Page 62 - Retaining Top Employees

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50 Retaining Top Employees

them and then summarize
Improve Results
the responses for you.
with Confidentiality
You want departing employ- Explain to employees that
ees to tell “the truth,the whole truth, the independent interview-
and nothing but the truth.” That may er will providing general
be difficult for many of them,for vari- information only, that no
ous reasons. Make it easier by using an one in your organization
independent outsider and ensuring
will see any specifics. If
that whatever employees say during possible, you might also
the exit interview will be kept confi-
provide a printed assur-
dential.After all,you probably do not
need to know the specifics of any indi- ance of confidentiality,
vidual’s experience.You’re looking for signed by a senior man-
evidence of trends—generic issues agement representative.
that recur regularly.
Conduct Entry Interviews
as Well as Exit Interviews
As mentioned above, to really make sense of exit interview
information, it’s essential to have a benchmark for comparing
the responses. You can construct one by conducting an entry
interview when any employee joins your group.
The structure for an entry interview is much the same as for
an exit interview: Have an external party consistently interview
your new hires to find out why they joined your company. You
can build this into your orientation program. (See Chapter 8.)
Again, assure the new hires that the third party will keep all
information confidential and give you composite summaries of
information provided during the interviews. Use that information
to track correlations between why people are joining and why
they are leaving.
Here’s an example. Your entry interviews reveal that 65% of
your hires give as one of the reasons for joining your organiza-
tion its reputation as “a fun place to work.” In exit interviews,
62% say that one of their reasons for leaving is “a negative
atmosphere in their workplace.” You can conclude that the mes-
sages being conveyed during the recruitment process don’t
match the reality the employees find on the job.