Adios! Au Revoir!... Catch ya later!

This week, I have picked a rather serious subject for discussion, exit interviews. An exit interview is one of a company's most useful tools in determining not only why the employee is leaving, but also how that department or team could improve current practices. On the flip side of that coin, it is up to the employee to find a certain level of comfort in sharing information with the employer. It is not always easy in every circumstance to present the reasons for leaving a company in a professional and concise manner. Let’s discuss how to conduct and exit interview to obtain the most information and the value we are hoping the employee will bring to the process by being as forthcoming as possible.

First of all, let’s review what an exit interview is by definition. Put simply, it is a documented conversation conducted by the Human Resources representative and the exiting employee. The reason that the Human Resources representative conducts the interview, versus the employee’s manager, is that generally, the manager is too close to the situation. The whole idea behind this interview is to provide a good comfort level for the employee in a neutral environment, wherein they will be the most comfortable providing frank answers on topics surrounding the department, team and manager they worked with during their employment. For obvious reasons…