Why Exit Interviews Are Necessary

Let's just say it. Exit Interviews are awkward. However, they are extremely useful to receive great feedback and everyone reading this should be performing them.

For those of you that do not know, an Exit Interview is an interview held with an employee after they leave an organization. In this interview, the employee typically discusses the reasons for leaving and their experience of working for the organization.         

As you can imagine, a ton of small businesses decide not to do this, and I am here today to tell you why exit interviews are necessary and how to conduct them in the best way possible.

If you would rather watch instead of read, here you go!

Let's start with this: "Why should small businesses perform exit interviews with employees that are leaving?"

1. Exit Interviews can tell you why the employee is really leaving

- I know this one sounds obvious, but there are lots of businesses out there that never ask why an employee is leaving. They assume it is for more money or the position is closer to their home, etc. However, you will not know if you ask. If you want to improve your organization, you need to see why because it could be something practical

2. The employee gets an opportunity to give you the honest truth

- It's just human nature. When a team member is employed by an organization, they probably do not give their honest opinion about their view of the business. Give them the opportunity to give their good, bad, and ugly opinions. This is where you could get information that you would never get from a typical employee feedback review. You could find out about how they liked their manager, how they liked their benefits

3. Ask for employee referrals

- If you like the employee and they are leaving on good terms, we recommend asking if they know anyone who would be a good fit for the position they are leaving. Does not hurt to ask!

4. Make sure the employee feels heard and appreciated

- I know this sounds crazy, but you want the employee to leave on good terms. Word spreads when the end of the work relationship is rocky. Make sure you do everything in your power for the exit interview to be a sign that their opinions are important and their time at your organization was appreciated.

Next: "What should I ask in an exit interview?"

Ask these 3 questions:

• What was going well while you were here?
• What did not go well while you were here?
• If you were the CEO, what do you think you would change if you could?

I know these 3 questions sound elementary, but I ask these exact questions when I conduct exit interviews for our clients and you would be shocked what people say just from these 3 questions. Does not take a ton of prep, but it does take asking the questions and listening.

Last: "How should I conduct exit interviews?"

1. Try to use a 3rd Party (shameless plug, but this could be our team at tHRiving: HR for Small Business )

- An unbiased third party really does produce the best results. When it is a colleague or manager, you might not get the whole truth because of the relationship. Use a third party like a business coach, executive coach, or an awesome HR company designed to help small businesses (again... tHRiving: HR for Small Business )

2. Make sure you do it after they leave

- Self explanatory here, but still have to say it.

3. The ex-employee needs to know that their answers will be communicated to the leadership of the company.

We do this not because it is fun, but we do exit interviews to improve our organizations. And who knows it better than the people who have been in it every day for 8 hours/day. Do the right thing. Perform Exit Interviews!

How we can help:

Introducing HR Compass: We meet so many small businesses who have their CFO or COO or their Office Manager handle their HR. Although they probably do a great job, we know that there are probably some HR items that need to be checked on or help is needed.

We designed HR Compass to be affordable, high-level HR Advisory and Execution for 3-10 hours per month.