Hi folks!!!!!!!
Of all the issues an HR professional is confronted with, is the nebulous issue pertaining to retention of employees.Many are my fellow HR professionals who are confronted by this issue and not clear as to how to respond and make a recommendation to their Management on how to tackle this issue.
Needless to mention ,recruitment is just the beginning of a long process that involves , once the employee comes on board,issues like motivation,growth,value addition and in the current context of knowledge worker "KNOWKER",employability .Try as they may,either due to paucity of clear cut strategy by companies towards making their employees "employable"or due to paucity of ideas on how to retain their employees, thru means other than Compensation ,managements of even so called "progressive"companies grope in the dark on how to come up with innovative ideas that would make their folks stay put.
It is in this context that one needs to look at exits and how exits ,while being painful in the short run,can give a wealth of information to the company, to device in the long run, strategies that can retain their most critical resources,the "KNOWKERS".
Exits are inevitable.This is a reality that we all need to comprehend.Whether the exit is due to a cultural misfit,poor performance,downsizing or right sizing is all a matter of detailing.Fact of the matter is that ,even in the current context of global recession ,when the popular and shortsighted notion is that there are no jobs going even if your employees are to look outside your company for a job,statistics prove that companies have lost maximum number of employees during this period.What we as HR professionals have to learn is that irrespective of the times,rare are the cases were employees have stayed put in a job that gives him\her no joy,they would rather take a plunge into the unknown than stay put in a job that gives him\her, no future value.
How have companies tackled this phenomenon?How do they learn their "lessons",so that the faults are not repeated with other employees and corrective action can be taken to improve the situation?This is where a stuctured intervention like EXIT interview comes into play.
Exit interview as a means to collate data on the exiting employees have been done by many companies.But more often than not, companies go thru with this as a matter of routine that has to be complied with and the data that emerges out of this exercise is seldom analysed.It is the analysis of the data that emerges out of this exercise, as well as the process of the exit interview adopted by companies ,that would determine whether the data is any good to go by and formulate strategies on employee retention.
FIRST THINGS FIRST.Is Exit interview required at all?Well the answer is a resounding YES, from all practitioners of this process, in a scientific manner.
The methodology differs from company to company, depending upon the specific cultures of these companies. Some companies let the department head of the exiting employee, do the exit interview, whereas in some companies it is only the HR department that does the exit interview and a third sort of company where it is a mixture of line and HR that does the exit interview.Be that as it may,the question that needs to be answered is whether the process is being gone thru, because it is a requirement for the settlement of the final dues of the employee and hence is yet another compliance which will have to be gone thru or is it a serious exercise meant to elicit from the departing employee the reasons for his departure and what needs to be done from the companies point of view as a corrective so that such sort of departures are minimised.
As I recently had a chance to listen to a CEO, who said "I do not mind if the employee is leaving for the right reasons, but let no employee from my business leave for the wrong reasons".The right reasons, according to this CEO, are reasons were the Company can’t possibly help out eg spouse employed in another city,family or personal reasons(which has nothing to do with the job or the company),requirement to move to another function or job,which is non existent in the current company etc.The wrong reasons are reasons like inability to get along with the team,morale,motivation etc which is upto the company to provide. ,which knows the pulse of its employees.
EXIT INTERVIEW FOR ALL?This is a question which has been asked frequently since the last one year or so.The logic of this question emerges from the fact that in the last one year or so,due to the economic slow down and the recession,companies had to go thru with the painful task of reducing their manpower by reducing the number of employees who according to the company were engaged in non value adding functions or activities.The question was ,since exit interview is there as a process ,should not these employees too go thru with the process of having to undergo the exit interview.Well the answer is NO.Exit interview as a process is institutionalised to capture data on employees who are leaving us and whom we would like to retain and not to gather data and information on employees leaving the company because in any case the company does not want to retain that particular employee.Imagine a situation of a company that has done VRS for its staff and if all the VRSed employees were to undergo the Exit interview?The views of the VRSed employees can only be imagined!!!But more importantly,to answer the question of whether Exit Interview as a process needs to be done for all exiting employees,the answer is NO.
