Should you sit for an exit interview?
A FRIEND, who recently resigned to take up a new job offer, sought my honest opinion. His former employers had invited him over to sit for an exit interview. “Do you think I should go for it?†he asked me.
By Vision Reporter
A FRIEND, who recently resigned to take up a new job offer, sought my honest opinion. His former employers had invited him over to sit for an exit interview. “Do you think I should go for it?†he asked me.
An exit interview involves someone meeting their former employers to discuss the reasons and circumstances for leaving the job. Sometimes, the interview is written. Such interviews are increasingly becoming common in the corporate world.
“The intention of the meeting is to help Human resource personnel find ways of improving employee satisfaction and reducing the rate at which employees leave the institution,†says Ruth Senyonyi, organisational psychologist and staff welfare officer at Bank of Uganda.
Replacing employees is expensive in terms of time, money and even the general turnover. In most cases, the departing employee has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience.
So it is better and cheaper to find ways of improving the working conditions for existing employees than hiring new ones.
“Exit interviews help management to learn from the bad things the staff report about and improve the management of the remaining staff,†says Albert Kakama, the Human Resource Manager at Uganda Management Institute.
Exit interviews at times help in retaining a member of staff before he or she leaves the organisation. A staff may have written a resignation and can be requested to consider retaining his job. He or she may have issues with the supervisor.
“An interview can be used to stop this (resignation). A supervisor can be counseled or the staff transferred to another section or department to pre-empt a resignation,†notes Kakama.
In a bid to retain good staff, some institutions pay for postgraduate training for their employees and ask the employees to sign commitment documentation.
Under such an arrangement, the employee will be required to work for the institution for an agreed number of years before they can leave.
“Sometimes you could find that the reason people are leaving their jobs is in your control, we call ‘corporate failures’.
For example sick systems, procedures, management troubles, interpersonal problems and rigidity,†says Edward Mutabazi, a Human resource consultant.
If the reason is beyond your control, then you will have known that the person’s leaving could not have been prevented. It will help you know your your management style is not that bad.
Mutabazi says: “It is believed that 20% of those who are subjected to exit interviews decide to change their mind at the gate way.â€
Exit interviews, according to career experts can also help aged people adjust to life after retirement. During the interview, they are counseled on how to handle life in retirement.
Depending on the circumstance under which someone has left their job, some people would not want to go back or associate with their former employers.
Even when invited for the exit interview they will claim not to have time. The best time to conduct an exit interview is when the employee has submitted their notice of resignation and not after they have left the institution.
Probably the interview can help one let off the “beef†if he or she has been forced to resign or has left frustrated.
Can the information you provide during the exit interview be used against you?
Yes and no.
“First, you may assume that you have nothing to lose but the information you give could be used against you in Court or if you expect to seek re-employment in the institution.
Remember the information stays on record,†admits a human resource manager of one of the banks around town.
Mutabazi says exit interviews are a future safety net. “Some employees find it difficult to assimilate in the new organisations they join, and may find it plausible to go back to their former employers.
If an exit interview was conducted, the employee will find it easy to return and explain to the ‘old employers’. Dialogue here becomes easier.
Career experts however advise that taking an exit interview is voluntary. An exiting employee has a right to decline this sort of interview.
A FRIEND, who recently resigned to take up a new job offer, sought my honest opinion. His former employers had invited him over to sit for an exit interview. “Do you think I should go for it?†he asked me.
An exit interview involves someone meeting their former employers to discuss the reasons and circumstances for leaving the job. Sometimes, the interview is written. Such interviews are increasingly becoming common in the corporate world.
“The intention of the meeting is to help Human resource personnel find ways of improving employee satisfaction and reducing the rate at which employees leave the institution,†says Ruth Senyonyi, organisational psychologist and staff welfare officer at Bank of Uganda.
Replacing employees is expensive in terms of time, money and even the general turnover. In most cases, the departing employee has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience.
So it is better and cheaper to find ways of improving the working conditions for existing employees than hiring new ones.
“Exit interviews help management to learn from the bad things the staff report about and improve the management of the remaining staff,†says Albert Kakama, the Human Resource Manager at Uganda Management Institute.
Exit interviews at times help in retaining a member of staff before he or she leaves the organisation. A staff may have written a resignation and can be requested to consider retaining his job. He or she may have issues with the supervisor.
“An interview can be used to stop this (resignation). A supervisor can be counseled or the staff transferred to another section or department to pre-empt a resignation,†notes Kakama.
In a bid to retain good staff, some institutions pay for postgraduate training for their employees and ask the employees to sign commitment documentation.
Under such an arrangement, the employee will be required to work for the institution for an agreed number of years before they can leave.
“Sometimes you could find that the reason people are leaving their jobs is in your control, we call ‘corporate failures’.
For example sick systems, procedures, management troubles, interpersonal problems and rigidity,†says Edward Mutabazi, a Human resource consultant.
If the reason is beyond your control, then you will have known that the person’s leaving could not have been prevented. It will help you know your your management style is not that bad.
Mutabazi says: “It is believed that 20% of those who are subjected to exit interviews decide to change their mind at the gate way.â€
Exit interviews, according to career experts can also help aged people adjust to life after retirement. During the interview, they are counseled on how to handle life in retirement.
Depending on the circumstance under which someone has left their job, some people would not want to go back or associate with their former employers.
Even when invited for the exit interview they will claim not to have time. The best time to conduct an exit interview is when the employee has submitted their notice of resignation and not after they have left the institution.
Probably the interview can help one let off the “beef†if he or she has been forced to resign or has left frustrated.
Can the information you provide during the exit interview be used against you?
Yes and no.
“First, you may assume that you have nothing to lose but the information you give could be used against you in Court or if you expect to seek re-employment in the institution.
Remember the information stays on record,†admits a human resource manager of one of the banks around town.
Mutabazi says exit interviews are a future safety net. “Some employees find it difficult to assimilate in the new organisations they join, and may find it plausible to go back to their former employers.
If an exit interview was conducted, the employee will find it easy to return and explain to the ‘old employers’. Dialogue here becomes easier.
Career experts however advise that taking an exit interview is voluntary. An exiting employee has a right to decline this sort of interview.