What to ask... more importantly, when.

There is an interesting article in the April issue of Inc. magazine; 'Goodbye and good luck'. The article discusses an emerging fascination with exit interviews - "someone's leaving, lets find out why..."

First of all, why wait for someone to leave to find out what employees are thinking? Next, if you have a turnover problem and you’re considering spending money on an exit interview program, don’t you think that there is a larger problem to solve first?

To the first point, this is something I've written about in the past on several occasions. One of my favorites was the mailman post:

One of the things I talk about in the book is getting to know you're employees - treat them like the individuals that they are. Don't know what made me think of this, but I'd bet that the mailman knows more about an employee than their manager. Think about it, in a given week/month my mailman sees the following magazines come to my door:

• Business 2.0
• Wired
• Hockey Digest
• Four Four Two (soccer)
• Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc....

I think he has a pretty good idea about my interests.

Want to get to know someone? Find out what magazines they subcribe to...

Why not talk WITH your employees regularly? How about a monthly or quarterly 1 on 1 where you ask them some of the questions contained in these exit interviews.

The article contains several great questions, some not so great. One example, the first question, is:

If the CEO left unexpectedly today and you were put in charge, what are the first things you would change?

Now, I'm not naive here - some percentage of the employees wouldn't have a clue how to lead a large organization or chart its course. However, most employees have two things in common - one, they all want to be heard... that is just human nature. Second, I'd bet most employees have some ideas about how to improve some aspect of the business.

To the second point, if you have a turnover problem, perhaps you haven't created a culture where employees feel connected to something worthwhile. If it is just a job, and people aren't deriving anything other than financial compensation, you will have people who are going to seek greener grass. Two organizations that I like are Google and Will Vinton studios. Everyone is familiar with the 80/20 philosphy at Google, where employees get to work on there own stuff one day a week. At Will Vinton studios they have a program called The Walkabout (good article at Fast Company)

To attract the very best artists, and then to give them plenty of reasons to stay, Vinton has instituted programs and policies that are designed to show his support for the artists he hires. The Walkabout, for example, is a program that allows employees to take a 13-week paid hiatus, or Walkabout, that gives them the time and the freedom to work on their own projects. Every year, the program results in two or three short films, as well as many other personal projects. The logic behind Vinton's decision to implement the program is unassailable: The best people will find a way to produce their own films, whether he wants them to or not. So why not make it harder for them to leave his company by encouraging them to produce projects of their own on his premises?

What do you think - are exit interviews worthwhile?

Comments

[Mike]

Having worked at a number of organizations with exit interview processes and having participated in those interviews (from both sides), I can attest that they reveal absolutely nothing new to anyone. I think they're part of some HR Full Employment scam!

As for the remark about the mailman, I think same principle can be applied in the workplace as well. I always look at the personal items in every workspace I visit, as well as looking to see what's on the bookshelf. Those details can provide a wealth of information about someone.

[Jon Strande]

Mike,

Full employment scam - I love it!! Yeah, that is great about looking at peoples workspaces, you really can learn a great deal about people by the artifacts they have around.

Jon

[fouro]

Does that mean I have to hide all this Polly Pockets crap under my feet?

I think we should have Musical Chairs week. Everyone moves across a slot until finance gets their stint in HR and abolishes or outsources it, Marketing takes on Production, turns off most of the machines out of confusion and finds no one notices, Accounting moves over to Marketing and finds all the crayons they use for forecasting, HR handles accounting and discovers the Mgmt bonus numbers for the previous "tough year." IT refues to play and locks the door. P.R. takes Janitorial Services and finds it "a remarkably smooth transition." And Carl the Janitor becomes CEO, answers the phone one day then jumps on a plane to Peoria and comes back with the company's biggest account ever.

According to Carl, it was no big deal: "Same shit, golden shovel. But I got a blonde and my own parking place."

[fouro]

upon reflection, I forgot to add something for HR: "..stint in HR and abolishes or outsources it" [or signs 'em up for Fear Factor]

Much better. That is all