Why Growing Companies Should Conduct Exit Interviews

Like many of the expansion stage organizations OpenView Partners works with, companies growing quickly may find their headcount nearly doubling in a matter of months.  Yet at the same rate, many high-growth organizations will experience some level of turnover, often spurred by an ever-changing culture and management structure.   In some circles, people actually view turnover in high-tech organizations as a way to remain more competitive and innovative in a rapidly changing environment.  Regardless of your opinion on the pros and cons of turnover, I think we can all agree that the aggregate feedback on why employees may be leaving your organization should be taken into consideration.  At the expansion stage, this feedback is huge.  Every employee makes a significant impact on the success and continued growth of the organization, and it’s important to ensure that you are supporting, developing and improving your employees and your organization in each way possible.

Enter the exit interview, an interview conducted by an employer with a departing employee to gather feedback on their work experience at your company in order to make improvements and retain current employees.

Honestly, some employees find the exit interview to be insulting because it is of course too late to keep the departing employee and it can be seen as an invasion of privacy.   Personally, I think they’re important to conduct and as an employee, when I have been given the opportunity to share my feedback, I have appreciated the request.  Exit interviews can be made optional, though, which would be my recommendation if you do find yourself hesitating to introduce anything that may seem like an additional burden on a departing employee.  Although I would recommend an in-person discussion with a neutral party to be the most appropriate format for this interview, some organizations find the use of online surveys and questionnaires to be an alternative mechanism to obtain feedback.

Generally, an exit interview will turn into a conversation where the departing employee will offer feedback and take the conversation in directions that you may not have planned.  As a result, you’ll uncover answers to some questions that you may not have even thought you should be asking.

Here’s a sampling of some simple questions that will give you great insight:

• What made you choose our company?  (And… what made you choose your new company?)
• What did you like most about your job? What didn’t you like?  Was it what you thought it would be?
• Did you know what was expected of you in your role?  Did you feel like you could succeed?
• Do you have any recommendations regarding our compensation, benefits and other reward and recognition efforts?
• What are the key qualities and skills we should seek in your replacement?

What wisdom can we learn from by asking just a few simple questions?

• On Recruiting…Understanding what an employee likes about your company can help to shape your message for future recruits, touching on points you may not have considered important.  Was the job preview realistic?  In an earlier post, I discussed the importance of being real with a potential recruit.
• On Employee Satisfaction…What frustrations or impediments were in their way of achieving success?   How is your compensation, benefits and rewards system?  Remember that they have gained insight on these packages at other, similar employers now.  How does yours compare?  You may gain new insight to areas that you are missing, like a mentorship program or annual rewards program.
• On The Job…What skills did the employee find the most important to their success?  Were there skills or traits that you were unaware of?  This could help shape future training and development programs, as well as reshape your future hiring strategy.  What resources did the employee need in order to succeed?  Did they have them?
• On Company Culture…Is the message you think you’re projecting what is being received?  You’ll often gain a greater understanding of the who, what and why in your organization that you might not otherwise find out.
• On How to Avoid a Bad Hire…Sometimes both the employer and the employee will realize this was just a poor “fit.”  An exit interview is one way to understand the employee’s side, which may help you turnaround a potentially bad situation with a current employee or avoid making the same hiring mistake in the future.

Arguably, some level of turnover in most organizations is healthy, but what you need to stay focused on is retaining your best employees and often times the exit interview for a departing employee will offer some of the best guidance possible.

Do you conduct exit interviews?  How do you implement feedback?