How many of you have conducted an exit interview or exit survey as an employee leaves your business?  Hmmm, I’m not seeing many hands go up so let’s chat about what the difference is and what you should be doing to get the best results for your business.

When an employee resigns, there is a lot to manage.  You may consider simply replacing them with an internal promotion or you can go out to market. Maybe you will take the opportunity to restructure and if you do restructure, do you still need to recruit?  Then there is the handover process and making sure you capture all ongoing work and any knowledge they need to impart before they sail off into the sunset.

Sometimes it’s tempting to simply organise the card, lock in a lunch, wish the leaving person well and move on.  However, taking the time to conduct a thorough exit survey can provide invaluable insights into your business that can help you make improvements.

Interview vs survey

There is a difference between an exit interview and an exit survey so let’s clarify what we mean by these terms.

An exit interview is generally a series of questions that we ask of someone as they leave a business.  More often than not, it’s about their own anecdotal and subjective feelings and experiences.

An exit survey is similar but more specifically, we want to ask departing employees for data rather than simply anecdotal feedback.  Over a period of time, this allows us to look more broadly at any patterns that can be used to inform decisions that lead to improvements within your business.  This data is also supported by comments that help understand the data. 

To be clear, it is still helpful to capture commentary and personal experiences but one disgruntled employees remarks do not a pattern make.   

But first….

An important consideration for those that wish to run effective and well received exit interviews is that they form a part of a broader communication program within your business.  There is no point asking a departing employee their thoughts on the business, their role, their management if you haven’t taken the time to ask, listen or act on feedback during their tenure.

Why would they care about providing constructive feedback if they have been voiceless leading up to this point?  No one cared to listen while they worked for you so why should they be open to a frank conversation now? If your communication and feedback processes are poor and your people don’t feel heard, don’t expect they will be forthcoming in an exit interview.  In fact, you are more likely to generate more ill feeling because if you had been listening earlier, perhaps your top talent might not be walking out the door.

Why exit surveys matter

Let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t want to hear what someone has to say if they’ve just up and quit on you, but you could be missing out as exit surveys can deliver the following:

• Insights into the cause of employee turnover
  Employee resignations are normal but high levels of turnover are expensive with a real dollar cost to replace roles as well as the loss of knowledge and experience that is walking out the door.  Exit surveys can reveal patterns that may be driving turnover which could help you understand systemic issues within the company. If multiple employees cite similar scores and supported with matching reasons for their departure, such as lack of growth opportunities, issues with management or poor culture, it’s a clear signal that something needs to change.
  
  
• Identify areas of improvement
  If you have the chance to learn where your business has areas to improve then you embrace that opportunity in a great big bear hug. If your communications processes leading up to the resignation have been open and frank, anything delivered in an exit survey is most likely going to be well intended and may be used to enact positive change. 
  
  
• Improve company culture
  Exit surveys can offer honest feedback about your company culture. Employees can feel more comfortable sharing their true thoughts when they are on their way out, providing you with the unfiltered truth that can help you strengthen your workplace environment.  Of course, you need to assess whether there is merit in what is being said or if the exiting employee is delivering a kick on their way out. A consistent set of questions will allow you to see if the data being provided is part of a trend or an anomaly which may warrant further investigation to determine if it is sour grapes or legitimate.
  
  
• Enhance employee morale and engagement
  Knowing that you conduct exit surveys won’t stop people leaving your business, however, understanding why employees leave can help you implement changes to improve retention.  
  
  For example, if you are consistently being told that remuneration is a reason for leaving, you might consider reviewing your pay structure. It doesn’t mean you need to give everyone a pay rise, it just means checking in to see if you are within market range or if your talent is tempted by a marketplace that is offering more than you.

What should you be asking?

There are lots of different opinions around what should be asked and what might be helpful in driving improvements when it comes to exit surveys but some areas you might consider including with suggested ranking categories are:

• The role
  • How would you rate the level of challenge presented by the role? (too challenging, good amount of challenge, not challenging enough, not at all challenging )
  • How would you rate the workload (much higher than appropriate, high, medium, low)
  • How would you rate the level of training and development on offer? (Excellent, good, average, poor)
  • What can be improved / changed? (This question allows for commentary.)
    
    
• Remuneration
  • How would you rate the level of remuneration appropriate to the role (excellent, good, average, poor)
  • How would you rate the work/life balance? (excellent, good, average, poor)
    
    
• The company
  • Would you agree the business fostered a positive work culture? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
  • Would you agree the business fostered a positive work culture? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
  • Would you agree that communication is efficient/effective? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
  • If the opportunity arose, would you work here again? (Yes absolutely, possibly, no)
    
    
• Direct manager / Senior leadership
  • Would you agree that your DM/leadership is open to communication? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
  • Would you agree that they communicated clearly re business direction and expectations? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
  • Would you agree they provided constructive feedback? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
  • Would you agree that they are sufficiently knowledgeable for the role? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
  • Would you agree they built a trusted and trusting team? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)
  • Would you agree you were empowered you to deliver your work? (Strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree)

The above is but a mere sample of the questions and segments you can formulate for exit interviews and the rating styles can be changed to suit. What’s important is to cover what is relevant to your business and be consistent with the questions so that you can gather data that allows you to see any patterns that are present. 

Recommendation

At HR Staff n’ Stuff, we advocate for the combining the best practice use of exit interviews and exit surveys where you collect both the data – or a rating if you will – along with comments that support or explain the data. 

In securing responses from an outgoing employee, there are a number of ways in which the survey can be conducted:

1. A document can be sent to the employee so they can read and absorb the questions before completing and returning.  This works best for those who may feel uncomfortable providing feedback in a face to face meeting.
   
   
2. As above but follow up with a face to face meeting to discuss the survey.  This may provide additional information that may assist in understanding the data and where the strengths and weaknesses sit within the business according to the outgoing employee.
   
   
3. Or you can simply agree on a time to meet and go through the survey together and capture the data and response in real time. 

Ultimately, it comes down to what works best for your business but also how you can elicit forthright and helpful information that allows you to extrapolate areas of improvement and understand what’s working well.

If you wish to improve or introduce exit surveys into your processes or perhaps would like someone external to conduct surveys on your behalf, the HR Staff n’ Stuff team can assist so give us a call or drop us an email and we can chat about what you need!