WHAT EXIT INTERVIEW METHODOLOGY TO EMPLOY ?Different companies employ different processes and procedures to capture the data emerging out of an exit.Some companies employ the interview methodology and the interviewer jots down the highlights of the exiting employees tenure with the company ,both the positives and the negatives.Some companies employ the questionnaire cum interview methodology,were the exiting employee fills in a standard questionnaire on the reasons for his exit,which is routed thru his supervisors to the HR department,to note the contents and take corrective action and this is supplemented by the interview with the exiting employee to clarify the points raised by him in the EXIT Questionnaire,so that it gives an input to the company on the areas to focus on, due to which this particular employee is leaving.And there are companies that employ only the Questionnaire methodology to capture the data.The last mentioned methodology is the least preferred since experience has shown that the exiting employee might jot down views which are extremes because of his status as a "departure" candidate and the company would have little means to ascertain the veracity of what has been stated by the exitee.What is ideally recommended is the questionnaire cum interview methodology,because of its inherent strengths as a database for corrective action and moreover the points raised by the exitee, would be substantiated by the interviewer during the interview process.
WHAT DATA TO LOOK FOR AND WHAT ANALYSIS ? Whatever be the methodology adopted by the company ,the data sought for should be consistent.The companies should look for information and data from the exitees, that would throw light on the good practices of the company as well as those practices which needs improvement and which has resulted in the employee taking a decision to exit from the company.This would give an input to the company on what they are doing right which needs to be reinforced and celebrated and what is being done poorly,which needs to be improved and done differently.The changes that needs to be brought about should be as a fall out of the data that emerges out of this input.
The data that emerges should be collated and analysed to study patterns and reasons for exiting.The data analysis is very critical and should be done sensitively and carefully ,otherwise the reasons that emerge out of this analysis might not give a correct direction for the company to focus and correct what needs to be corrected as emerging out of the exit interview process.Thus it is critical that the analysis be done once in six months so that ,a trend and a pattern can be ascertained from out of the data that emerges.It is equally critical that various cuts of the data be evaluated on the basis of Qualification,age,experience,department ,business etc since this data would help the company in focussing on issues impacting the various subgroups in the company.The reason why a management trainee you hire from a premier campus is leaving you in six months, could be quite different from why an employee with more than ten years of service in the company is leaving.Similarly the reason why a management trainee from the Marketing department is leaving and the reason why a management trainee, from the same business school, but assigned to the finance department is leaving, could be quite different.In fact data collation is only the beginning of the task, the real skill and challenge lies in data interpretation and analysis.The seriousness of this needs no emphasis ,since the action plan for the company to retain employees on the basis of employees exiting,is dependent on this data analysis.
In these times which are dynamic to say the least,if there can be one "listening post" for the company to hear the "grouses"of employees whom the company would have ideally liked to retain,then the only structured way of capturing the data is thru an institutionalised EXIT interview process.
LOL
NEHA BARMAN
From India, Pune
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Of all the issues an HR professional is confronted with, is the nebulous issue pertaining to retention of employees.Many are my fellow HR professionals who are confronted by this issue and not clear as to how to respond and make a recommendation to their Management on how to tackle this issue.
Needless to mention ,recruitment is just the beginning of a long process that involves , once the employee comes on board,issues like motivation,growth,value addition and in the current context of knowledge worker "KNOWKER",employability .Try as they may,either due to paucity of clear cut strategy by companies towards making their employees "employable"or due to paucity of ideas on how to retain their employees, thru means other than Compensation ,managements of even so called "progressive"companies grope in the dark on how to come up with innovative ideas that would make their folks stay put.
It is in this context that one needs to look at exits and how exits ,while being painful in the short run,can give a wealth of information to the company, to device in the long run, strategies that can retain their most critical resources,the "KNOWKERS".
Exits are inevitable.This is a reality that we all need to comprehend.Whether the exit is due to a cultural misfit,poor performance,downsizing or right sizing is all a matter of detailing.Fact of the matter is that ,even in the current context of global recession ,when the popular and shortsighted notion is that there are no jobs going even if your employees are to look outside your company for a job,statistics prove that companies have lost maximum number of employees during this period.What we as HR professionals have to learn is that irrespective of the times,rare are the cases were employees have stayed put in a job that gives him\her no joy,they would rather take a plunge into the unknown than stay put in a job that gives him\her, no future value.
How have companies tackled this phenomenon?How do they learn their "lessons",so that the faults are not repeated with other employees and corrective action can be taken to improve the situation?This is where a stuctured intervention like EXIT interview comes into play.
