Why Your Exit Interviews MUST Be Anonymous
anonymous exit interviews

If your exit interviews aren’t anonymous, you could be making your turnover problems even worse.

Plenty of organizations hold exit interviews, in good faith, each time an employee leaves. Most organizations expect their HR departments to conduct these interviews.

Most organizations are making a costly mistake.

In-person exit interviews, in particular, are essentially worthless. Any exiting employee (with an opinion you need to hear) will have the tact to sanitize the truth. Distrust of HR, even in upstanding organizations, makes gleaning any information of even remote value next to impossible. Go ahead, tell your now ex-employee that he or she is free to speak honestly. Will the individual trust the HR department or expect it to focus more on protecting the company from legal ramifications first and foremost? In the worst-case scenario, will the person fear that HR personnel could share private details with managers, third-party recruiters… even the ex-employee’s new employer?

Legitimacy and credibility aside, first-party exit interviews rarely receive the time and effort that’s necessary to produce measurable data or meaningful insights. You’re left with a disorganized pile of gossip fuel and little else.

It’s not necessarily an easy decision to trust a third-party vendor to handle your exit interviews. It is, on the other hand, a sound financial decision. Each employee you have to replace is costing you tens of thousands of dollars – if not more. Typical organizations accept this as immutable truth. Progressive organizations do something about it – namely, they consult turnover experts for an alternative to their best idea of “best practices.”

Making the decision to transition to a program such as ExitRight® instantly alleviates so many of the headaches that come with exit interviews. ExitRight is a complete outsource of your exit interview process – HSD Metrics uses its proprietary technology and methodology to conduct exit interviews cohesively, consistently, and completely anonymously. Furthermore, HSD Metrics clearly communicates that all interview entries are 100 percent anonymous and protected. The findings are presented in reports that are easy to understand and navigate, and it’s all online, so there’s no extra software to download or learn.

If you’re ready to stop wasting time on procedures that don’t tell the whole story and start saving time and money with outsourced exit interviews, contact HSD Metrics today to speak with an experienced retention expert.