How To Summarize Exit Interview Results

The Mechanism To Collect Data Matters

Ive seen companies send out extensive exit interviews with 20+ questions and mandatory comment fields for each question. Exit interviews dont need to be complex or entail many questions to gather valuable information about whats working and what isnt. To increase the likelihood of having your departing employees complete the exit interview, Ive learned that the exit interview must be user-friendly, mobile-friendly and include an opportunity for the employee to choose whether they would prefer to have the exit interview conducted via survey or face-to-face interview.

User-friendly

• Make the exit interview easy to understand and minimize the administrative back-and-forth.
• Make it a PDF fillable form with a submit button to direct the form to the appropriate unit .
• Create an online survey, allowing the employee to simply tab through the questions.
• Provide drop-downs and scales to allow for easier completion but also add a comments section, as this tends to be the most telling information.

Mobile friendly

• Create an online survey, so employees can complete the exit interview on their mobile devices at their convenience.
• Provide a link to the survey in your exit interview communications so the employee can easily click and complete.

Face-to-face interview vs. survey

• Some employees would prefer to meet with HR/appropriate stakeholder to verbally complete the exit interview so provide that option. Just ensure you choose the right interviewer that brings us to point #4.

Why Should You Conduct Exit Interviews

A well planned and executed exit interviews are a very powerful HR tool, used by an overwhelming majority of top companies.

Research conducted by Burke Incorporated shows that:

• 91% of the Fortune 500 companies conduct exit interviews.

If done right, exit interviews will help you assess the overall experience an employee has had with your company.Hence, you will be able to discover bottlenecks and identify opportunities to improve your retention rates and company culture.

Here are the top 4 benefits of conducting exit interviews:

Were You Happy With The Way You Were Managed

Youve heard the saying, People dont leave jobs, they leave managers.

While theres some debate over how accurate this statement is, the general sentiment holds water.

If you work at a great company but your manager doesnt share information, doesnt meet with you regularly, and doesnt work with you to create a career development plan, then the most expedient option is to find a new job.

Complaining about the manager or requesting a transfer to another department can easily backfire.

This is why its important for HR departments to get someone above the departing employees manager to lead exit interviews.

One bad manager can lead to the departure of several excellent employees over time.

Take the example of one financial services company that hired a new mid-level manager for a specific department.

When the new manager was hired, there were 17 employees. A year later, there were only eight after four resignations and five transfers.

When senior management reviewed the exit interviews of the departing employees, a clear picture emerged. The new manager lacked key managerial skills like communication with team members and outlining a clear vision.

Plus, employees were frustrated with the companys policy of hiring new managers based on their technical skills rather than their managerial skills. Consequently, the company made adjustments.

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Act On Reasons For Departure And Monitor Progress

Following the interview, spend some time evaluating the information youve gathered to identify the root cause of the employees departure and list a few ways that they could be addressed.

For example, perhaps they felt that the training was inadequate, or they were not given enough opportunity to collaborate and contribute to projects they were interested in but lied outside their scope of work.

Such insight can enable you to discuss ways to improve certain aspects of the job with managers and senior management, so action can be taken and progress monitored.

Exit Interview Questions Examples

Here is my selection of the best and most commonly used exit interview question examples:

If youre looking for more great exit interview question examples, check out our Complete list of the best exit interview questions.

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Leave Space For Employee Details

Take note that youll be keeping exit interview forms for recording purposes. So, they should have information about their respondents . Thats why you must leave space at the top of the forms for employee details. Put blank spaces where the employee will write their name, job title or position, department, and date of resignation or termination.

Getting Better Exit Interview Data

Employees that complete exit interviews are at a unique point in the employer/employee relationship. They have already decided that they are leaving, and their input and feedback at this point can offer a range of benefits to the organization. The problem is that many companies simply fail to do them properly. A recent Harvard Business Review study shows the following breakdown of who was responsible for the process:

• 71% HR department
• 9% supervisors manager
• 1% external consultants

This is surprising because in most cases departing employees will not speak honestly to a supervisor if the reason they are leaving is because of the supervisor. Yet one in five companies allows supervisors to take the reins in this critical discussion.

That leaves us with the smallest portion of companies that use outside support to manage the process. What does this 1% know that others dont? Here are some of the benefits to this approach:

• Third-party provider allows for candid responses and confidentiality.
• Trained, professional interviewers that know how to ask the right questions.
• Flexible completion options. People are often more truthful when not responding to in-person questions.
• Expert analysis helps to identify trends and issues beyond surface-level data.

