New Year Resolutions of a Manager - National HRD Network

Exit Interview:
Objective & Modus-operandi
Debabrata Dash
Exit Interview is an appropriate & befitting
medium through which useful
information can be captured from the
outgoing employees.These information can
subsequently used for Organisational
Development purpose.For industries where
the employee turnover rate is very high,
interventions can be taken for employee
retention after a systematic analysis of Exit
Interview Report generated based on the
response of the employee.
All activities related to Exit Interview can
be divided to six phases.
1. Framing of Questionnaire
2. Intimation to the respective employee
to attend the interview on scheduled
date, time & place
3. Conduct of the Interview
4. Storing of the relevant information
5. Subsequent Analysis of the response
& appraising the analysis to the
Management
6. Suitable intervention for employee
retention
Employee separation can be attributed
to the following factors:-
A. Superannuation
B. Voluntary Retirement
C. Resignation
D. Termination
For the first three cases,it is absolutely
desirable to go for an exit interview.Before
designing the questionnaire for the
interview,it is essential to consider the
following factors:-
i) The cause for the separation
ii) The tenure of service of the outgoing
employee
iii) The grade of the outgoing employee, his
functional area & expertise
iv) Analysis of the performance reports of
the concerned employee
Before conducting the interview, the
concerned HR person must have a clear
understanding of all the above so that he
can frame more relevant questions .The
employee can be asked to respond to a
series of questions and simultaneously his/
her response can be recorded.
For a senior person leaving the organization
on account of superannuation, focuss
should be given on
1. His/her perception about the
organization
2. Thrust Areas needing the attention of
Management
3. Areas of improvement
4. Specific suggestions if any for growth
& business excellence
5. Unfulfilled assignments
6. Learning Experiences
7. Consent to be associated with the
organization as a trainer/mentor/
counselor/advisor/consultant (given a
chance)
8. Final word of advice
But, compared to the above pattern, focuss
should be shifted to other points if the
employee is leaving on account of
resignation or VR.Here, HR must try the
level best to capture the root cause for
leaving. In such cases, questions should be
based on the following:-
1. Reason for leaving
2. Impression about the organization
3. Significant Contribution
4. Difficulty faced (if any)
5. How the organization could have been
served your interest so that you would
not have thought for leaving the
organization?
6. Willingness to the join the company at
a later stage (given a chance)
The duration of the interview should not be
long enough & it must be conducted before
the final day of leaving so that employee
concerned is not in a hurry .While
conducting the interview, the HR manager
must create the conducive environment in
which the employee will feel free to convey
his frank opinion.One of the big role for HR
here is to express the concern of management
for losing the particular employee.The
employee must get a feel of it.
After the conduct of the interview, the
response of the outgoing employee may be
thoroughly analyzed. A comprehensive
database is quite helpful in storing the
responses of Exit Interview. Multiple
querries can be run utilizing the database.If
the management wants to know particular
information pertaining to the profile of people
leaving,it can be instantly provided.After
storing all the required information, it is
desirable to generate a comprehensive
report which is presented to the
Management for perusal & appropriate
action.
Using the Exit Interview analysis reports,HR
can suggest many developmental
interventions to the Management for
implementation. These include design of
reward & recognisation schemes to the
performers, review of compensation
package & introducing various motivational
schemes to enhance the sense of
belongingness for the organization. The
organization may go for many non-monetary
benefits like initiating a culture building
process by building an environment of trust,
mutual respect & open communication,
interactions through informal get-together to
strenghthen interpersonal relationship.
These interventions will improve the climate
of the organization in which employees will
be committed to contribute for the
organization.
Losing an experienced employee is always
an irreparable loss for any organization.
Hiring a suitable substitute is equally
tough.However if the committed HR team
work diligently for employee retention,it will
be a tremendous achievement !The Exit
Interview may appear to be a simple HR
activity but it has a big role to play.
u H
Mr. Debabrata Dash works with Corporate HR, Nalco, Bhubaneshwar and he can be reached at e-mail: dash.debabrata@rediffmail.com
| HRD News Letter | January 2007, Vol.22, Issue:10 29|