In yesterday’s Advisor, our experts recommended an exit interview for every separating employee. Today we’ll look at two reasons why exit interviews are important from a legal standpoint, and we’ll take a look at an extraordinary program that will help you generate an exit interview protocol and dozens of other critical HR policies.
A well-thought-out exit interview can help an employer:
- Avert serious lawsuits;
- Gather critical feedback about salaries, morale, and management practices;
- Determine the causes of turnover;
- Gain information required by law; and
- Take care of necessary administrative actions.
The main purpose is to give departing employees an opportunity to express any residual feelings—positive or negative—that they have about their departure, and to offer their suggestions for how the job or the work environment might be improved.
Some companies draw a distinction between exit interviews (for employees who have terminated voluntarily) and termination interviews (for employees who have been dismissed). From the interviewer’s point of view, the two experiences can be quite different.
In a voluntary situation, a properly conducted interview and signed statement creates a formal record of the departing employee’s reason for leaving, so that he or she cannot later allege some form of discrimination or harassment.
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In an involuntary situation, the exit interview may help avoid costly legal action by a disgruntled employee (or, as detailed in yesterday’s Advisor, other damaging or detrimental actions).
In some cases, simply providing the employee with an opportunity to talk about work issues with a professional, concerned interviewer may be enough to vent negative feelings and thwart the desire to file a lawsuit. Even if it doesn’t, at least management won’t be surprised when a claim is filed.
Some Typical Exit Interview Questions
- Why are you leaving?
- What did you like most and least about the job?
- Did the job give you an opportunity to make adequate use of your skills and abilities?
- How do you feel about your salary and the company’s salary structure? Were you paid fairly?
- How do you feel about the company’s benefits and incentives programs?
- What did you think about the performance assessment process? Did you know where you stood in your supervisor’s eyes?
- How do you feel about the quality of the supervision you received on the job? Were you watched too closely? Were you given clear instructions and expectations?
- Do you feel your work was appreciated?
- How did you feel about your working conditions?
- Did you receive adequate training?
- How would you rate this company as a place to work? Would you ever want to work here again?
If the exit interview indicates your company discriminated against or unjustly dismissed an employee, you should take action to reduce your liability. Immediately notify top management and your employment attorney. Remember, you can be found personally liable for discrimination and unjust dismissal.
How about your policies on termination and exit interviews? They’re probably among 50 or so of your policies that should be updated (or maybe written?). It’s easy to let it slide, but you can’t afford to backburner work on your policies—they’re your only hope for consistent and compliant management that avoids lawsuits.
Fortunately, BLR’s editors have done most of the work for you in their extraordinary program called SmartPolicies.
Don’t write that policy! We’ve already done it for you, and at less than $1 each. Inspect BLR’s SmartPolicies at no cost or risk.
SmartPolicies’ expert authors have already worked through the critical issues on some 100 policy topics and have prewritten the policies for you.
In all, SmartPolicies contains some 350 policies, arranged alphabetically from Absenteeism and Blogging to Cell Phone Safety, EEO, Voice Mail, and Workers’ Compensation. What’s more, the CD format makes these policies easily customizable. Just add your company specifics or use as is.
Just as important, as regulations and court decisions clarify your responsibilities on workplace issues, the policies are updated—or new ones are added—as needed every quarter, as a standard part of the program.
SmartPolicies is available to HR Daily Advisor subscribers on a 30-day evaluation basis at no cost or risk … even for return postage. If you’d like to have a look at it, let us know and we’ll be happy to arrange it.
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