All of those benefits, and yet we see 99% of companies doing something different. This is a problem beyond a simple lack of honest participation in these programs-it can affect recruiting, productivity, and more.

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Why Do Companies Conduct Exit Interviews

Companies conduct exit interviews so to hear an employees opinions about their job, supervisor, organization and more. An exit interview is a conversation between you and your employerlikely a human resources representative. This is an opportunity to discuss job satisfaction or offer feedback on policy and direction.

Related: How to Find a New Job While Employed

How To Edit Pdf Exit Interview Summary With G Suite

G Suite is a widespread Google’s suite of intelligent apps, which is designed to make your job easier and increase collaboration between you and your colleagues. Integrating CocoDoc’s PDF editor with G Suite can help to accomplish work effectively.

Here are the guidelines to do it:

• Open Google WorkPlace Marketplace on your laptop.
• Seek for CocoDoc PDF Editor and install the add-on.
• Attach the file that you want to edit and find CocoDoc PDF Editor by clicking “Open with” in Drive.
• Edit and sign your paper using the toolbar.
• Save the customized PDF file on your cloud storage.

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What Do Hr Managers Do With Exit Interview Results

HR managers use exit interview results to determine the companys management quality. Particularly, they use them to evaluate the management practices of team leaders, supervisors, and managers.

Responding to exit interview forms is the resigning employees final contribution to your company. It may not be as big as their contributions through their work performance, but it helps steer your management practices in the right direction. So, before you leave this page, dont forget to download our examples of exit interview forms.

What Is An Exit Interview Form

An exit interview form is an interview questionnaire consisting of questions about what resigning employees think of their job. Its a questionnaire that asks for their feedback concerning their experience in the company. The company uses their feedback to strategize on improving the HR management standards. For some companies, conducting an exit interview is a part of their employee exit formalities.

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Determine Your Interview Format

Offering the departing staff a questionnaire could save you time and eliminate awkward conversations. Yet, there are several advantages in holding a face-to-face exit interview:

• Rather than filling out a standardized questionnaire, you have the opportunity to have a less structured dialogue that may yield surprising responses.

We also found that providing the departing staff with options such as a link to an online questionnaire or a phone interview helps them feel more comfortable and provide honest opinions.

Pay Close Attention While Conducting The Exit Interview

We highly advise that the interviewer pay close attention to what employees say during a departure discussion and ask many questions. This can assist you in making sure you understand what they’re saying and reading their body language correctly to reveal their actual feelings. It is also good to follow the following best practices for exit interviews:

• Be empathetic by listening to what the employee is expressing without reacting.

• Jot down everything the employee says so that you have a record. This also shows that you are interested in the information provided by the staff.

• Finish the exit interview meeting on a polite and optimistic note. Thank the employee for their honesty and input, and pledge to use the information to make your workplace better.

• Wish them well for their new adventure.

Doing all of the above can get you more information and input than you would have otherwise.

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How To Edit Exit Interview Summary On Mac

macOS comes with a default feature – Preview, to open PDF files. Although Mac users can view PDF files and even mark text on it, it does not support editing. Utilizing CocoDoc, you can edit your document on Mac directly.

Follow the effortless steps below to start editing:

• In the beginning, install CocoDoc desktop app on your Mac computer.
• Then, append your PDF file through the app.
• You can attach the file from any cloud storage, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive.
• Edit, fill and sign your paper by utilizing this tool.
• Lastly, download the file to save it on your device.

How To Edit Exit Interview Summary On Windows

Windows is the most widespread operating system. However, Windows does not contain any default application that can directly edit file. In this case, you can get CocoDoc’s desktop software for Windows, which can help you to work on documents efficiently.

All you have to do is follow the guidelines below:

• Get CocoDoc software from your Windows Store.
• Open the software and then append your PDF document.
• You can also append the PDF file from Google Drive.
• After that, edit the document as you needed by using the different tools on the top.
• Once done, you can now save the customized template to your laptop. You can also check more details about editing PDF.

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Ask Effective Exit Interview Questions

We implied earlier that some Fortune 500 companies fail to conduct exit interviews effectively. One of the likely culprits is that they didnt ask the right questions. With that in mind, you should avoid that mistake.

Ask the questions that can deliver you the answers you want from the employees. For example, if you want to know their level of comfort working in the company, you can ask, How well are your superiors treating you?,Do the companys equipment enable you to perform efficiently?,Do you have good relations with your colleagues? etc.

