Exit interviews play bigger role in recruiting, retaining workers

The exit interview is gaining a higher profile in the world of human resources where employers are doing just about anything within their power and budget to recruit and retain skilled workers.

What was once considered a throw-away personnel practice now is seen as an invaluable tool to measure supervisor-employee relationships, job satisfaction and benefits compatibility as more employers implement a range of programs to get feedback from outgoing employees.

Employers often will ask employees who are leaving the company to do an exit interview, which can last from 20 minutes to an hour, either in person with a manager or in the form of a printed or online questionnaire.

Reducing turnover

The goal is to gather crucial information on why that person is leaving so that the company can determine how to change things to prevent other employees from leaving in the future.

"It's been around for ages, but I believe that recently more and more HR professionals and business owners are seeing how valuable the feedback is," said Debbie Padello, director of human resources and client services for Altres. "Employers are really trying to better their organizations and better the morale in order to be competitive in this crazy job market."

What comes out of these exit interviews, depending on how truthful the employees are willing to be, can often result in a concerted effort by company executives to ramp up training programs, eliminate ineffective practices or streamline office communications.

"It's to see whether there are things they can improve on in policies, procedures, training new employees or communication in a way that's longer-term solutions, not just quick fixes," said Bonnie Freitas, vice president and director of HR services for the Hawaii Employers Council. "Any amount of feedback is always helpful to the organization and they're doing something of value by giving their perspective."

As the job market gets increasingly tight, employers have been focusing their efforts beyond just the typical "front-end" recruiting of workers and more towards "back-end" assessment of employees who have left. They realize that those employees were armed with inside information about issues such as office politics that they could leverage for their benefit.

Analyzing variables

In the past, traditional exit interviews were recorded and often stored in either an employee's file or entered into a database that often wouldn't amount to anything. But the growing sophistication in technology now allows employers to analyze all sorts of variables such as pay and benefits, age, race, gender, length of service and work environment to more accurately pinpoint in what areas the company is failing.

Long-time human resources executive turned entrepreneur Beth Carvin knew how valuable exit interviews were and built her business on marketing an Internet-based, easy-to-use version that had employers swooning.

She and business partner Bruce Daly launched their boutique HR software firm Nobscot Corp. in 2000 with its automated exit interview program, which has generated buzz and demand both in Hawaii and on the Mainland. The small Kailua-based company counts among its clients a number of big-name companies including T-Mobile, Campbell Soup Co., Home Depot, Bank of Hawaii and First Hawaiian Bank.

Carvin recalled an experience with a large commercial insurance carrier that benefited a great deal from data collected from its exit interviews.

She said the company was experiencing high turnover in a particular department and its executives were absolutely certain it was because of the manager that headed up that department -- a woman with a strong personality.

"But they analyzed the exit interview and found out that it was because they had dropped a number of training courses in this department that the employees needed in order to grow with the company," Carvin said. "It wasn't the manager and she had nothing to do with why they were leaving. They were able to reinstate those training programs and improve the turnover instead of guessing."

Common questions in exit interviews

• What did you like or dislike about your job?
• Were you provided with enough training to be successful in your position?
• What was the quality of the supervision you received?
• How would you rate your salary, pay or benefits?
• What does your new company offer that this company doesn't?
• Would you recommend working for this company to family and friends?

Source: PBN Research