Not all exit interview consultants are created equal. Just like any other service provider, there are bad apples out there in the human resource metric provider world. HSD Metrics® is not perfect (no one is), but we consider ourselves one of the good guys. Our ExitRight® exit interview design process is collaborative using the best of customized and well-researched questions with external benchmarks. We understand success requires question design excellence but also high completion rates, multiple notification, and interview methods with instant, robust reporting. ExitRight is not a project or a one-time event. It is a continuous process of completing interviews and reporting data instantly to monitor your work culture and improve your retention.
Back to the bad guys. Not all exit interview consultants have your best interests at heart, take the time to get to know the ins and outs of your business or execute your internal goals during the entire process. HSD Metrics’ ExitRight does all of this and more. So, when you are browsing through exit interview outsourcing suppliers, here are a few red flags you need to be aware of before you take the plunge into their services:
1. “I Know Best” Mentality
Yes, we are exit interview experts, but that does not mean that we know best all the time. Be cautious of exit interview providers who do not offer customized reporting of data aligned with your organizational structure. Be wary of interviews asking you to “please tell us how satisfied you were with…” rather than asking you to select from a variety of factors and conditions that caused you to leave. If the goal is to reduce turnover then questions should focus on such items. Most exiting employees desire closure as they transition to new opportunities and have a strong desire to explain why they left. It is insulting to ask questions that have little to do with a person’s reasons for leaving. Additionally, make sure the interview includes the opportunity for verbatim commentary to support each reason for leaving. Exiting employees want to share their experience and “filling out a form” rarely provides such opportunity. A well-designed interview with protections to not release the name of the respondent without their permission provides valuable retention, customer, leadership, and cost-reduction solutions. The “my way or the highway” mentality in a human resource metric provider can really hurt you in the long run. We understand that you are looking to us for our expertise, but each company is unique, so your opinions, goals, and ideas should be taken into account when designing the best possible exit interview process.
2. Eyes Are NOT on the Prize
Each exit interview regardless of whether it is completed by web, paper, or phone most often has a goal of learning controllable and uncontrollable turnover causes, new employer information, and retention solutions. If an exit interview supplier doesn’t fully comprehend your goal, the process will not be executed to its full potential. Understanding a company’s interview goals will allow an exit interview provider to develop the right questions. One example of customization is including a few identical questions from the company’s employee engagement survey so that comparisons are possible between current and exiting employees. Another customized exit interview example is learning what percent of employees accept positions with competitors. All companies are concerned about unethical or illegal activity and having an instant notification to the employer when such a response is received is often a desire of organizations who outsource their exit interviews. With full comprehension of data, verbatim commentary, and eyes on the prize, an exit interview process is able to gain far more insights into problems that surface for exiting and current employees. The exit interview becomes a continuous pulsing survey for improved organizational effectiveness.
3. You’re Just Another Paycheck
This red flag with exit interview suppliers can also tie into the issues of understanding goals and working collaboratively that we already mentioned. However, this dives in a little deeper to the basics that are often overlooked prior to launching an exit interview process. What success has the organization had with exit interviews in the past, what is your turnover costing you, how has exit interview data been compiled previously, how have the organization’s leaders used exit data, and what exit interview participation rates have you experienced? All exit interview suppliers should take the time to get to know such information so that the findings produce meaningful, reliable, and actionable results. Exit data should be compiled to align with your organizational hierarchy so that leaders of departments and business units take ownership of turnover. Each exiting employee has a significant cost which is most often estimated to be 33% of a person’s annual salary. Dotting our Is and crossing our Ts helps build a great interview design, and it also helps identify which indicators and trends one should be aware of during the reporting process.
Overall, exit interview consultants should go one step further to make sure that you are getting the most accurate results. To get these results, you have to dig in a little deeper and move past the standardized exit interview questions. Noticing some of these red flags as you search for an exit interview provider? Give HSD Metrics a call or contact us online. We’d be happy to help you!