Employee Leaving - Advice for Exit

[Wastedyouth]

Hi all,

Just wanted some advice, one of my long time field technicians decided to put in his notice.

I want to do an exit interview with him this week, and I was looking for some advice on questions I should ask, or even if I should do it!

I can imagine they can be tough for both the managers and the exiting employee.

What do you guys think?

[Firebot]

Exit interviews are great, good way to know things you can improve. I'd always welcome it as an employee if I was leaving.

Don't see how it can be tough unless you had a real poor and toxic relationship.

[afc wimbledon]

Is there something you need to learn from him or some information you need him to learn from you? to the degree you dont appear to know what to say or whether to do this leads me towards the 'dont bother' doorway

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Is there something you need to learn from him or some information you need him to learn from you? to the degree you dont appear to know what to say or whether to do this leads me towards the 'dont bother' doorway

i recently took over the managerial role for the techs. From being a coworker to being his boss.

I think i know the answers to most of the questions I want to ask, but I also want to know his mindset on them.

He was the longest tenured tech, hired right before I was.

I am not scared of hard answers from him. I want to learn how we can be better and strive for a stronger team.

[MRCboicgy]

So, if it's regrettable attrition (which broadly most people) we do it this way via quick interview



On a score of 1-10, how would you rate your entire experience with us? (we actually don't pay much attn to the score, it's just to get the person into the analytical mindset)

What were the three biggest positives/Pros of working here?
What were the three biggest areas where we need to improve?


The answers to those questions is what we provide to HR. If there's any red flags, we ask if they'd like to go into more detail with HR, etc.

If it's a personality issue with the manager, HR will do the questions, but overall, it's meant to be an easy flowing conversation, with no judgement or defensiveness. "Thank you for your feedback, we intend to learn from this" type deal

[TorqueDog]

There are plenty of sites with 'sample' exit interview questions, but I would use those as inspiration for the type of questions you should be asking rather than a list for you to use yourself. It's your chance to solicit genuine feedback as there is no longer the risk of them getting fired or reprimanded for freely speaking their mind.

You might find out your company or you as a manager didn't adequately support some of their needs as an employee and that can foster a discussion about how to encourage other employees raising those concerns in the future, or that Stuart over there is a real dickhead to work with.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

i recently took over the managerial role for the techs. From being a coworker to being his boss.

I think i know the answers to most of the questions I want to ask, but I also want to know his mindset on them.

He was the longest tenured tech, hired right before I was.

I am not scared of hard answers from him. I want to learn how we can be better and strive for a stronger team.

Sounds like you're approaching it the right way. Sometimes you'll get useful information, other times you'll get a bunch of complaining that only has a shred of truth in it, or sometimes they'll hardly have anything to share.
If you approach it from a point of "we want your feedback on what works and doesn't work so that we can do better" you should be good.

You may also want to consider if you think he'll be honest with you? (Do you have that kind of relationship?) Or is it best to have a third party (HR?) do the exit interview?

I find it's usually not just one exit interview that gives me a picture of problems or things that need to be resolved, but taking them in aggregate with other exit interviews, data from engagement surveys, feedback from team members, etc.

[Nufy]

Stewart ?? Yeah...a bit weird I guess...

[CaptainCrunch]

Exit interviews when your losing good employees are great. Get your feedback, but it also sets up a possible boomerang situation if the job he's leaving was a positive one and he's leaving for non negative reasons.

[marsplasticeraser]

If you are going to do the exit interview for somebody on your team you'll have to listen carefully, it's terribly hard for a direct report to give valuable feedback.

I would personally structure the conversation more as thanking him for his service, wishing him well and then subtly asking what areas you/the team/the company could have done to keep him. Another tactic I've used is to ask for advice about how to make the job better.

But to sum up, take their feedback seriously, and probe to understand more about anything they say that is negative.

Good luck..

[sketchyt]

Having been on both sides of the fence, I think 99% of the time it's difficult to get a truthful answer.

Employees typically leave because they either found a better opportunity that the company can't match, family/home issues, don't like certain people, and/or no longer enjoy the job. Maybe he/she is just a malcontent.

As a manager, you should already have an accurate idea of where that quitting employee falls into.

As a former staff member, I never saw the point of saying anything negative in an exit interview. If you had a good relationship with your manager, the communication would have been there in terms of why you're leaving.

Formal HR exit interviews? Hard pass. You never know who has an axe to grind and how that could impact you later. I'll pretty much bite my lip, say thank you for the opportunity, and find ways to highlight the positives of the company.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Wastedyouth

i recently took over the managerial role for the techs. From being a coworker to being his boss.

He was the longest tenured tech, hired right before I was.

I am not scared of hard answers from him. I want to learn how we can be better and strive for a stronger team.

According to this, sounds like he's leaving from the bitterness that you got promoted and he didn't with seniority (old school thinking)...

Is there someone else that can do the interview?

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by jwslam

According to this, sounds like he's leaving from the bitterness that you got promoted and he didn't with seniority (old school thinking)...

Is there someone else that can do the interview?

You may be right about the first part.

And yes to the second part.

[DiNaMo]

I had one when leaving my former employer with their 3rd party HR company and needless to say it was unbearable. It lasted 45 minutes and I felt like the first 35 or so of that just wore me out until the meat and potato questions at the end.

It was all tell me about your role, how long you've been with the company, what were your tasks, how were your coworkers, how were your managers. Stuff that my smaller company would already have a good handle on. Just get to the point and ask me why I left and what could improve.

[rotten42]

When I used to manage design departments, I always did exit interviews. It is a chance for both the employer and employee to speak honestly and for both to learn something.

[RichieRich]

Exit interviews sometimes are viewed as a venting session but may actually hurt you if you’re not constructive and choose your words well. It’s possible to burn bridges for sure - so if leaving then consider if you want a future reference from anyone there and will your comments cause problems that MIGHT be traced back to you (or blamed on you).
Also if giving the interview and analyzing the answers… what do you really want out of the information? Will anything be done or taken seriously?

If 10 people have left one manager in the past year you just know it’s likely the manager and not the pay or someone’s smelly lunches. You don’t need an interview for that.
Moreso look at your internal metrics, kpi’s, turnover, drama, etc and in an UNBIASED way figure out root causes. Don’t blame the canary in the coal mine who’s trying leave instead of dying quietly.

[Weitz]

I respectfully declined the 2 exit interviews I was asked to do. Nothing good for me can come from it.