Losing good employees is not only an expense in terms of time, effort and the associated cost of finding a suitable replacement but also in the untold cost of losing valuable knowledge and experience that is unique to the organization; Prevention is the best cure against the problem of losing good employees.

From time to time employees will leave an organization but it is important for an employer to know that people are leaving for the right reasons and not for reasons that could have been addressed and resolved.

Concerns of employees can be identified early by the regular use of well designed job satisfaction surveys, allowing for problems to be resolved and helping to minimize needless loss of staff. However, some problems, especially those that involve personalities, are not always brought to the surface until it is too late.

Two of the most common reasons personnel decide to leave an organization is due to a lack of career development and/or poor management. Both of these problems can be difficult to identify even for organizations that adopt regular 360-degree appraisals (i.e. where employees may be asked to appraise their line managers).

While employed employees can be reluctant to criticize their managers for fear of the consequences, they can however be more candid when completing an employee exit survey.

It is unlikely that an Exit survey will prevent any individuals from leaving but it will help identify problems that could, if left unchecked, could result in poor staff moral for the remaining staff and worse case scenario, more resignations.

Limited Career Development

Not all employees desire, nor can employers always provide their employees with a clear and long term career path. There are just as many people that find comfort and security in doing one job well as there are people that need to feel that they are continual being challenged, learning new skills and moving onwards and upwards with respect to the corporate ladder. A successful organization will maintain the balance of having high flyers and more modest and humble employees.

Where losses due to a lack of career development are occasional they may also be inevitable, but where they are frequent, then changes to the organizational structure might need to be considered to allow for greater career development of the employees.

Poor Management

Many managers achieved their position through promotion, but it does not always follow that a good worker will automatically make a good manager and often people are assigned management position without any formal management training.

Managers who perform poorly can be quick to discredit the views of disgruntled staff, ‘I am glad they went it saved me getting rid of them’ and ‘they were useless anyway’ may prove to be common responses to those managers being asked if there are any problems that might be causing people to leave the organization.

It is proper and natural for senior management to support their line managers by giving them the benefit of any doubt, after all a good managers can always be slighted by poor employees. But by conducting exit surveys, if a man-management problem were to be identified early there is a good chance that it can be addressed and resolved with the appropriate formal training and guidance.

Records

It is not that unusual for a person to leave an employer and put in a claim for constructive dismissal at a later date. With ‘No win no fee’ legal representation this has become a real problem for even good employers. At best Exit surveys will provide an organization with a valuable record of the employee’s reasons for leaving, and at worse, provide advanced warning that a possible claim for unfair dismissal might be expected.

Unless it is on record a tribunal will not necessarily accept an employer’s word that when an employee left they did so without indicating any grievance.

Timing the exit survey

Exit surveys can be conducted as part of the termination procedures or they can, with the employee’s agreement, be delayed for a few months.

If the timing of the exit survey is delayed for a month or two it could allow for a period of reflection where the ex-employee may be less prone to emotion and more objective and if they have started a new job they may be in a position to compare their previous role with their new role.

Conducting an exit survey as part of the termination procedure has the advantage that although the leaving employee may be emotional their views may be more reflective of their true state of mind and therefore closer to the real reasons they have decided to leave. If left until later any comparison between their old and new roles may be the result of them putting on a brave face, and if reasons are given that require action, the delay may well hinder the problem from being resolved.

Summary

Organizations will generally benefit in a number of different ways by including exit surveys as part of their employee termination procedures. They will at the very least provide good records that could prove very valuable later, at best they will provide management with information that can help improve an organization spiritually and with the bottom line.

See the following survey for sample exit interview questions.