exit interviews
Let’s talk about exit interviews. They have been on my mind a lot lately. I find that people have polarizing views — they are either a huge waste of time or one of the most meaningful parts of a team members exit.
Where do I fall on that spectrum? (Get ready for the most HR answer out there)
It depends.
I had my first exit interview as an intern. I didn’t really understand the point of it, but I went through the motions. They asked me what I liked and what I would change for future interns. Truthfully, I didn’t have a whole lot to say. I was 20, what did I know about the workplace? This felt like a waste of time for myself and the HR manager who completed it with me.
The first exit interview I had from a “real” job that I had, left me confused. One of the leaders in the company cared, a whole lot. He asked me clarifying questions, he gave me the chance to share my experience without judgement, and he made me feel like my opinion mattered, even as I was leaving the company. Even now, I would recommend him as a person to work for because at a time that it would have been easy for him to write me off, he cared about me as a person and a professional. Another leader, at the same company, made me feel guilty, small, and unimportant. He barely cared that it was my last day and didn’t care to ask why I had taken the other job. I would never work for him again. I was a number to him, not a person.
Several years later, I was responsible for completing exit interviews. I thought about leader #1 and his approach to my exit; I thought about leader #2 and his approach to my exit. Obviously, I channeled leader #1. It was easy. I asked questions that I WANTED to hear the answer to. I listened, I took notes, and I used that information to inform the conversations I had with other leaders. Quickly, I learned that exit interviews can be powerful.
Fast forward a few years, a powerful HR leader told me not to do them because “people leaving are disgruntled and are inherently negative.” I decided not to listen to her. I had time in my schedule and it was important to me to hear why people were leaving. I learned so much. The same themes continued to bubble up so I used that information to provide coaching and feedback to leadership. We used it to change how we recruited and talked about our positions. It was powerful.
Recently, I had a senior leader complete his first exit interview, he called me immediately after to tell me how much he learned. He described it as a performance review for him. He heard things that were hard to digest, but he took it seriously. He might not take action on any of those things but that information is another data point that informs the teams experience working for his company.
So back to my first question, it depends because if you don’t care to take to the time to listen and make the employee feel heard, you are wasting everyone’s time. If you listen and let it inform other themes you are seeing, exit interviews can be powerful.
My favorite questions:
Why did you consider looking outside of the company? What about the new position/company made you decide to take it?
If you were the owner of this company, what would you change? What is the first thing you would go to work on?
How does our culture differ from how we describe it?
What did we do as a company to make you feel valued?
What blindspots do I / leaders have?
And most importantly, keep asking clarifying questions.
