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Employee Exit Interview Formalities and Why is it Necessary?

November 8, 2022
HRMS
Exit Interview

As an employer or an HR manager, at some point, you may have to face the unavoidable. The Resignation!!

Yes, that’s right. Resignations are a part of a professional organization, especially growing businesses. However, if the employee has decided to leave the company, you have to accept it with positivity and complete the formalities.

One of the most important formalities is the Employee Exit Interview. It serves as a very important source of feedback for employers and helps them improve the company culture.

Employee Exit Interview

If you are an HR Manager and want to know more about exit interview employees, this blog is for you.

Read to know more!!!

What is an Exit interview?

Employee Exit Interview is the final meeting between the management and the employee leaving the company.

Employers conduct exit interviews in order to gather information on various areas like why the employee is leaving the company, tie up the loose ends, and ensure that all the exit formalities on both ends are understood and completed smoothly.

The exit interview can be conducted in various ways including in-person interviews, over the call, through chat or email, or through online survey forms. In general, interactive methods are preferable over online surveys because they allow the employers to respond properly to the employee and develop follow-up questions that would yield more in-depth information.

About 75% of the companies conduct exit interviews. Just give it a thought, why do so many companies go this route? Why are employee exit interviews important?

Let’s dive deep!!

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Importance of an Employee Exit Formality?

There are various reasons why exit interviews are important for the company. The very important fact of conducting exit interviews with the employees is that it helps the managers maintain a positive work culture. Below are a few more reasons why exit interviews for employees are important:

  • Employee Retention

One of the few very important reasons why conducting employee interviews is important is retaining existing employees. When an employee is departing from the company, he/she may feel comfortable answering any questions about their basic concerns at the workplace. Some of the most common questions you can ask an employee are:

  • Why do you want to quit?
  • What can we do to make you stay?
  • Were you able to communicate properly with the management?

The answer to the above questions will help you understand the major concern of the employee. It also helps you understand if there’s any specific pattern of employee resignation. 

  • Gathering Useful Insights

At times, regular employee surveys cannot give you proper insights about your organization. The reason is the biased answers due to the fact that the employees still belong to the organization. Exit interviews can help you gain useful information that is hard to gather during regular surveys. You can ask the following questions to collect insights:

  • Is the culture of our organization welcoming?
  • What are the areas where the company/your manager needs improvement?
  • Were the resources you needed for your job easily accessible?
  • How frequently has your work got recognized?

Employee Satisfaction: How Can It Be Measurable?

  • Uncovering employee conflicts, if any

Like we said earlier, it is very difficult to get a true idea of how your employees feel about the company or their coworkers while they are employed with you. They may not have complained to you about any concern. However, it doesn’t mean they don’t have any or they are happy.

Exit Interviews can help you gain insights into the conflicts of your employees with their coworkers. Below are some of the sample questions you can ask your employees:

  • Do you have any additional comments?
  • Can you share the unresolved issues if there are any?
  • Would you recommend us to any of your friends or relatives? Why or why not?
  • Maintaining Positive Work Culture

You can maintain a positive workplace culture by conducting exit interviews. When you conduct exit interviews with departing employees in a respectful and appreciative manner, it improves the morale of the remaining staff.

As a result, they are better able to stay concentrated and joyfully engaged at work.

Positive Work Culture

Why do we need Exit Formalities?

Knowledge transfer

Naturally, the tasks being performed by the departing employee must be completed after his departure. You can ask your departing employee to give a coworker or the new hire access to his/her work and current tasks (if applicable).

Pending projects

If there is anything on the employees’ side you want to see completed before the employee departs, make it clear. This helps the employees by not being lethargic on the final days of their employment journey and also ensures the delivery on time. However, just make sure that you do not overburden the employee by setting up unrealistic deadlines.

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Recover company assets

Before the employee leaves the company, ensure that all the company assets given to the employee have been returned. Below is a quick checklist of assets you may have to take back before the employee leaves.

  • Laptops
  • Keys for Office/Drawers etc.
  • IDs and Access Cards
  • Company Cell phone
  • Company Credit Card

As an extra step, it would also be a nice gesture to send a good luck email to the employees on their last working day. This would help you build a positive image of your company.

The full and final settlement

The employee’s full and final settlement must now be done. What you need to put in it is outlined in the following brief instruction. (This may vary according to the company’s salary structure)

  • Unpaid Salary, which includes reimbursements, bonuses, and LTA
  • Cashing out unused vacation time leaves
  • Tipping, if necessary
  • Pension, where applicable

Documentation

Once the full and final settlement has been processed, you must now proceed with the documentation. Send the employee the relieving letter and do not forget to mention the tenure, designation, and compensation in the letter. Also, provide them with the other departing documents if any. 

Documentation

What is the exit interview?

Employee Retention

Exit interviews are an important process for any company. It helps the employers know why the employee has decided to leave the company and whether they could do anything to retain the employee.

According to the employee’s response to the employee exit interview questions, employers can take action to retain them. Let’s say the employee is having an issue with the salary, you can offer them a hike or some bonus benefits.

Know the “why?”

When an employee leaves the company, it is crucial for the employer to know the reasons why the employee is leaving. Knowing the Why would help you inculcate improvements for the rest of the employees.

Scope of Improvement

Scope of Improvement

By following the set exit interview process, you can know where your company or the staff needs improvements. Knowing the scope of improvement can help you build a positive and engaging workplace culture.

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Conclusion

Employee Exit Interviews help in maintaining a better workplace culture. Hence, these are important. These Days, more than 75% of companies conduct exit interviews with the departing employees to gather various information about the company and implicate the information for the betterment of the company.

If you are an HR Manager looking for readymade exit interview forms, UBS HRMS Software can be at your rescue. Get in touch with us to know more.

Tired of Manual HR Documentation Work

FAQs

What should I say in my exit interview?

If you are attending an exit interview, be sure to communicate the things you liked while working there and what are the things the company can do to improve. By mixing both positive and negative feedback, your employer will more likely see your review as honest, fair, and accurate.

What is an exit interview with an example?

An exit interview is a final opportunity for an employee to express his/her feelings about the workplace, the policies, and the company’s management. And also it is a chance for the employee to provide constructive feedback about what they like and do not like about the company.

What is the purpose of an exit interview?

The exit interview primarily serves three goals: identifying areas where the business may improve, ensuring that employees feel satisfied with their service, and, in some cases, "encouraging" the employee to continue working under other conditions.

Can an employee refuse an exit interview?

The exit interviews are entirely optional. There shouldn't be any consequences if a departing employee chooses to decline if they are uncomfortable attending the exit interviews.

Alpesh Vaghasiya

Alpesh Vaghasiya

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