Okay, so maybe not all exiting employees say “thank you for the opportunity” and “it was a difficult decision to leave these amazing people and this place”.
Maybe they don’t tell you at what point their devotion changed, they no longer think of the company as “amazing”, they started looking elsewhere and have recently been feeling stressed, because breaking up is so very hard to do………
Your company needs closure, so they can move forward.
No really, YOU need to know what happened.
Companies spend significant time, resources and money (stat here, how much it costs to hire and train), all to see it walk out the door. So, what gives? What went wrong? That’s a loaded question. One we’d be happy to explore with you, but for now let’s talk about how we can get answers.
Before the employee leaves or even thinks of leaving, you will want to conduct an Exit Interview or Pulse Check. An Exit Interview is conducted with an exiting-employee for any reason, whether it was a layoff; termination or resignation – or even migration to another location (cost centre.) A Pulse Check is conducted with an existing employee to gain retention insight.
An Exit Interview is conducted to gather open and honest feedback as to: why the employee made the decision to leave your organization; what the organization did well; and what they could improve upon. A Pulse Check is conducted to understand employee satisfaction. As an organization, knowing what you can improve upon, will ultimately increase morale and reduce attrition.
If your organization is NOT currently conducting Exit Interviews or Stay Interviews/Pulse Checks, start asking why not. You should be conducting Exit Interviews and Pulse checks, if any of the following are true:
- Your turnover rates are high (anything higher than 5%)
- You have an employee migration problem. Employees are leaving one location or site to move to another
- You have a repeat-employment issue. Employees who left, come back. But why did they leave in the first place?
- You’re having issues with company culture and employee morale
- You want to improve/refine your talent acquisition process
- You are having productivity issues in various areas of the company
- You want to prevent any possible future legal issues
- You are a proactive employer and want to be kept abreast of employee satisfaction
Now that we’ve gone over the “why,” let’s talk about the “how”.
Exit interviews
Exit interviews are traditionally conducted in-office or via email, either by the HR department, or the former manager/supervisor. At JUST Checking, we offer Exit Interviewing services, which are conducted over the phone, from the comfort of the employee’s home (or wherever they are most comfortable) and via a third party seasoned situational interviewer.
Why is this difference important?
How comfortable, honest and forthcoming would you be participating in an exit interview in the presence of your former manager, where you work?
The average employee isn’t going to risk the uncomfortable situation, or possibility of “burning bridges”, by being totally open and honest, in this scenario. Alternatively, how comfortable, honest and forthcoming do you think you would be participating in an exit interview in the HR office of your company and speaking with an HR staff member, who makes the process feel largely administrative. It can be intimidating to an employee to be invited to an office they’re not wholly familiar with. It may seem like an arduous and unnecessary task for an employee.
Now, let’s say that you’re an employee and you’ve already gone through the emotionally exhaustive process of making a decision, mentally moved on, and preparing to leave your current employment. Perhaps you’d be more amenable to agreeing to an exit interview over the phone with an objective third party. This provide you, some flexibility, and the opportunity to give back, or vent grievances in a convenient, comfortable, safe, emotionally-free and stress-free setting.
What option would you choose?
Exit Interviews are an invaluable tool, key to employee retention, and when done properly and effectively, they will improve your organization’s morale and bottom line.
We will help provide you with closure, ask your employee the right questions and objectively listen and understand.
Stay Interviews [Pulse Checks]
On the same hand as Exit Interviews, employees don’t want to create an uncomfortable environment, if they were to openly share negative feedback about their satisfaction with working conditions, coworkers or management.
For this reason, Stay Interviews or Pulse Checks are conducted conveniently and anonymously online.
The results are analysed and summarized annually, by department. This will provide an overall view of the satisfaction levels and morale of each department in your company.
Contact us today for more information about Exit Interviews and Stay Interviews/Pulse Checks and how they will make a difference for your organization.
“We have partnered with Just Checking for the past several years, we utilize their services for conducting our employee exit interviews. The team is always professional, courteous and always responsive to our needs. Our employees like the experience too, as the teams arrange to conduct the telephone conversations around their schedules, and they are very accommodating. Our participation rates have been above 80%, and we continue to receive valuable feedback through our exit interview questionnaire, so the process is working well.” – Linus Desouza, Senior Human Resources Manager, Kellogg Canada