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Outsourcing Exit Interviews: Rationale and Benefits

Exit interviews are like the great Native American rain dance. People can feel good about doing them, but they really don't change much.

Properly designed and implemented exit interviews however can make a difference. Unfortunately, they often fall short of their intended purpose because of one basic flaw in their design - having an internal employee conduct or coordinate the process.

Internally Managed Exit Interviews are Flawed
Having the in-house HR department or worse yet, someone in the departing employee's chain of command conduct the face-to-face interview is a best practice for obtaining happy speak and other forms of non-disclosure. Most people will not divulge the true reason for leaving to internal employees for fear of burning bridges, and any number of other subtle reasons.

Susan Givens-Skeaton [2003] of St. Joseph's University validated this in research for her doctoral dissertation - specifically that perceptions of sensitivity and threat do influence individual's willingness to disclose. Her findings confirmed those obtained by Lefkowitz and Katz (1969), who found that only 41% of their sample provided the same reason for leaving pre- and post-departure. Organizations are better served to outsource the process - typically a very inexpensive proposition.

The Benefits of Outsourcing
According to the Employment Policy Foundation (EPF) report, The American Workplace 2005: The Changing Nature of Employee Benefits, which HR News reported on in August 2005, exit interviews are used in 48 percent of the organizations that they polled. Many of the respondents reported that outsourcing the interviews could lower their cost and result in more feedback that is open.

In addition to increasing the likelihood of obtain candid explanations for employees separations, having an outside party facilitate the exit interview process can:

1. Lower the cost of conducting exit interviews, depending on how they are currently being conducted within the organization
2. Underscore their importance to the organization
3. Increase the overall level of participation
4. Free up valuable time for human resource professionals to focus on other equally pressing needs

Summary
Most departing employees do not want to burn bridges with an employer who they may need to rely upon in the future for an employment reference or a job. Outsourcing a properly designed process is the most effective step that any organization can take to better understand the TRUE reasons for employee departures.