An employee’s departure from an organization is often tough especially if the employee is one who has excelled in their performance and has been placed as part of the succession plan of the company. However, employee resignations form part of the life span of any organization. Usually, one of the final conversations the exiting employee has is the handover which is done with their respective managers, the person taking over or in some cases with the Human Resources Manager. There, however, is one conversation that is sometimes overlooked. This is, the Exit Interview.
Exit interviews are very important as they provide the Human Resources Manager (HRM) with an opportunity to have an in-depth understanding on the employee’s reasons for leaving the company.
From the interview, key information can be gathered, for example,
- information on the company’s work climate,
- training expectations,
- salary expectations,
- working relationship with superiors and colleagues,
- reasons that prompted their resignation,
- their overall satisfaction in the position they held,
- what they enjoyed most /least by working in the organization,
- Improvements they feel could be incorporated to improve on organizational productivity.
The Exit Interview is therefore a key source of information and often assists the HRM to access their staff’s perception of the overall work climate in the organization, evaluate the work ethics of the management or supervisory teams, for example, are they applying unfair performance practices or are they unduly harsh to their team(s) in their efforts to achieve performance objectives. The exit interview can also provide positive feedback by affirming that all is well in the organization concerning policies and practices in place to enhance employee performance and development.
Exit Interviews are not necessarily mandatory, however, they are highly recommended. The employee should therefore have the freewill to accept or decline to have the exit interview. The onus is therefore upon the HRM to be able to convince the employee to have this last conversation.
