By Jeremy Hendrickson

      Exit interviews are a common practice within small businesses that some support and others criticize. Some use them as an essential part of business improvement, while others don’t believe the advantages warrant the time and effort required. Exit interviews are not essential to be successful; but if performed correctly, they can be highly useful for all types of small businesses.

Are Exit Interviews Useful?
      The exit interview is generally a meeting with an employee, face to face or over the telephone, who is choosing to leave the company due to internal or external factors (i.e., voluntary turnover). Turnover not only costs small businesses time and money, but also can affect employee morale, the overall environment of the business and, subsequently, the quality of services provided. The exit interview process can be an effective way of reducing both types of turnover by gaining insight as to why employees are leaving, if it could have been avoided, and any other information that can reduce departures in the future.

What Can Be Learned?
      Exit interviews can be an educational tool regarding how a small business operates. Departing individuals often possess firsthand knowledge of problem areas within the business of which management might not be aware. These problems can include ineffective policies or procedures, faulty equipment, unfair treatment of employees, etc. Even in situations when personal or family issues are behind the employee’s departure, that individual can still provide useful knowledge in terms of making overall improvements.

      Information also can be gained by looking at the trends of those who leave. The departure of stylistically similar employees might suggest that the business should review its selection process or possibly seek professional assessment in order to bring in individuals that are a better fit.

Strategy for the Interviews
      Exit interviews should be immediate. After employees leave a company, they can become hard to reach or disinterested in participating. It is also likely that the more immediate the interview, the more accurate and detailed the information provided will be. Research on the accuracy of eyewitness accounts consistently shows how poor people’s recall of events can be after an extended amount of time.

      Exit interviews should be conducted in a structured format. Structured interviews are more valid, reliable and overall useful than unstructured. An agreed upon procedure should be in place before conducting the meeting so that each interview is organized and planned regardless of the person conducting it. Questions should be ordered, planned and consistent. This practice can also provide protection regarding legal aspects.

      Someone who is trained and/or experienced with this kind of procedure should conduct the exit interview. Unlike a selection interview, the departing employee can be disgruntled, upset or uncooperative. Leaving an organization can be a sensitive issue for both parties, causing the employee to be hesitant to divulge honest opinions. Therefore an interviewer trained to handle these interviews should lead these meetings.

      Companies should consider the feedback from departing employees, but should be sure to research that information before any action is taken. Some people could be overly apathetic with the process, others disgruntled or giving subjective feedback, not accurately representing the situation. For these reasons, it is important to look for consistencies in quality interviewees that genuinely care about the process and the information they present.
     
Use What You Learn
      What you learn from interviews should be applied to the business as soon as possible. A good amount can be learned about potential company improvements from these meetings, but this information won’t do any good if not acted upon. If nothing is done to address the problems discovered, it is highly likely that employees will continue to leave for similar reasons.

      A small business can function just fine without having this process in its system. However, such a process can provide enriched data on which significant improvements can be based. It always helps a company to know its employees’ attitudes and feelings about working there. So, conduct exit interviews and learn more about your employees and your business.
     

Jeremy Hendrickson, M.S. is a research associate at Carr and Associates, an industrial psychology firm in Overland Park. You can reach him at .