Exit interviews are conducted to enable the company for the appraisal and improvement of employee’s retention policies. The organization offers an opportunity to the employee to converse about the reasons for departure.
Exit interviews are the best way to comprehend the reason for leaving. The style of interview would obviously be different for all the employees. The employees who are getting retired or whom the organization has fired need not undergo exit interviews but the employee who is leaving for some reason but the organization wants to retain that employee must undergo the exit interview. Few employers bound the interviews to supervisory, departing management, technical employees and sales. However, these interviews must be conducted for all the departing employees regardless of their designation in organization.
Leaving an organization is typically a voluntary decision of an employee; exit interviews are conducted only to receive feedback from the employees for the improvement of the organization. So, do not treat the exiting employee as a formality or casually and ensure that the interview is structured with a purpose. Try to find out as much as you can so that you will be able to avoid further resignations. The most useful method for an organization is to prepare an interview form with series of questions that you want to ask from the employee.
You must ensure that the interview is being conducted by appropriate staff. A senior manager or human resource manager who has very less contact with the employee can conduct the interview. The next thing that you must keep in mind while conducting an
exit interview is that you must ensure that the interview is conducted in neutral environment where the room is not much confrontational or imposing. Ensure the employee that whatever information is being provided by him would be confidential so that the employee can talk freely.