The other day I was talking to someone about their feelings leading up to an exit interview (sometimes also called “surveys”). He had an internal struggle about what to say to the human resources employee.
Should he be 100% transparent?
Should he totally smile and lie about his experience?
Should he do something in between?
This article will be a lot less about what an employee should say in an exit interview and much more about the “why” behind these interviews.
As an aside, I did find a pretty good article from Forbes on the topic of what to say in an exit interview. If you are interested, take a peak.
Have you ever heard the saying, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you? Well in the world of employee engagement and retention, what you don’t know can truly hurt your organization.
People often talk about not wanting to burn bridges from an employer they plan to leave. They look at exit interviews as just one stop on their way out the door.
Many are not interested in trying to help their soon-to-be former employers get better, especially if they won’t be around to benefit from it.
The question is less about how honest employees should be and more about how much honesty organizations want to here.
What are they prepared to do about what they find out?
I would ask whether being honest in an exit interview serves to burn bridges or strengthens organizational foundations?
Sure, it can hurt to review this feedback, or even to hear it.
It also can hurt to tell the story in the interview, but if organizations do not listen, do they miss opportunities to get better and strengthen their culture and actually retain the talent that has chosen to stay?
I work in the area of Voice of the Customer and Voice of the Employee. I have administered customer and employee surveys at different stages of their life-cycles. From my perspective,
It is not what we hear that matters as much as what we do about it.
Organizations should focus on turning the employees’ exit into an opportunity to continue with engagement.
For example, could you win employees back who leave you? (Assuming you want them back) Would they ever refer you to another employee even after they leave? Would they still leave positive comments about you on websites like Glassdoor?
What type of culture could you create for your employees if you actually looked for the purest feedback possible?
We need to change our mindsets from a place where open and honest feedback is perceived as negative to a place where we embrace all feedback, no matter the tone.
Organizations, especially, should open their boardrooms and executive team meetings to the idea that listening to their internal and external customers often and without filter is the only way to sustain and grow.
Forget about burning bridges! Focus on using your employee’s voices to make what you do every day matter and make a difference.
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I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Please do Share it with anyone who you think might benefit. As always, I know there are many opinions on this topic and would love to hear them all. Join in the conversation. What does your organization do about what they hear in exit interviews?
Follow me on Twitter at @hryounger
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Heather is a people-focused leader with proven expertise in building productive teams and supporting internal customers in recognizing and leveraging unique gifts.
Heather truly believes that the most effective way to grow revenue and retain valuable internal and external customers is to actively listen to the Voice of the Customer, enthusiastically communicate those needs to internal stakeholders and champion organizational improvements, which will positively impact the employee and customer experience.
She is a blogpoet and has been blessed to be featured under Leadershipat www.blogpoets.com