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Companies could save themselves a lot of pretense with exit interviews and just assume the following: If a good person leaves your company, it is because of on

Companies could save themselves a lot of pretense with exit interviews and just assume the following: If a good person leaves your company, it is because of one or more of the following: 1. You can't (or won't) pay them as much as someone else. 2. They aren't happy in the culture of your company. 3. They aren't happy with the type of work they are doing. 4. They don't see a bright future with your company - either for themselves, or for the company, or both. 5. They don't trust the company (or, possibly, the people they work with). 6. It isn't one item, or one incident, but over their time with the company, many little things that eroded their desire to work there. A person leaving today might have become fed up with the company two years ago when some botched project burned them or a manager handled something completely inappropriately. People don't usually just quit on the spot. 7. They want to work for themselves. Which means, they don't want to work for you. It really isn't you, it's them. (Wish them good luck and be sincere) 8. They can get a better deal (non-monetary) somewhere else and it outweighs the job. For young people, often the job is part of their identity. Once people get married and have kids (or just get a little older), they realize that working for someone else is not much of a reward. They may want a more flexible schedule, may want to just physically be closer to their home, any number of things that you may not be able to control. 9. You see them as a replaceable part and they know it. (Surprise!)

dasil003 13y ago
So rather than ask the person like a grownup they should wildly speculate in order to make everyone less uncomfortable? I mean you have a list of 9 reasons off the top of your head and it's just the tip of the iceberg.
- silverbax88 13y ago
  Name another reason that doesn't fall under those nine. I'm honestly not trying to argue, just asking. There aren't really that many reasons why people leave. People leave because they aren't happy or aren't getting paid enough or they have a personal situation that dictates it. There are really just 3 reasons but I elaborated because I expected people to start chiming in with all of the reasons I missed.
  - kohanz 13y ago
    Those reasons are so vague, though. Alright, so "people aren't happy", how should I go about fixing that as an employer? Step 1: find out what they are unhappy about. Hence the exit interview. IMHO, this information should be gathered well before exit, e.g. through regular 1-on-1's, but that's another discussion.
    - schrodinger 13y ago
      An exit interview allows you to be more candid than in a regular 1-on-1. When you're still an employee you're more worried about saying something that could affect your perception.
      - kohanz 13y ago
        Good point. This also very much depends on the manager-employee relationship between the two people in the 1-on-1.
  - GotAnyMegadeth 13y ago
    Just won the lottery Close relative has received a terminal diagnosis Believed their horrorscope Got pregnant Saved enough money to retire to Thailand Spouse has had an affair with a co-worker (Trust aside this is still a good reason)
    - James_Duval 13y ago
      Most of these fall under: > They can get a better deal (non-monetary) elsewhere Just won the lottery, close relative received terminal diagnosis, got pregnant, believed their horoscope, saved enough to retire - these are all cases where someone believes they can get more value for themselves by leaving their job. Spouse has had an affair with a co-worker probably goes under "not happy with the culture"...
    - aragot 13y ago
      I probably wouldn't talk about any of those reasons in most situations. People who leave usually negociate or talk up before they leave. If you need the exit interview, then your management is seriously unable to hear. In which case the exit interview won't be acted upon anyway.
- michaelt 13y ago
  So rather than ask the person like a grownup they should wildly speculate in order to make everyone less uncomfortable? When a parent asks friends "look at this photo, isn't my baby beautiful?" the answer is information-free as everyone will say "yes, that is a cute baby". Exit interviews are the same. But unlike the stuff with a parent, it doesn't have the social-bond-building value of gossip. With an exit interview, in the best case you learn nothing and know it; and in the worst case you learn nothing but mistakenly think you learned something. Not bothering with an exit interview helps you avoid that mistake, and saves you time as well.
  - BlackDeath3 13y ago
    >When a parent asks friends "look at this photo, isn't my baby beautiful?" the answer is information-free as everyone will say "yes, that is a cute baby". One of my life goals is to always answer this question honestly.
    - nsxwolf 13y ago
      Please don't. Nothing good can come of it.
      - BlackDeath3 13y ago
        Perhaps they'll initiate less meaningless smalltalk with me once they realize that I prefer to engage in honest, substantial conversations. Don't want to know what I think? Don't ask me.
        nsxwolf 13y ago
        They'll probably initiate less talk of any kind with you after pulling that.
        BlackDeath3 13y ago
        That's fine with me. They sound like the type of people I'd rather not spend much time talking to anyway.
- mikestew 13y ago
  The company should be having that grownup conversation well before I leave. If my manager does not know why I'm leaving, they haven't been doing their job as a manager...which may be one of the reasons I'm leaving. :-) Of the companies I've worked for that hold exit interviews, and I've had conversations with ex-coworkers about what they said at the exit interview, it would appear that it doesn't make any difference anyway. So why open yourself up to any liability, or help relieve your ex-employer of any liability? Don't waste your time, or even their time for that matter.
zastrowm 13y ago
That seems to be a lot of possible reasons. So once they see a good person leaving, what should they do to stem the flow? Having a list of nine possible reasons is nice, but if they don't know which one is the right one, it can make it very difficult to know what to change in response.
- silverbax88 13y ago
  You should attempt to change all of the ones you can control. It's not simple. Which is why most companies only pretend to care.
moepstar 13y ago
Companies, CEOs and other executives should print this a thousand times and put it up on their walls.

