Losing a valuable employee will always be a challenging experience. Attrition means that you need to start the complex recruitment process from scratch, and some statistics estimate that the total cost of replacing specialised employees can be equal to 400% of their annual salary.
However, saying goodbye to a team member doesn’t have to be a complete loss. Combined with resources like employee satisfaction surveys and retention feedback, an exit interview can be your opportunity to obtain useful information about what your company does well, and what you need to improve.
In the right circumstances, an exit interview can be a powerful tool for organisational improvement. All you need to do, is learn how to use this strategy to your advantage.
Exit Interview: The Benefits to Employers and Employees
Exit interviews give your business the opportunity to gather the insights that come from people who have spent time within your company. In other words, you can learn what people like about your business, and which factors make them more likely to resign.
When used correctly, these “farewell” interviews can help you to reduce turnover amongst your critical professionals by addressing issues that are damaging satisfaction and engagement. For instance, if you learn that your specialists feel over-worked and unable to say no to your requests, you can implement a plan for better delegation.
For a member of your team, the exit interview is a chance to share honest opinions, suggestions, and opinions that they might have felt uncomfortable addressing in the past. Once an employee has handed in their resignation, they’re less likely to hold back about how they really feel.
Additionally, exit interviews can convince a ‘lost’ staff member that you respect their opinions and thoughts, which may mean that they’re more likely to become an ambassador for your brand in the future.
So, how can you make your interview as useful as possible?
1. Know What You Want to Achieve
The most successful interviews are planned with specific goals in mind. What you hope to learn from conversations will depend on yourcircumstances, but most organisations want to know why their team members leave, what suggestions they can give to help the company improve, and whether management is doing a good job.
You might use your exit interview to:
- Learn about your company culture: This may include insights into relationships between colleagues, employee motivation, coordination and efficiency, and working conditions.
- Improve management or leadership styles: Your interviewee can tell you if line managers aren’t investing sufficient time with team members when it comes to giving feedback, coaching recognition, and support.
- Update HR benchmarks: If you discover that individuals are leaving for better benefits and salaries, you might decide to make changes to your remuneration to become more competitive.
2. Plan Your Questions in Advance
With your goal in mind, you can begin to plan the questions thatwill deliver the most valuable information from the employees that have chosen to leave your business. Remember, you probably won’t have time for 20 questions, instead, you’ll need to narrow them down to keep the pressure on your staff member to a minimum.
The exact questions you ask will depend on the circumstances, however, stick to:
- The main reasons why they’re leaving: Did they find a new job, get a better offer, feel like they’re not excelling in their current role, or are they frustrated that their skills are underutilised?
- Suggestions of how your organisation can do better: Did you need to offer more support, learning opportunities, or an improved benefits package?
- What did they like and dislike about the workplace? Do you need to think about adjusting your company culture?
- Are there any opportunities available to keep in touch?
3. Make the Interview as Comfortable as Possible
The aim of most exit interviews is to gather as much useful information from the departing team member as possible. To do this, you’ll need to make sure they feel comfortable sharing their opinions with you.
Sometimes, your best approach will be to schedule the interview with an outside consultant or a HR representative, instead of an immediate manager. Additionally, make sure that you guarantee confidentiality to let your staff know that they can speak freely.
4. Learn About Where They’re Going Next
If someone in your team has been seduced by another employer, then you’ll need to find out why.The more you discover about how competitors are poaching your talent, the more you can take steps to prevent future losses.
At the same time, knowing what attracts your employees to other pastures can help you to update your practices, and appeal to better candidates when you’re recruiting to fill the gap in your team. Remember, it’s not just about compensation. Today’s professionals are searching for job fit, culture, career growth, and opportunities.
5. Stay Calm and Collected
Finally, it’s tough for any business to hear negative things about their team, their management, or their working styles. However, constructive criticism is often the only way to ensure long-term growth. Remember that your goal with an exit interview isn’t to get your staff member back.
Instead, make sure that your interviewee feels heard and respected while you gather as much information as you can. Ideally, you’ll want your departing employee to leave your company as a future customer and ambassador for your brand.
Resource On Demand is Europe’s first specialist Salesforce Recruitment Company. We assist the world’s leading organisations to grow their technology teams. Supporting companies to fill roles that span across digital marketing, marketing automation, Human Capital Management, CRM system management, software testing and Salesforce.
The team at Resource On Demand have access to an extensive database of key talent, registering over 8000 professionals each year. To find out how we can support you call us on +44 20 8123 7769 or rod@resourceondemand.com.