Handling Exit Interviews

Submitted by mauzenne on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 03:50.
in

This cast explains how to handle exit interviews. 
 
Exit interviews are tried by many companies in order to gather information about why employees are leaving. "Let's ask everyone why they're leaving and that will help us stop doing things that cause people to leave." In principle, they make sense. In practice, they are dangerous, and we have recommendations.


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malekz's picture
Submitted by malekz on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 22:15.

Telling Truth to Power!

Folks,

M&M did it again! - another down-to-earth pragmatic podcast, for which I have two observations:

1) Can we say that the same approach M&M want us to take toward "Exit Interviews" will be applicable to surveys/inventories as well?

I remember when I was working for a large aerospace company over 20 years ago, I was approached by my boss because he wanted me and some colleagues working for him to take a special survey/inventory administered by an outside consulting firm to determine how we perceived his management style. Not having heard your podcast at the time, boy did I make a serious mistake of finding his management style neither participatory nor situational at all! Just totally dogmatic and autocratic! Need I mention how my relationship with this boss progressed afterward?

2) M&M take a realistic point of view by emphasizing the high Risk/Reward ratio in Exit Interviews. A point of view that "bad things will happen and even if they happen often, make sure they won't happen to you." I can find no fault with their approach but I feel there is a second level "undercurrent" in their message that I find discomforting to me.

The message is, the huge system is rolling the way it is and there is absolutely no hope to change it. Just get out of the way, make no waves, and just take care of yourself. You want to avoid trouble and displeasing significant others.

Yet by shutting up, we will pay a price. We will sacrifice having our feedback, feelings, thoughts,and preferences truly known. Shutting up is easy but speaking up has never been. It is in speaking up that we prevent the system from sliding downward on the slippery slope of abyss and demise.

In the final analysis, it comes down to choosing between "speak truth to power" on one hand, and "tell the truth to your boss and the truth shall set you free!" on the other. What is YOUR choice?

malekz

slpenney's picture
Submitted by slpenney on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 13:06.

Same

I was logging in to make the same comment - only I'm currently at a firm that does this every quarter, for just our location.

In theory everyone is interviewed once a year on a standardized questions, 1-6 scale, with 6 as the best.

Several topic continue to be the bottom 4 or 5, so management and HR has asked for free-form feedback what is going on with those, so improvements can be made.

Now I'm wondering if my response is going to cause problems for me down the road.  It feels like there is a geniune desire for improvement and casual conversations show that others have similar views as I do.  But I've been here less than a year; I could be reading the situation wrong.

Thanks, as always.

mahorstman's picture
Submitted by mahorstman on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 13:58.

How can it be...

...an exit interview if you don't exit?

pb1495's picture
Submitted by pb1495 on Mon, 05/04/2009 - 19:56.

My choice...

My choice is to ask myself, before I open my mouth, "What do I hope to gain frm this conversation?"  If, in the case of exit interviews, there's very little to gain...