Exit interview as a means to collate data on the exiting employees have been done by many companies.But more often than not, companies go thru with this as a matter of routine that has to be complied with and the data that emerges out of this exercise is seldom analysed.It is the analysis of the data that emerges out of this exercise, as well as the process of the exit interview adopted by companies ,that would determine whether the data is any good to go by and formulate strategies on employee retention.
FIRST THINGS FIRST.Is Exit interview required at all?Well the answer is a resounding YES, from all practitioners of this process, in a scientific manner.
The methodology differs from company to company, depending upon the specific cultures of these companies. Some companies let the department head of the exiting employee, do the exit interview, whereas in some companies it is only the HR department that does the exit interview and a third sort of company where it is a mixture of line and HR that does the exit interview.Be that as it may,the question that needs to be answered is whether the process is being gone thru, because it is a requirement for the settlement of the final dues of the employee and hence is yet another compliance which will have to be gone thru or is it a serious exercise meant to elicit from the departing employee the reasons for his departure and what needs to be done from the companies point of view as a corrective so that such sort of departures are minimised.
As I recently had a chance to listen to a CEO, who said "I do not mind if the employee is leaving for the right reasons, but let no employee from my business leave for the wrong reasons".The right reasons, according to this CEO, are reasons were the Company can’t possibly help out eg spouse employed in another city,family or personal reasons(which has nothing to do with the job or the company),requirement to move to another function or job,which is non existent in the current company etc.The wrong reasons are reasons like inability to get along with the team,morale,motivation etc which is upto the company to provide. ,which knows the pulse of its employees.
EXIT INTERVIEW FOR ALL?This is a question which has been asked frequently since the last one year or so.The logic of this question emerges from the fact that in the last one year or so,due to the economic slow down and the recession,companies had to go thru with the painful task of reducing their manpower by reducing the number of employees who according to the company were engaged in non value adding functions or activities.The question was ,since exit interview is there as a process ,should not these employees too go thru with the process of having to undergo the exit interview.Well the answer is NO.Exit interview as a process is institutionalised to capture data on employees who are leaving us and whom we would like to retain and not to gather data and information on employees leaving the company because in any case the company does not want to retain that particular employee.Imagine a situation of a company that has done VRS for its staff and if all the VRSed employees were to undergo the Exit interview?The views of the VRSed employees can only be imagined!!!But more importantly,to answer the question of whether Exit Interview as a process needs to be done for all exiting employees,the answer is NO.
WHAT EXIT INTERVIEW METHODOLOGY TO EMPLOY ?Different companies employ different processes and procedures to capture the data emerging out of an exit.Some companies employ the interview methodology and the interviewer jots down the highlights of the exiting employees tenure with the company ,both the positives and the negatives.Some companies employ the questionnaire cum interview methodology,were the exiting employee fills in a standard questionnaire on the reasons for his exit,which is routed thru his supervisors to the HR department,to note the contents and take corrective action and this is supplemented by the interview with the exiting employee to clarify the points raised by him in the EXIT Questionnaire,so that it gives an input to the company on the areas to focus on, due to which this particular employee is leaving.And there are companies that employ only the Questionnaire methodology to capture the data.The last mentioned methodology is the least preferred since experience has shown that the exiting employee might jot down views which are extremes because of his status as a "departure" candidate and the company would have little means to ascertain the veracity of what has been stated by the exitee.What is ideally recommended is the questionnaire cum interview methodology,because of its inherent strengths as a database for corrective action and moreover the points raised by the exitee, would be substantiated by the interviewer during the interview process.
WHAT DATA TO LOOK FOR AND WHAT ANALYSIS ? Whatever be the methodology adopted by the company ,the data sought for should be consistent.The companies should look for information and data from the exitees, that would throw light on the good practices of the company as well as those practices which needs improvement and which has resulted in the employee taking a decision to exit from the company.This would give an input to the company on what they are doing right which needs to be reinforced and celebrated and what is being done poorly,which needs to be improved and done differently.The changes that needs to be brought about should be as a fall out of the data that emerges out of this input.
