How can you use technology to improve exit interviews and retention rates?

One thing I've found helpful is to also ensure that HR develops a rapport with employees so that your employees feel comfortable enough to respond to exit interviews in an open and honest manner. I tend to think that someone in HR should conduct the exit interview and explain the purpose for the interview and explain to resigning employees why their responses matter and are important to the company, so the company can evaluate and consider making improvements where needed.

In my experience it has always been difficult to capture every employee that resigns in an exit interview especially working for a company that has many locations throughout the United States. At times, it may also be challenging to get buy-in from executives to respond to some of the problem areas in the company or operations that may come forth from compiling data and trends. As we know, some reasons for leaving a company cannot be prevented however, the areas that need to be addressed to further improve retention can be tough when there isn't an easy solution.

I believe that technology can be helpful to quickly and easily pull reports and compile data into easy to interpret graphs and models. It would be most beneficial (to most anyway), when a system that does this is either a part of your HRIS/PEO/HRM platform or at the least, can integrate. Technology provides swift information when set up correctly and using such with exit interviews can also help identify patterns for leaving.

You need to conduct a "NEEDS" assessment. Identify the where you are now, and where you want to be to determine what you need to do to fill in the gap. Think about the future. Is the new technology that you are entertaining something that can suite the needs of the organization for the forseeable future? The ability for any new technology to integrate to existing systems is crucial for efficiency. Does the new system or company provide adequate customer service avenues to receive support timely? From a cost perspective, does your choice in technology fit into your departmental budget? Id the platform user friendly and easy for employees to understand? Are privacy expectations going to be met? Provide guideance and clear communication.

I belive that technology is an amazing tool and can be used to support all of the ideas presented above. However, I also believe that if a company is solely relying on technology to execute exit interviews, it may become impersonal and there may be some employees that never get around to completing the exit interview since we are essentially leaving the ball in their court to complete such.

Things already became impersonal when the employee decided to leave or got terminated. The reality of the situation is that the percentage rate of collecting exit interviews is very low, given the circumstances surrounding the exit. So, as a last ditch effort, all you have at the end of the day, is an informal/impersonal tech/ email survey with fingers crossed some of them will take the time to enlighten the company on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction..... it makes more sense just to focus organization energies on keeping work environments healthy and stimulating, consistency with treating employees fairly and adequate compensation equal to skills and/or education NOT nepotism.