Analyzing Exit Interviews
CillaN
7 Posts
Has anyone here done any exit interview analysis before? If so, how do you start? I need guidance and I want to know from the time you collect the data to the time you formalize the result in details. I've heard people use bar graphs or pie charts, but how do you do that? Is it something a normal HR person can do or does this need a consultant? My point of wanting to do this is to analyze the reasons for turnover so that I can at least see if it's something our company can improve upon. Please let me know and I really appreciate your help in advance!
Comments
In our exit interviews we usually ask employees to rate their satisfaction with their employment at our company, including compensation, benefits, training, work environment, opportunities for advancement, etc. If they have accepted other employment, we ask them to tell us their reasons for accepting the other job and also to rank the reasons they accepted (More money? Better opportunities?) We also ask employees if they have any “advice” for our company about hiring, training, communicating, or anything else. This kind of information might help you see if there’s something you can change at your company. We put the information in a spreadsheet so we can sort and analyze in different ways.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
I think that this is definitely something you can do yourself. In our exit interviews, we usually ask departing employees why exactly they are leaving, whether they think they were paid fairly, if they had enough resources and time to do their job effectively, what they liked best/least about their job, if the job was described accurately to them when they were first interviewed/hired, if they felt appreciated, how satisfied/disatisfied they were, and how their relationship was with their supervisor. Asking these questions should give you a pretty good idea of the exact reason why the person is leaving, and you can keep track of it in any way that you think will work best for you (i.e., a spreadsheet, chart, etc.)
BLR also has a turnover calculator that I've used before that I've found to be easy and useful. Also, I've gotten ideas on questions to ask in an exit interview from their exit interview checklists.
Good luck!
If turnover is traditionally high in your company, exit interviews may hold the key to finding out why. Careful written records of what is said during these interviews should be maintained and reviewed from time to time to discover patterns in employees' responses.
Before you start the analysis, you might want to draw a distinction between exit interviews (for employees who have terminated voluntarily) and termination interviews (for employees who have been dismissed) and break them out accordingly.
When you finish the analysis, contact your EPLI provider as this analysis may be taken into consideration by your insurer when assessing risk.