Do you know why your employees are leaving?

Exit interviews (EI) are usually conducted when an employee terminates. However, many interviews are not designed to unearth potential issues and information about ethical issues, blind spots and even the warning signs or red flags of potential or existing fraud. Even more troubling, the write-up of exit interviews is when they are not reviewed by Compliance or Internal Audit on a regular and on-going basis. Important issues that could highlight possible fraud or inappropriate behavior can go unchecked.

“Regardless of method, the effectiveness of an EI program should be measured by the positive change it generates. We asked the executives whose companies had programs to name a specific action taken as the result of an EI (a policy change or an intervention in HR, operations, marketing, or some other function). Fewer than a third could cite an example. Thus two-thirds of existing programs appear to be mostly talk with little productive follow-up.” 

When you learn why employees leave, you gain valuable insight into how your organization functions at every level and in various departments or business units. Ultimately, identifying trends and potential blind spots are the most valuable outcomes of conducting exit interviews. Your organization can quickly recognize themes or problems and implement changes. For instance, if several people report the same or similar issue as their reason for leaving, you can immediately begin working on that issue to elicit change.

Employees leave a company for various reasons; conducting an exit interview is the most effective way to determine why. The importance of discovering why people leave cannot be overemphasized, especially in the face of serious workplace problems that may otherwise lurk beneath the surface. You cannot take appropriate action to fix what you do not know exists. Further, exit interviews make good sense for lawsuit prevention. Conducting an exit interview with all outgoing employees could help your organization avoid potential liability.

By conducting a comprehensive exit interview, your organization will receive answers to the following questions and more:

• Do employees feel unprepared or incapable of performing in their position?
• Are employees unhappy with their salary, level, time-off, or benefits?
• Are there employees who frequently clash with other staff or have other performance issues that seem to go unnoticed or unaddressed by management?