Exit interviews tell the truth

Want to know why employees did leave not why they might leave?

















Exit interviews are the only way to get candid unsensored feedback from those that have left an organisation.

What was the trigger that caused them to resign? What would have made them stay longer? How long did it take the to resign?

Wouldn't it be nice to have to have the foresight to manage potential future resignations?

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Exit interview workshops can help make your exit interviews meaningful!

Don't let exit interviews become just another tick off the list!

Exit interviews provide extremely valuable information. IF exit interviews are conducted in the correct way you could increase employee productivity dramatically.

It all comes down to making the ex-employee feel comfortable enough to be open and honest along with asking the right questions. Then, of course, comes the reporting. Assuming all these are done correctly you now have golden insight in to what is great and not great about working for your organisation.

As we say 'knowledge is power'!

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Increase employee motivation to participate in interviews

 

High participation rates enable the organisation to view themes across groups of employees. The more interviews, the more solutions become obvious!

Here are suggestions to increase participation:

·      Rename the exit interview the ‘employment study’ to remove it from the sometimes negative connotations attached to exit interviews

·         Extend the period for interview up to three months past the employee’s final employment date

·         Ensure managers or HR maintain up to date contact details in order to conduct interviews post-employment 

·         Guarantee confidentiality. No individual’s feedback is provided to a manager unless requested by the employee. Managers can only access aggregated data

·         Send a reminder email to the employee before departure to encourage their participation in the study after they leave

·         Provide a letter to employees before they depart that explains that they will be contacted for inclusion in an employment study

·         Send out general reminders on a regular basis to managers reminding them about the value of understanding improvements through employee participation in the interview

·         Communicate the new process to all staff. Ask senior management to publicly support the new approach using existing communication systems such as all-staff emails, employee newsletter or staff meetings

Publicise quick wins or improvements achieved because of exiting employees’ feedback.

Exit interview & understanding the employment experience

The purpose of an exit interview is to understand the entire employment experience
















In addition to understanding the reasons behind their resignation, the interview should be used to gain feedback from an employee who has experienced an entire employment cycle with you.

These are the main questions to ask.

1.  What attracted you to the organisation originally?

2.  And which of your expectations were met here?

3.  And which expectations were not met?

4.  How would you describe the organisation to a friend who was thinking of working here?

5.  What was great about working here?

6.  What wasn’t so good about working here?

7.  What was the main reason you decided that you didn’t want to stay here any longer?

8.  What’s the main thing you would have liked your manager to do differently?

9.  Would you consider working with this organisation again?

 Each question’s results will go to amending a specific policy or practice which will improve future recruitment and retention.

Also include a tick-a-box section to capture the demographics of each interviewee. For example, you might include gender, age groups, business units, performance ratings, role level. That means you will be able to isolate the interviews of particular groups (women or sales people, for example) to find out the main themes affecting them.

From an administrative perspective, you will also want to include information such as your name and the month of resignation. There is no need to include the employee’s name because this interview is confidential and is conducted so as to get a macro sense of the policies and practices which need to change.

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1300 73 83 71

How to maintain employee motivation?

Find out what your employees want!

In our engagement interviews, we ask the question 'What’s great about working here?'  

Find out what you do well from the only people capable of telling you – your employees. Perhaps they’ll talk highly of your training programs, the quality of support from managers, the diversity of clients, the routine of each day… These strengths are what you must protect! 

For fast solutions from surveys, take a look at www.retentionpartners.com.au/metrics.php.

Gather critical info through an employee survey

GATHER DATA FROM HIGH VALUE EMPLOYEES FIRST, AND THE REMAINDER IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT


















Your retention strategy would have revealed who your high value employees are. Survey them first – why did they join, why are they still here, how long do they want to stay, what will make them resign? Consider outsourcing this survey to gain truthful and anonymous responses.

For survey assistance and ideas, see www.retentionpartners.com.au/metrics.php

Whats great? Increase employee motivation

When doing a study of your current employees, the question “What’s great about working here?” uncovers the things that make them stay with your organisation. One of the most common responses to this question in all organisations is “The people I work with”. Once you know these positives, you can use them in your recruitment messages AND give the staff more of these ‘positives’ to increase retention.

Do you know what your employees think is great about working for your organisation? What are they? How do you use this data to help your recruitment and employee motivation strategies?

Start at the beginning with an employee survey

Of course, you try to ensure your recruitment processes are best practice but what if they're not? How would you know?

We once worked with a client that advertised jobs for this role as an "outdoor job" and they couldn't work out why so many of their new recruits were leaving after 3 - 6 months. When we spoke to the new recruits it became obvious. They were being attracted by the outdoor component of the job but the reality was that half the role was working inside doing repetitive tasks.

