Using the Exit Interview as a Learning Tool
By Michael C. Dennis MBA, CBF, LCM

Some companies don't bother with exit interviews at all. Many companies conduct exit interviews, but fail to use the information provided properly. If your company goes to the trouble of conducting an exit interview, it should:

• Try to understand both the primary reason and the secondary reasons employees are leaving

• Keep statistics on the reasons people leave and if a trend emerges consider taking appropriate action to correct problems or deficiencies at the company.

• Try to determine what can be done to reduce the number of incidences in which employees voluntarily quit - recognizing the costs associated with losing a trained and qualified employee which include the direct costs of finding, hiring and training their replacement and the indirect costs including reduced productivity while the replacement employee comes up to speed.