The data that emerges should be collated and analysed to study patterns and reasons for exiting.The data analysis is very critical and should be done sensitively and carefully ,otherwise the reasons that emerge out of this analysis might not give a correct direction for the company to focus and correct what needs to be corrected as emerging out of the exit interview process.Thus it is critical that the analysis be done once in six months so that ,a trend and a pattern can be ascertained from out of the data that emerges.It is equally critical that various cuts of the data be evaluated on the basis of Qualification,age,experience,department ,business etc since this data would help the company in focussing on issues impacting the various subgroups in the company.The reason why a management trainee you hire from a premier campus is leaving you in six months, could be quite different from why an employee with more than ten years of service in the company is leaving.Similarly the reason why a management trainee from the Marketing department is leaving and the reason why a management trainee, from the same business school, but assigned to the finance department is leaving, could be quite different.In fact data collation is only the beginning of the task, the real skill and challenge lies in data interpretation and analysis.The seriousness of this needs no emphasis ,since the action plan for the company to retain employees on the basis of employees exiting,is dependent on this data analysis.
In these times which are dynamic to say the least,if there can be one "listening post" for the company to hear the "grouses"of employees whom the company would have ideally liked to retain,then the only structured way of capturing the data is thru an institutionalised EXIT interview process.
LOL
NEHA BARMAN
From India, Pune
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Hi Neha,
Welcome to CiteHR! :)
This is an excellent post on retention strategy through exit interviews.
I have a couple of points -
1. You have rightly pointed out, as commented by your CEO, that exit interviews conducted for the wrong reasons need to be looked at carefully to understand why it is happening. Sadly, the way exit interviews are held, how often does one come across people who are leaving for the wrong reasons actually say so? Most of them give the right reasons. Therefore, it is not an easy task.
2. It would be better if the exit interviews are conducted after a period of two months when the employee is settled in a new job - in which case, most of the time, they would give the correct reasons as to why they had to leave the company.
3. It is a challenge for HR professionals to be proactive in identifying talented professionals who are seeking opportunities by taking preemptive measures or by being a part of the dynamics of the business, which sadly doesn't happen.
4. Have a clear-cut strategy for talented professionals, like a codebook on how management should deal with them when the situation arises. For example, the HOD should drop everything literally when a key employee submits a resignation letter and deal with the situation effectively.
Good job on your part for your understanding of the subject despite being a student and your recent exposure to the industry during your internship.
Keep it up!
Have a great day.
Regards,
Rajat Joshi
From India, Pune
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108Welcome to CiteHR! :)
This is an excellent post on retention strategy through exit interviews.
I have a couple of points -
1. You have rightly pointed out, as commented by your CEO, that exit interviews conducted for the wrong reasons need to be looked at carefully to understand why it is happening. Sadly, the way exit interviews are held, how often does one come across people who are leaving for the wrong reasons actually say so? Most of them give the right reasons. Therefore, it is not an easy task.
2. It would be better if the exit interviews are conducted after a period of two months when the employee is settled in a new job - in which case, most of the time, they would give the correct reasons as to why they had to leave the company.
3. It is a challenge for HR professionals to be proactive in identifying talented professionals who are seeking opportunities by taking preemptive measures or by being a part of the dynamics of the business, which sadly doesn't happen.
4. Have a clear-cut strategy for talented professionals, like a codebook on how management should deal with them when the situation arises. For example, the HOD should drop everything literally when a key employee submits a resignation letter and deal with the situation effectively.
Good job on your part for your understanding of the subject despite being a student and your recent exposure to the industry during your internship.
Keep it up!
Have a great day.
Regards,
Rajat Joshi
From India, Pune
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
Hello Neha,
Thanks for your insight.
For me, the purpose of Exit Interviews and their effectiveness is that no two people should leave the organization for the same reason.
Secondly, in good companies, we do have an "Employee Relations" team whose job profile is to listen to employees, motivate them, and solve their queries.
Regarding your point about management not listening to suggestions, I must tell you that it is very important to make a proper presentation. Sending across your suggestions is okay, but if I were in management, I would surely like to know the cost factor and the impact of your suggestion on employee retention percentage. Management likes to understand the potential impact of ideas before implementing them.
Regards,
Sanjeev Sharma (Blog: http://sanjeevhimachali.blogspot.com/)
From India, Mumbai
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Thanks for your insight.
For me, the purpose of Exit Interviews and their effectiveness is that no two people should leave the organization for the same reason.
Secondly, in good companies, we do have an "Employee Relations" team whose job profile is to listen to employees, motivate them, and solve their queries.
