Dr. Marla Gottshalk, Director of Organizational Talent at Allied Talent, recently posted this thought-provoking piece on the exit interview on LinkedIn Pulse. Organizations must learn from shortcomings in order to improve, yet so many organizations underutilize some of the most actionable feedback available.

In addition to the organizations never actually asking departing talent why they’re leaving, Gottshalk also questions the organizations who collect information but do too little to act upon it:

“In other cases, exit interview information is collected, yet it is never acted upon. Learning why employees are leaving your organization, is just as critical as knowing why they originally sought you out. As an employer, it’s important to peel back the layers and consider what can be learned from those who have lived our culture. Unfortunately, many organizations aren’t able to do this effectively…”

Quite a few commenters on this article suggest that exit interviews aren’t as valuable as the article suggests. They feel organizations never have any real intent to act on the information collected.

Others say confidentiality is the greatest obstacle. Employees will avoid genuine feedback for the sake of maintaining what they think is professional decorum.

ExitRight® from HSD Metrics has a few key features to combat these concerns. First, our flexible all-in-one platform provides data in aggregate, with options to drill down as far as to individual responses. HR professionals can address individual comments without losing sight of the big picture, and the overall “reasons for leaving” are easy to see. Second, HSD Metrics employs a survey process that demonstrates total anonymity to exiting employees. It benefits everyone when employees feel they can be honest, and the proper secure, third-party system can make that possible.

What do you think? Read the full article here.

Interested in hearing more about what our exit interview solution has to offer? Contact us today for an evaluation based on your needs.