The Exit Interview

A Valuable Management Tool

From time to time, employees leave an organization for a variety of reasons. When employees leave the business voluntarily, it is important to try to learn why they are leaving. The questions you ask and the information you gather during an exit interview may provide insight into problems in the organization, expose deficiencies in the company's employee relations programs, and identify problem supervisors or other issues which deserve the attention of the business.

A productive exit interview will be friendly and informal. The interviewer should convey the idea to the employee that the interviewer is genuinely interested in learning about any problems that the employee may have had, or discover other issues that the employee may wish to share with the interviewer. The interviewer should encourage the employee to be very open, candid, and honest.

The interviewer should spend some time preparing for the interview. Review the employee's file and consider any other issues or problems which may have affected the employee. Then, outline some general questions to ask. Don't get locked into a set script; you want to remain flexible during the interview. Begin with very general questions and let the employee take the interview in any direction he or she desires.

At some point during the interview you should cover such questions as the following:

• Why are you leaving?
• Is there any message you want to give to management?
• Are you aware of any problems which need to be addressed?
• If a friend or colleague asked you about possibly working here, what would you say?
• If you had to change anything at this company what would it be?
• Is there anything else you want to tell me?

While information gathered as the result of Exit Interviews may be critically important to the business, this information must be used carefully. If the business is experiencing a high rate of turnover, the Exit Interviews may help management learn why turnover has been so high. On the other hand, a particular employee may have an extreme dislike of a particular manager. Reaching a conclusion about that manager's skills based upon one interview is not a wise use of the information you gain from an Exit Interview.

The results of Exit Interviews can help the company solve current problems and identify future issues. The effective use of Exit Interviews is strongly encouraged.

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