Exit Interview is one of the types of interview conducted by human resource department of an organization on a departing employee of the same organization, when he / she decides and plans to leave the organization. This means it’s a meeting between one of the members of the human resource department (here they are also called neutral party) and the departing employee.

Exit interviews are sometimes also called exit survey because here the basic objective of the employer is to gather all the information from the departing employee about the organization and the reasons for leaving the same. Here the departing employee has his / her own individual reasons for leaving the organization (voluntarily resigns) and hence it’s important for the organization to know about the reasons.

The main objective of the employer should be to conduct unbiased and fair interview. This helps the departing employee to share his / her real reasons for leaving the organization. Generally feedback is gathered on his / her work experience, reasons for leaving the organization. These data provided by the departing employer in turn helps in-

• Improving the working condition of the organization
• Retaining the existing  employees
• Improving the work productivity
• Better management at work place
• Removing the discrimination or violence at work place

Unbiased exit interview is considered to be a successful exit interview as it helps an organization to assess information from the departing employee and translate them into necessary and required actions. Thus, unbiased exit interview helps to provide lesson to the organizations. Therefore because of this reason, organizations use their HR guys to conduct exit interview. Some organizations even hire third party to conduct honest and unbiased exit interview.

The interview panel generally consists of HR go and head of the department (not the immediate boss).That is, none of the interviewer should have worked directly with the interviewee. Irrespective of the fact that who conducts exit interview, the most important objective should be that the authorized guy should be able to formulate means to receive honest feedback from its departing employee. They must be able to asses the root cause of leaving the organization. So, a successful exit interview is one in which both the interviewer and the interviewee are satisfied with the entire process and it concludes positively

Exit interview can be either verbal or in written form. Oral based exit interview are face to face interview of the employer and the departing employee or through telephones. In written form, they are generally in the format of questionnaire. These days, even electronic questionnaire is commonly followed. The interview includes questions about –

• reasons for leaving
• job satisfaction
• feedback on organization policy ,work culture etc
• compensation related query
• feedback on his job profile,
• feedback on his immediate boss or supervisor, subordinates
• working relationship

Organizations follow either of the modes of interview (written or oral) to get the feedback. However,it is generally observed that oral interview is more better than written interview ,as the interviewer can analyze the interviewee’s expressions, body language, conviction, tone etc. during the interview. It enables better communication and understanding.

Many departing employees hesitate to share and are very reluctant .However, oral or face to face exit interview proves to be more effective in knowing those reluctant feelings. Thus, verbal exit interview helps the interviewer to interpret and judge the departing employee much better than written form of interview.

While conducting exit interview, the HR guy should try and form a conducive atmosphere .There should be no disturbances in between the interview. The interviewee should be made comfortable such that he / she is able to share his / her honest feelings and opinions.   He / she should be assured that the information gathered from him / her will not be shared with anyone and will be highly confidential. Rather, those information and opinions will be utilized for the betterment of the remaining employees and the organization.

The interviewer should not carry any personal opinion about the departing employee. Instead he / she should give enough time and opportunity to the interviewee to express his / her views and thoughts. The main focus of the interviewer should be to gather maximum information from the interviewee. Questions should be both –objective as well as open ended. Interviewer should always plan and prepare the questions before hand. He / she should also take notes of the information gathered during the interview. He / she should be calm, composed and avoid arguments.

Once the exit interview is over, the interviewer should always read and analyze the answers or the information gathered. He / she should be able to interpret those information’s correctly and use the same for the betterment of the remaining employees and the organization on the whole.

Sometimes, a successful exit interview acts as an eye opener for some departing employees. It helps to change the mind of the departing employee. The assurance provided by his / her superior and HR personnel compels him / her to join the organization back. In such situations, HR personnel should act immediately and complete all the formalities to hold back the employee. So, exit interview also provides an opportunity to hold and retain its valuable and experienced employee.

Besides acting as a source of identifying the mistakes and weaker areas of management, exit interviews also act as an information source for the development of the organization.

Experienced employees are an asset to their organization. Their in-depth knowledge about their work, tips on working skills, contacts with the consumers and vendors, insights etc. are indispensable. However, when organizations overlook their capabilities or hard work, they get disheartened.

In other words, when management is not able to meet the expectations of their  old and experienced employees, they leave the job. So, exit interview conducted on such departing employees should be utilized to obtain all the useful knowledge and information for their successor or replacements. So, a properly planned and organized exit interview helps to attain all the needed information for the proper functioning of the organization.

Exit interview has numerous benefits on an organization. Therefore, every organization must include  exit interview as a part of its management policy.

Unbiased and successful exit interview –

• Help to support and improve the HR practices of the organization
• Helps in better management of the employees
• Helps to improve the quality of its employee and hence their work practices
• Helps to provide an opportunity to retain the employees
• Helps to remove the indifference’s developed  between the management and the departing employees. This in turn helps in building the positive image about the organization.
• Helps in improving the recruitment and induction process
• The results and analysis of the data and information gathered during exit interview helps in building and implementing  an efficient training process

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