Exit Interview or employee interview to request information and reasons for leaving, which will occur after the employee has decided to leave. The organization or company wants to know, but what to do after knowing?
“Interviewing is useless because the information we get is not really applicable to solving problems.”
Because resignations are repeated, most of them are caused by the same problems that occur frequently, so many employees believe that interviewing employees who have already resigned, or giving information is useless.
Because the organization did not take their facts or opinions to correct or improve, interviewing employees who had resigned was a process that was seen as just a process that was done according to the organization’s KPI or the needs of departments such as HR, but was not done to solve the real problems that the organization had.
Exit Interview: Why do we need it and what are its benefits?
If we look at the goals and objectives, it is that the organization wants to know and want to know why? What are the reasons? Or what are the issues? That makes employees resign. The organization wants to know this information in order to find a method or process to solve or develop the organization further.
“The cost of hiring new employees is high because once they are hired, it takes a long time for them to become skilled.”
If the organization utilizes the information from interviewing employees who have already resigned, it will know the real reason why employees resign in large numbers. For example, the results of interviewing employees who have resigned have consistent information that the reason they resigned was because the salary offered by the new company was higher than this one, on average by 25-30%.
This shows that current employee salaries are no longer competitive. If this continues, employees will certainly continue to resign. Therefore, organizations can use this information to make decisions about adjusting the base salaries of existing employees or to improve the organization’s facilities and environment to prevent other companies from recruiting existing employees and to reduce the resignation rate in the future.
There are many different ways to conduct an Exit Interview.
- The first type is to have employees who have already decided to resign provide information by filling out a questionnaire. This method may make the resigning employees feel more comfortable and convenient to provide facts, opinions or suggestions. However, the information obtained from filling out the questionnaires is often not detailed or sufficient to be used for further improvement or development because the person filling out the information often does not see the importance of providing information or sometimes provides too little information, etc.
- The second type is a face-to-face interview, which is a conversation and asking about the reasons or causes of resignation. This method has the advantage that it allows the organization to gain in-depth information, to understand the emotions, feelings, and causes or problems that make employees decide to resign. However, this method also has disadvantages. Many times, it is found that employees who have decided to resign do not dare to provide information or reveal the truth because they are afraid that what they say will affect them or their colleagues who are still working.
Why Exit Interviews Are Useless
“Employees who have resigned avoid telling the truth because they don’t want to get into trouble.”
I was going to resign anyway, so why did I have to cause trouble? This is another feedback that some employees feel. In addition, they want to end things nicely with their current position and do not want to cause them any trouble, in case they have to meet again in the future and work together again.
“Employees who have resigned avoid telling the truth because they don’t want those who are still there to suffer.”
The number one problem that causes people to resign is not income, but the boss. For example, in many organizations, when the real problem is dug up, some departments have employees coming and going frequently, not because they are overworked or not because of the salary base, but because they cannot stand working with the boss, whether it is the boss’s personality or something else.
Employees who resign have to give other reasons instead, such as leaving the company because they want new challenges. If they have to tell the truth, they are worried that their coworkers who are still working here will also suffer, so they choose to invent positive answers instead, which means that the organization does not know the real reason.
“Employees who have resigned feel that HR is not neutral.”
The matter of conducting interviews with employees who have resigned is mostly the responsibility of a middleman, but in reality, that is HR. The question is, how neutral is it?
“If every problem that employees have resigned from is reported to the organization and eventually resolved, that organization will definitely be a good place to work.”
But many times, it is found that employees who resign have already given the truthful information to HR, but that information is distorted and not presented to senior management, resulting in no corrections or changes.
A simple example, look at many organizations. The same old problems that make employees unable to bear it and have to resign are still there. Problems caused by the boss, whether it is contempt, humiliation, discrimination, or blaming subordinates, are still there. The result is that any employees who have a chance must quickly find a job and resign. But the remaining employees who can endure it must continue to endure, becoming forced to work under fear and unhappiness, etc.
So why doesn’t HR try to be neutral or try to help solve the problem?
Do not forget that HR is also an employee. Sometimes, the reason why they do not dare to present the facts obtained from interviewing the employees who have left is because they are afraid that they will get into trouble as well. So, they may choose to pick some issues that do not put themselves at risk or choose neutral issues to summarize for the management to acknowledge instead.
These issues are the reasons why Exit Interviews are ineffective because both the person giving information and the person receiving information do not trust each other and have different perspectives. If we really look at the organization, the reasons for resignations come from people issues.
The problem of large numbers of employee resignations occurs repeatedly in the same department. It is a sign that there must be a problem with the supervisor of that department. There is no need to waste time asking them. It is easier and more effective to solve the problem directly.
Choosing to keep people with problems, especially if they are at the top level, will create even more problems. It is better to integrate and solve the problems of one person, but benefit many people. But as they say, this method may seem easy, but not many people dare to take the risk because no one wants to cause trouble for themselves. That is why we see people resigning, then new people coming in, then after a few months they have to resign, and it goes on and on in a cycle like this.
Conclusion
“Don’t try to find answers to why employees resign. Instead, change the policy to make employees want to work here forever.”
Because if the organization has a serious policy that really wants employees to want to work here, Exit Interview will no longer be necessary because every process of working here, the working atmosphere, including taking care of people, must change to be in line with the policy that really wants employees to want to work here.
“Solve the problem at the right point, reduce turnover by giving employees more opportunities to participate in the organization.”
If executives change from focusing on finding causes to encouraging employees to be more involved in the organization, support and open up space for employees to present how they can help make the organization a better place to be and work. Give them an opportunity to present new ideas that meet their work needs. Doing this is better than asking them when they have already left the organization. These methods will make people want to stay and work, and the problem of people coming and going will be reduced accordingly.
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