Once they made changes to the advertisement to make it more accurately reflect the job, tenure increased because the organisation began attracting candidates that were prepared to do both parts of the job!

It is an important part of the recruitment process to get feedback from new recruits about:

1. How accurate was the recruitment advertisement in its portrayal of life on the job?
2. Did the recruitment process make you feel your application was valued by the company?
3. What additional communication would you have liked?
4. What could be improved about the interview process?
5. What other improvements could be made to the recruitment process?

Does your organisation have a process for capturing feedback about your recruitment process? An employee survey? Have you ever been asked about your experience when you have started working with an organisation?  We're looking forward to hearing your stories!

Chinese whispers & employee engagement survey

I have worked with managers in the past who have said that a particular team member is looking around – "go have a chat with them, find out what salary we need to offer to keep them" they tell me. So I ask, "how do you know they are looking around"? Well, they say, "I heard from such-and-such who told so-and-so that this person was on the phone with a recruiter and was seen using Seek"

In all likelihood, it is too late. If someone is out there on final interview, or in fact gives you notice, offering a big cash incentive to stay is only relaying the inevitable. They have most likely already become disengaged and have moved on in their own mind.

There is a lesson here … please don’t wait until it is too late. Change the way you think. Every employee you have is a potential candidate for someone else’s business – not just the person out there doing job interviews. Everyone is. Throwing some more money at someone may make them stay longer, but will it make them perform stronger or lead or motivate others around them. Or does it just keep a warm body sitting at a desk for longer?

A true retention strategy is proactive, not just about keeping bums on seats and disengaged minds in the business. It is about providing opportunities to learn and grow, coupled with great management and a good work culture so it doesn’t cross employees minds to leave.

Our research has shown that the majority of people leave because of things their organisation  could have done better. So if you put the management of people at the top of your priority list and you have a great retention plan based on real data about why people leave, you can make a positive impact on employment retention in your business.  So, get proactive, ask questions, listen and show that you care, not just the one with a remarkable nice suit on but one foot out the door.

Sickening problems with employee turnover

So in Melbourne the other day, I talked with an organisation who had a sickening problem.

They had a core of really great staff. And then they had a small cohort of employees who gamed the system. They knew how much sick leave was unassessable, when the union would get involved, at what stage doctors certificates were required, who the ‘good’ doctors were, when the first written warning would come etc, etc.

That business had some employees with up to 250 sick days a year.

And it was the ones who turned up every day who bore a larger burden, and it’s hard to explain to a hard worker why their reward is more work.

That organisation is staring in the face of a domino effect: ‘Why should I show up when he/she doesn’t have to?’

Have you faced difficulty getting on top of absenteeism? How did you cope? Or were prevailing circumstances, history and accepted practice too hard to overcome?

What if your employee turnover consisted of loosing your key employees as a result of retaining the plodders?

Wouldn't you like to pinpoint problem areas in your organisation? 

Please call us on 1300 73 83 to have an informal chat on how we can help you locate the problem areas costing you money.

Interview questions and answers & martial arts

So, at martial arts, our instructors really focus on self-defense techniques and on building our fitness.

But every now and then they cast a few pearls before us: little gems of wisdom that you can take or leave.

One of my favourites is that old saying ‘Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right’.

Now, that’s not really what I want to hear, 1 minute into the plank with 30 seconds to go. You really want to hear ‘Time!’.

But like so much of life, it’s in your head. I’ve talked myself out of physical exercises long before my muscles decide to pack it in.

And organisations, unfortunately, can take the same approach. ‘We can’t do anything about turnover, so we’ll just get better at recruitment. Or we’ll outsource the function and make it someone else’s problem’.

It’s so frustrating because the answer is within the organisation’s ability to influence, if they choose to! 70% of reasons employees quit is influenced by the employer. That means that 7 out of 10 resignations could have been delayed if the organisation took the time to find out what the reasons were. But if they take the mindset that they can’t reduce turnover, guess what? Turnover doesn’t reduce!

Have you tried to change the mindset? Or have you worked in businesses that shrug turnover off as all too hard to do anything about?


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Interview questions and what to ask?

So, it’s interesting when we look at some client’s exit data.

We notice that there are certain times of the year when turnover increases.

Like the hospital chain in Melbourne. Do you know when most of their nurses resign?

Winter.

Ever had winter in Melbourne?

Much better to head to Europe or Asia for a few months.

A Canberra Federal Government client tends to lose more employees whenever an election is called, due to the uncertainty of what an incoming government might do to the department.

Have you noticed any times in your business when turnover spikes? What can you do to address that event or time of the year?


Keep turnover spikes to a minimum with finding out when they might be and asking the right interview questions.

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