critically, any dissatisfaction or concerns they had about their time working for the organisation.

The interview can take multiple forms. Some workplaces ask HR to conduct the interview, whereas others have managers, or even leaders, talk with the exiting employee. In some places, the interview is conducted before the person leaves or just after, whereas some employers reach out three to six months after they move on.

Exit interviews also don’t have to be face to face. They can be conducted over the phone, through a survey or a combination of multiple methods. Some organisations send out exit questionnaires to a database of ex-employees who left within a particular period of time to see if any particular patterns emerge.

It is always important to note that no one is required to offer up their time to provide feedback to their previous employer. Therefore, exit interviews should be approached with respect and ample planning to ensure the exiting employee’s time and insight are not wasted and they are left feeling positive about their treatment after the interview.

Why conduct exit interviews?

Exploring exiting employees’ concerns about the workplace provides vital insights for leaders, potentially exposing issues in the workplace they were previously unaware of, which can then inform the internal strategy the business takes to improve workplace relations and productivity.

However, few businesses seem to be utilising the valuable insight of leaving personnel. In a survey of 1,500 UK workers, more than half (55 per cent) of respondents were not invited to a formal exit interview and 39 per cent were not asked to provide feedback when resigning from their last job.

Similarly, CIPD data from their 2022 Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey suggests that only 12 per cent of organisations collect data to evaluate and improve retention initiatives.

Exit interviews can also provide a unique insight into a company’s competitors by exploring what tempted employees to shift their loyalty to a new organisation, including salary, benefits packages, training or promotional opportunities.

The British Chambers of Commerce Q2 Report for 2023 reported that 80 per cent of British businesses were having trouble recruiting, and so discovering what makes a new role more attractive than a current role for departing workers can offer an organisation a significant advantage when trying to recruit or retain employees themselves.

Discussing management or workplace planning issues while working in a role, or even just after leaving, can make employees feel uncomfortable. A strategically timed exit interview can help alleviate some of this concern, reducing workers’ concerns about the loss of a reference or conflict with their colleagues and managers.

The interviews can help enhance engagement and retention by signalling to employees that their views and concerns matter, particularly if changes are made following poor feedback. It could also encourage remaining staff to speak out earlier if they have a problem, allowing the organisation to improve before talented employees start leaving.

Uncovering management issues and rectifying them is an essential part of a leader’s role to ensure the smooth running of the workplace. Exiting employees, who may be more honest about the issues that could have driven them away from their role, are a valuable resource that should not be wasted. Improving perceptions of the company, both from within and without, will help improve employee retention rates and encourage more people to want to work at an organisation.

Top tips for a successful exit interview

Interviewer skills

A skilled interviewer will make the interviewee comfortable being open about their experiences and concerns, and even allow them to vent. They should not try to change the employee’s mind or influence their answers.

Furthermore, providing some control to interviewee, such as the location and timing of interview, will help them feel more comfortable answering potentially awkward questions that could put their employer on their bad side, particularly if they still need references or have time remaining at the organisation.

Consolidate and act upon the information gained

Exit interviews should not be perfunctory process that results in no action being taken, as that just wastes everyone’s time. Employees are an organisation’s most valuable resource and so should be retained however possible, or, if leaving is inevitable, it should be understood why they are leaving.

Exiting employees may feel more comfortable providing insights that remaining employees are not, and so could reveal a pattern of why people are leaving, or provide useful recommendations for what can change to improve workers’ experiences.

Retention conversations should start long before exit, and continue after

Exit interviews can be a valuable part of continuous monitoring of employee engagement and satisfaction, but they should not be the only part. Ensuring opportunities for continued monitoring and review of employees’ concerns should form an integral part of any workforce set up, and the exit interview should be the final bastion of leaders’ retention planning.

Similarly, exit interviews can help make ambassadors for the brand by reinforcing organisational values and creating an ‘alumni’ group of exiting employees, improving the reputation of the organisation and providing pivotal support to leaving workers, that may even tempt them back in the future.

Exit interviews can be an extremely valuable tool in the employer arsenal to mitigate and solve workplace problems, retain and recruit talented employees and improve brand reputation. But they only provide any benefit if the information gathered is actually used.

If you have any questions on how to maximise the opportunities presented by an effective exit interview, contact us today and we’ll be more than happy to guide you.