Regarding your point about management not listening to suggestions, I must tell you that it is very important to make a proper presentation. Sending across your suggestions is okay, but if I were in management, I would surely like to know the cost factor and the impact of your suggestion on employee retention percentage. Management likes to understand the potential impact of ideas before implementing them.
Regards,
Sanjeev Sharma (Blog: http://sanjeevhimachali.blogspot.com/)
From India, Mumbai
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Hi Neha,
This was a very good post on retention strategy through exit interviews. In most companies, the exit interview process is only used for data collection, and definitely if used in an effective manner, it can be a very huge retention tool.
Thank you.
Regards,
Abhilasha.
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This was a very good post on retention strategy through exit interviews. In most companies, the exit interview process is only used for data collection, and definitely if used in an effective manner, it can be a very huge retention tool.
Thank you.
Regards,
Abhilasha.
Acknowledge(0)Amend(0)
Hi,
First of all, an exit interview is conducted to gather feedback from employees regarding the company's performance and day-to-day activities, and to determine if there is a need for any improvements. The purpose of conducting exit interviews is solely to enhance and adjust company policies, working conditions, etc.
In case of high labor turnover, please investigate the following:
1. Are there any problematic supervisors/managers?
2. Are the working conditions satisfactory or uncomfortable for employees? (Some companies may lack sufficient seating arrangements for employees.)
3. Are there any company policies that need to be revised? Can this be identified through exit interviews?
4. Does your company have career and succession planning in place?
5. Compare the salary, incentive schemes, and other benefits offered by your company with industry standards or gather data to discuss with your superiors.
6. Develop an exit interview form that includes all necessary information.
The above six points are crucial as they directly impact employees. Please ensure these aspects are thoroughly reviewed during exit interviews.
From India
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First of all, an exit interview is conducted to gather feedback from employees regarding the company's performance and day-to-day activities, and to determine if there is a need for any improvements. The purpose of conducting exit interviews is solely to enhance and adjust company policies, working conditions, etc.
In case of high labor turnover, please investigate the following:
1. Are there any problematic supervisors/managers?
2. Are the working conditions satisfactory or uncomfortable for employees? (Some companies may lack sufficient seating arrangements for employees.)
3. Are there any company policies that need to be revised? Can this be identified through exit interviews?
4. Does your company have career and succession planning in place?
5. Compare the salary, incentive schemes, and other benefits offered by your company with industry standards or gather data to discuss with your superiors.
6. Develop an exit interview form that includes all necessary information.
The above six points are crucial as they directly impact employees. Please ensure these aspects are thoroughly reviewed during exit interviews.
From India
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Neha,
There is clarity in your thought process, and you have presented the article well. As rightly mentioned by Sanjeev, managements are always looking for the impact percentage of your suggestions for retention. Analyzing the exit data thoroughly and then working towards retention is what will really help. In one of the replies, I did mention to one of the forum members that the Exit Interview is an art and should be conducted by a mature HR person who himself is empathetic and possesses good listening and analytical skills.
Cordially, preet
From India, Bangalore
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There is clarity in your thought process, and you have presented the article well. As rightly mentioned by Sanjeev, managements are always looking for the impact percentage of your suggestions for retention. Analyzing the exit data thoroughly and then working towards retention is what will really help. In one of the replies, I did mention to one of the forum members that the Exit Interview is an art and should be conducted by a mature HR person who himself is empathetic and possesses good listening and analytical skills.
Cordially, preet
From India, Bangalore
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This is a superb article on the need for exit interviews. However, I have a slight disagreement with Sanjeev's statement that it is the employee relations team's job to listen to employees and solve their problems. I personally think that the line manager is first responsible for providing a listening ear to the employee and thereafter, if no appropriate response is made available, then it should be escalated to the HR/Employee Relations team. Ideally, this should first be done by the manager rather than the employee.
Looking at it from a research point of view (Gallup), "Employees leave bosses, not organizations." It becomes imperative that the line manager be made responsible for attrition, rather than it being a KRA of the HR team. Any views?
Regards, Ryan
From India, Mumbai
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Looking at it from a research point of view (Gallup), "Employees leave bosses, not organizations." It becomes imperative that the line manager be made responsible for attrition, rather than it being a KRA of the HR team. Any views?
Regards, Ryan
From India, Mumbai
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3R OF EMPLOYEE RETENTION strategy.pdf
EXIT INTERVIEWS.doc