dasil003 13y ago

So rather than ask the person like a grownup they should wildly speculate in order to make everyone less uncomfortable? I mean you have a list of 9 reasons off the top of your head and it's just the tip of the iceberg.

silverbax88 13y ago
Name another reason that doesn't fall under those nine. I'm honestly not trying to argue, just asking. There aren't really that many reasons why people leave. People leave because they aren't happy or aren't getting paid enough or they have a personal situation that dictates it. There are really just 3 reasons but I elaborated because I expected people to start chiming in with all of the reasons I missed.
- kohanz 13y ago
  Those reasons are so vague, though. Alright, so "people aren't happy", how should I go about fixing that as an employer? Step 1: find out what they are unhappy about. Hence the exit interview. IMHO, this information should be gathered well before exit, e.g. through regular 1-on-1's, but that's another discussion.
  - schrodinger 13y ago
    An exit interview allows you to be more candid than in a regular 1-on-1. When you're still an employee you're more worried about saying something that could affect your perception.
    - kohanz 13y ago
      Good point. This also very much depends on the manager-employee relationship between the two people in the 1-on-1.
- GotAnyMegadeth 13y ago
  Just won the lottery Close relative has received a terminal diagnosis Believed their horrorscope Got pregnant Saved enough money to retire to Thailand Spouse has had an affair with a co-worker (Trust aside this is still a good reason)
  - James_Duval 13y ago
    Most of these fall under: > They can get a better deal (non-monetary) elsewhere Just won the lottery, close relative received terminal diagnosis, got pregnant, believed their horoscope, saved enough to retire - these are all cases where someone believes they can get more value for themselves by leaving their job. Spouse has had an affair with a co-worker probably goes under "not happy with the culture"...
  - aragot 13y ago
    I probably wouldn't talk about any of those reasons in most situations. People who leave usually negociate or talk up before they leave. If you need the exit interview, then your management is seriously unable to hear. In which case the exit interview won't be acted upon anyway.
michaelt 13y ago
So rather than ask the person like a grownup they should wildly speculate in order to make everyone less uncomfortable? When a parent asks friends "look at this photo, isn't my baby beautiful?" the answer is information-free as everyone will say "yes, that is a cute baby". Exit interviews are the same. But unlike the stuff with a parent, it doesn't have the social-bond-building value of gossip. With an exit interview, in the best case you learn nothing and know it; and in the worst case you learn nothing but mistakenly think you learned something. Not bothering with an exit interview helps you avoid that mistake, and saves you time as well.
- BlackDeath3 13y ago
  >When a parent asks friends "look at this photo, isn't my baby beautiful?" the answer is information-free as everyone will say "yes, that is a cute baby". One of my life goals is to always answer this question honestly.
  - nsxwolf 13y ago
    Please don't. Nothing good can come of it.
    - BlackDeath3 13y ago
      Perhaps they'll initiate less meaningless smalltalk with me once they realize that I prefer to engage in honest, substantial conversations. Don't want to know what I think? Don't ask me.
      - nsxwolf 13y ago
        They'll probably initiate less talk of any kind with you after pulling that.
        BlackDeath3 13y ago
        That's fine with me. They sound like the type of people I'd rather not spend much time talking to anyway.
mikestew 13y ago
The company should be having that grownup conversation well before I leave. If my manager does not know why I'm leaving, they haven't been doing their job as a manager...which may be one of the reasons I'm leaving. :-) Of the companies I've worked for that hold exit interviews, and I've had conversations with ex-coworkers about what they said at the exit interview, it would appear that it doesn't make any difference anyway. So why open yourself up to any liability, or help relieve your ex-employer of any liability? Don't waste your time, or even their time for that matter.

zastrowm 13y ago

That seems to be a lot of possible reasons. So once they see a good person leaving, what should they do to stem the flow? Having a list of nine possible reasons is nice, but if they don't know which one is the right one, it can make it very difficult to know what to change in response.

silverbax88 13y ago
You should attempt to change all of the ones you can control. It's not simple. Which is why most companies only pretend to care.

moepstar 13y ago

Companies, CEOs and other executives should print this a thousand times and put it up on their walls.