What are the most effective ways to streamline exit interviews in different departments and locations?

At my company, we have configured a set of questions in the HRMS, so that all HR Business Partners are asking the same questions and assessing the interviews on the same parameters. This helps greatly while analysing data and planning interventions.

I've a used an automated questionaire that is sent out to the former employee from a third party. Employees appreciated the anonymity of a third party rather than someone within the company calling them. I also used some questions aligned to the engagement survey - this allowed us to see engagement for exiting employees compared to those present in the organization.

Would like to add the following points: 1. Please make your employees trust you. Make a strong bond with them and do not ditch them anyway. 2. Be transparent with them during the exit interview and tell them that whatever they will share will remain only with you till they give there consent to discuss it with senior management. 3. Do give an option to them, that if they do not want to disclose their identity, HR will make sure, that it is discussed anonymously and not on their name. Having said that, it truly becomes your responsibility, how you take it to the management anonymously. 4. Make a dashboard of the information you received and then present it to the management of last 6 months or 1 year data using excel. Hope it helps!

The questions should be short and precise, too many questions will make someone either not be objective or not want to participate in the exit interview. Instead of having a one-on-one meeting, this process can also be done online e.g. through google forms at the exited employee's convenience.

The exit interview templates should create a sense of accountability from the leaver to respond genuinely and from the HR to act upon it.

One way I have applied this professionally is by making the employee comfortable and asking them about the journey so far. This makes the person comfortable and in a zone where they start sharing. I usually use an unstructured method towards these interviews, as this helps get more information that someone would usually share. The philosophy is always to first ask easy, comfortable questions and then move on to more serious ones.

In a fast growing and changing start-up environment, I've automated exit interview surveys through a performance management platform. It can be set up to deploy upon processing an upcoming termination date in the HRIS. I find that some people will feel more comfortable in a survey format, and we can also collate the data to review any trends. The exiting employee always has a check box option to set up a meeting following the survey with HR for those who prefer a discussion. Email or direct message check-ins from HR in the last days of employment provide a warm connection.

Fix a proper schedule and make him comfortable during the session. H/she should be comfortable enough to answer the questions in a proper manner and a genuine reply should come from them. That makes an exit interview an effective one,

I have got some experience in various forms of exit interviews like offline one-to-one with the employee with a hardcopy of the form, also used the online form where an exit interview link was shared with the employee and the feedback they shared is completely confidential and employees found it more safe and comfortable way to share the exit interview. So it's depending on the organisations structure, business type and the available options of exit interview. This is again very important to keep upgrading the process of exit interview irrespective of business type or organisation structure.

We can pose open-ended questions that allow employees to express their thoughts and experiences freely. This provides valuable qualitative information that can be utilized for improving the organization's practices.And also Assure exiting employees that their feedback will be kept confidential. This encourages honesty and allows for gathering more accurate information.

I plan my interviews three days in advance of the last working date of an employee. This gives me enough time to collect any more information, if required and vice versa for the employee.

The objective of conducting an exit interview is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the events or circumstances that transpired. By asking relevant questions, you should get the right answers to make future changes. 1. What were the primary reasons for your decision to leave the company? 2. Were there any specific incidents or issues that influenced your departure? 3. How would you describe your overall experience working here? 4. Did you feel adequately supported and valued during your time with the company? 5. If you were in my position, what would you advise I fix in the organization? 6. Did you feel that your contributions and achievements were recognized and rewarded appropriately?

Have a central repository or database where all exit interview data is collected and stored. This enables easier analysis and comparison across different departments and locations.

While I use certain pre-define parameters to conduct exit interviews, I also keep the questions loose-ended to allow the conversation to flow freely. Since the exit interview form is configured in HRMS, we document all feedback there, for our ready reference in future.

We use a tool designed for surveys which allows us to send the exit survey directly to the employee's emails and it's automated, however for the population of employees that do not use or have private emails, we also have the opportunity to collect the feedback by local HR, and they have the possibility to add this feedback to the tool. This way we easily track and store all the information in the tool, and can quickly analyze the data which is available in the dashboards.

Absolutely, documenting the entire exit process is largely important to develop the employee experiences. To document such exit interviews I have followed the following: - Official invites shared with the employee to attend the one-to-one session with HR. -Asking and probing the necessary questions during the exit interview, being prepared with the list of questions. Exit interview questions are equally important as the new joiners interview questions. - Notting the feedbacks and also asking them to fill-up our exit interview form online and making sure the form submission is mandatory for all exit employee's. This helps us in keeping the authority of the data available in the system, the data can't be tampered.

At the end of the day the data we collected after the all the interviews need to be analysed. We have followed the analysis and made the quater reviews. The needful feedbacks to individuals and specific team and departments are informed. During high attrition the report and data analysis plays an important role to control attrition.

In my experience, the exit interview feedback should be acted upon on an ongoing basis. A report mentioning the trend should be published on a monthly basis and has to be reported to the upper management.

The major gaps should be analysed and highlighted to the senior management. If the pattern and insights comes same in each case then its an red alert and an immediate action is required.

Simply put, if you are not working to improve from exit interviews then be ready to conduct more exit interviews. Arguably, we spend more time with coworkers than our families. Through interactions we build networks and, at times, friendships form. Rest assured, when an employee plans to leave there will be two things shared with friends. First, if they have not already, they will share why they are considering leaving. Secondly, after leaving, they will tell at least one former coworker what they discussed in the exit interview. These coworker conversations can create a perception. HR professionals, you can either support or change the narrative that is forming. Just remember, good or bad, your actions shape employee decisions.

While exit interviews are important and have their place to be sure, I much prefer the insights gained from the stay interview and ongoing employee listening initiatives. In general, organizations get much more valuable information (that they can actually act on) from current employees - engaged and disengaged alike, than from departing employees.

Train interviewers: Provide proper training to the individuals responsible for conducting exit interviews. This ensures they are skilled in asking the right questions, active listening, and being empathetic to gather meaningful insights.

Streamlining exit interviews across different departments and locations can help gather valuable feedback consistently and efficiently. Consider using online survey tools to conduct exit interviews. This allows employees to provide feedback at their convenience and ensures consistency in data collection. Use a centralized reporting system to collect and analyze exit interview data from different departments and locations. This enables you to identify common trends and issues. Ensure that employees have the option to provide feedback anonymously. This can encourage more honest responses, especially when there are concerns about repercussions.

By standardizing, automating, and centralizing the exit interview process while remaining sensitive to departmental and location-specific nuances, you can streamline the process effectively and gain valuable insights into employee experiences and reasons for departure. This, in turn, can contribute to a more engaged and satisfied workforce

Insights received in Exit interviews can be the genesis of great retention strategy. Companies can decide any format or forum to conduct such exit interviews, what ultimately matters is how these inputs are being incorporated in the existing system to refine the future process.