Conduct Exit Interviews In Person

Although exit interviews can be conducted via written or online surveys, over the phone, through chat or email, the best practice is to conduct them in person.

In other words, the interviewer will be able to read an employeeâs body language and ask follow up questions in order to get the most out of these interviews.

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Get Support From Leadership

The most important thing you need to ensure is that the leadership team will be open to feedback and options for change if recommended. Without this buy-in, an exit interview becomes a black hole that ends up representing wasted time and energy. Employees know when feedback is respectedand when it isnt. If they see multiple coworkers leave for the same reason and nothing changes, theyll wonder what the point is of even participating in an exit interview. So make sure it counts and that the exiting employee can sense this.

Ideally, you should aim to present the feedback youve gathered and your recommendations for change during the same meeting. This makes it easier for leaders to act upon your suggestions instead of making them feel responsible for finding a solution. Finding out if someone left due to culture, management, money, or location can make a big difference. Employees talk to each other and so a few employees will already know why someone is leaving, but when a leadership team can get insight into an exit, they can explore options proactively instead of simply reacting after employees leave.

Encourage The Manager To Utilize 1

When employees leave, managers may feel they need to take on the vacated responsibilities until new employees are hired, causing unnecessary stress. HR should encourage them to speak with other team members to generate ideas on how to break up the workload and how to move forward in the interim. It’s a team effort, so all parties be a part of the conversation.

Of course, organizations would like to avoid these steps completely and keep as many employees as possible. To do so, you have to spot the warning signs that suggest an employee may leave. Learn how by downloading our free ebook, the Top 5 Predictors of Employee Turnover.

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Would You Recommend The Company/job To Others

Why they ask it: If you say yes, then obviously you like the job and company. If you say no, HR wants to know why to see if they can fix it.

How to answer it: If your answer is yes, explain why as deeply as you want. If your answer is no, then you need to be honest about that, without going too deep. Ive enjoyed my time here, but thats my experience. If someone asked me if they should apply here, I would ask them more questions about their background and preferred work environments. Its probably not for everybody, but could work really well for certain people.

Understanding What You Can And Cannot Control

Before we get into it, Id like to mention a thought that may already be ringing in your mind.

This thought is something along the lines of but we already consistently conduct structured exit interviews and rarely extract any actionable insight from them due to the employees lack of interest in sharing information.

That is a good point.

Some departing employees dont see any reason to be open and honest about their feelings, and that you cannot control. But you can address this issue by going all the way back to evaluating your onboarding process, and taking action to engage in candid conversations with current employees to make them feel comfortable with sharing their honest feelings.

However, that is a complex, separate topic of discussion altogether.

Too often EI programs fail to either improve retention or produce useful information. Weve identified two reasons why. The first is data quality. The usefulness of an EI depends utterly on the honesty and forthrightness of the departing employee.The second reason is a lack of consensus on best practices. The goals, strategies, and execution of EI programs vary widely, and the findings and recommendations from empirical studies are often vague or conflicting. But in our view, the deepest problem is that many organizations use EI programs as an excuse not to have meaningful retention conversations with current employees.Everett Spain, Making Exit Interviews Count

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How To Conduct An Exit Interview: Best Practices And Tips

Employee exit interviews can be a powerful instrument in helping your companys growth – but they can also be tricky. Are you unsure whether you are conducting them effectively?

If so, dont worry weve compiled insight on how to conduct exit interviews! Read on to learn some of the best practices of exit interviews.

Categorize Your Results To Gain Even More Insight

If the platform youre using gives you the capability to do so, categorize your exit survey respondents into “regrettable” or “non-regrettable” categories. This is very helpful for comparing the experiences of both groups and prioritizing where to take action. If you see that non-regrettable employees are rating things lower than regrettable employees, this may be explained by low performance. However, when regrettable employees are the ones responding less favorably, this may be a sign you should dive in deeper because you may be driving your highest performing employees to leave.

If the differences between the two groups are large, you may choose to filter out the non-regrettable results and instead only view the regrettable employee feedback for the two steps below.

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Why Should Employers Stop Using Stay And Exit Interviews

Traditionally, stay and exit interviews take the place of more frequent, ongoing feedback. Management teams who rely on these methods miss out on coaching opportunities throughout the year.

Not to mention that in many cases, issues discussed in stay and exit interviews are often identified far too late:

• In exit interviews, an employee has already decided to leave the organization!
• Meanwhile, stay interviews may do more harm than good by implicitly communicating to employees that changes need to be made .