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 How you end the employment relationship is as important as how it begins.
Because your staff is your most valuable — and expensive — resource to replace, it makes sense to protect this investment by learning what exiting staff members have to say about their relationship with your agency.
As with any other area of people management, Exit Interviews require you to spend time and resources. Fortunately, they provide a significant return on your investment.
BENEFITS OF EXIT INTERVIEWS
- The reasons that staff leave can be basic and reparable: Departing staff can suggest improvements, training ideas, and needed change.
- Reviewing a group of exit interviews allows agency management to develop trends that help predict the future and, hopefully, prevent repeating the past.
- Interviews can help improve job descriptions and lines of communication: If one employee feels that they don’t understand their job, it’s a good bet that others feel the same way.
- Hearing about what you might not do well is the best way to know how to change: The most effective way to grow your agency is not relying on your strengths, but overcoming your weaknesses.
CONDUCTING AN EXIT INTERVIEW
The exit interview doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, a successful interview should be “nothing more” than a conversation with a valuable person who has chosen to leave your agency. Here are some guidelines:
Invest the time to plan the interview. Consider when and where the interview will take place, and what you want to accomplish. Then communicate these intentions to the employee. When possible, provide the employee with a copy of the interview before meeting. Remember, departing employees aren’t required to participate in Exit Interviews — so make it worth their while. Also, select a suitable place for the interview. Phone calls, open doors, and other distractions will significantly lessen the effectiveness of the interview process.
Pick the right time. As a rule, do the interview as soon as possible after the termination decision. A timely interview sends a positive message to the employee and the entire staff that you’re concerned enough to discuss the change as soon as possible. Conducting an exit interview on the last day of employment or at a later date is not advisable — it’s highly unlikely that the employee will participate seriously in an interview when they’re literally walking out the door.
Select the right interviewer. An agency principal is usually the best person to communicate the value of the employee’s opinions, and assess the value and use of information gained. It’s generally not a good idea for the Personal Lines or Commercial Lines Manager to do the interview because their working relationship with the employee might hinder the free sharing of ideas during the interview.
Handle the interview with sensitivity. The purpose of the interview is to understand the views of the employee. It is possible they are emotional, and may be express anger or dissatisfaction with the agency, management and staff.. The interviewer needs communication skills to establish a rapport, and communicate a lack of judgment.
Make it clear that the information is confidential. It’s critical to assure the employee that you’ll handle all information gathered in a professional and confidential manner. Do not “share” what you’ve learned in the next weekly staff meeting!
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