Exit Interview

Introduction
The organizations are conducting exit interviews to gather data for improving working
conditions, to find out the underlying reasons for employee turnover and also for retaining
talented employees. This article focuses on the concept of exit interviews, their purpose, who
should conduct, how to conduct, when and where to conduct and also how to use the data
collected from exit interviews for the benefit of the organization. The art of putting the right
man in right place is perhaps the first in the science of management, but the art of finding a
satisfactory position for the discontented is the most difficult
An exit interview is a meeting between the departing employee and at least one
representative from the company (either someone from the Human Resources Department or
the functional head of the employee). Employees who are leaving the organization
voluntarily are sources of priceless information. Exit interviews can be termed as
confessional interviews by the departing employee. The outgoing employees must be those
who have voluntarily resigned rather than getting laid off or fired. It is an effective HR tool
that is used by organizations to find out from an outgoing employee the reasons behind his
leaving the organization. Exit interviews can provide valuable insights to the employers to
know how to retain their talented staff and improve their work culture as well as the
workplace environment. Previously exit interviews were not conducted on a routine basis
because it was considered to be futile to ask the departing employee
"Why do you go?" The employers were more focused on getting the position filled as soon as
possible instead of determining how the vacancy could have been avoided. Their approach
was based on the assumption that the market was full of unscrupulous, unmanageable and
unappreciative workers. With the passage of time, the organizations have now started to
realize the significance of exit interviews. The type of exit interview method to be used
depends upon the discretion of the top management and the HR department of the
organization.
Some of the methods available for conducting these interviews are:

In person Exit Interviews

Telephone Exit Interviews
Paper and Pencil Exit Interviews
Online Exit Interviews

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PURPOSE OF EXIT INTERVIEWS
Exit interviews can provide vital clues on various organizational aspects like working
conditions, interpersonal relations, pay packages, policies, etc. An exit interview offers an
opportunity to:
Find out the actual reasons for an employee's resignation.
Gather trustworthy data on problem areas, in order to help the management take remedial
actions.
Retain a talented employee by finding the reasons for his dissatisfaction and agreeing on
feasible solutions.
Encourage good relations with the departed employee.
Who Should Conduct the interview?
The definition of exit interview implies that the employer or the management to unearth the
reasons for employee turnover conducts exit interviews. In case of in person exit interview
the company's representative may be either the functional head of the employee or someone
from the HR department and not the employees' direct supervisor. In order to reap the
benefits of exit interviews, the organizations can hire an experienced third party, a consultant
or firm that specializes in conducting these sensitive interviews because most of the outgoing
employees may not like to offend the management at the time of leaving the organization.

When and Where to Conduct?

The views of the employers regarding when and where to conduct confessional interviews
may be different. It is always advisable to conduct the exit interview as soon as the employee
puts in his papers. But the case will be different if the person has been handed over the pink
slip. In such a situation, it is advisable to conduct the interview at a later date. The next
important question is where to conduct these interviews. The interview climate should be
positive and professional. The physical ambience should be given apt importance. The
employers should avoid conducting the interviews in public places like coffee shops or
canteens where they may be overheard by supervisors or other employees. It is always better
to conduct them in the HR department's private office or on the premises of third party doing
it. To provide flexibility to the employee some companies prefer to go for telephonic exit
interviews so that the employee can avail the comfort of speaking from his own home. The
next important question to consider is who will decide whether or not to participate in an exit
interview. The answer is that it will depend on the outgoing employee and not the employer.
The departing employee must consider whether he will benefit from an exit interview, the
HR department will give importance to the employee's feedback

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A Situational Analysis
Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual employee turnover rate for all areas of business in
2004 was around 37%. The most talented and the productive employees are regarded as the
stars that drive the success of any organization and the failure to retain the same costs small
employers thousands of dollars a year in the form of knowledge and experience. In case of
large organizations, the price is even steeper costing millions of dollars. After identifying the
apparent costs, the small as well as large companies are taking proactive steps to reduce
employee turnover and retain talented workforce. Learning and understanding why
employees prefer to stay or leave the organization is imperative to the success of any
business. Many organizations are utilizing exit interviews to capture key information from
employees as they leave the company. In order to prevent employees from following their
colleagues out the door, the organizations can utilize the valuable information collected
through exit interviews. The solution provided by the same website says that the
organizations can go for outsourcing the exit interview process to a neutral third party. This
will make the employees feel more comfortable while providing the information. This in turn
increases the quantity, quality and meticulousness of the information gathered. In this regard,
Global Compliance provides exit interview services to help out the organizations in
collecting information from the employees as they depart. This is being done by conducting
interviews via telephone, utilizing a live interview technique or an Interactive Voice
Response (IVR) system or through web interface. Thus by proper documentation of feedback
obtained from the departing employees, the organization can identify and resolve key issues
that may be influencing employee retention and at the same time control costs associated
with employee turnover and training

Exit interviews should be used as a tool to build a parting relationship with the outgoing
employees. These can serve as an eye-opener for the employers as they will come to know
what their employees think about them. It is very much important for the organizations to
find out why their employees leave the organization and as an employee's genuine reasons
for leaving can be exposed in exit interviews so the employers must take proper care while
deciding on the format of exit interview. The exit interview design should contain as many
open-minded questions as probable so that the employee can express his views regarding the
reasons for leaving the organization, his commitment towards work, his expectations from
the job as well as from the organization, his career prospects, the work culture, the
management style of his seniors, the training provided by the organization, the working
environment, the pay package, etc. While the employer might have questions in mind, it is
advisable not to ask unrelated questions regarding private life. Some of the questions which
the employer would like to ask are as follows:
Why did you join this organization?
Is there anything that you like and dislike most about this company?
Why are you leaving?

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If the reason behind leaving is getting higher placement then what prompted you to look for
a new job?
Do you feel that the training you have received is inadequate to help you do your job?
Do you think that there should be any change in the employment practices followed by the
organization?
Although these are some of the questions which are useful in getting the appropriate
feedback from the departing employee, the list is not exhaustive as the organizations need to
ask questions according to their requirements, so they can prepare their own questionnaire by
keeping in mind their own features and experiences.

How to use the data collected from the Exit Interview

The purpose of conducting exit interviews will be fruitful when it is aimed at encouraging
the retention of valued employees. To accomplish the rationale of exit interviews not only the
HR department but everybody from the top-level management to the immediate supervisor
must be involved in the process. Exit interview is a medium which can be used to find out
how the company is being perceived by its human resources. The information gathered
through these interviews is otherwise difficult or impossible to find out. They help avoid
costly lawsuits down the line, caused by discontented employees. They also help assess the
key areas of the company like pay packages, training and development, recruitment,
infrastructure, supervision, HR policies, etc. The company can start the process of retaining
the talented employees in the initial stage itself. A company has the liberty to choose from a
range of strategies available which they consider to be the best suited for their organization.
Talented worker should be given the freedom to choose his work schedule as ideas can be
generated at any time. Hewlett Packard has initiated this strategy. The corporate houses can
offer incentive packages to selected individuals. The need of the hour is to maintain a
personal touch with the potential targets. Regular training sessions can be conducted help the
employees achieve goals on their personalized career graphs. Maruti Udyog Ltd. Positive has
adopted this and constructive feedback can be provided on a regular basis. Improving the
process of socializing the new employee into the corporate culture can enhance retention of
talented employees. The senior management must play the role of a leader by demonstrating
their own sense of commitment to the organization. The management must establish the
practice of fair treatment of all the employees so as to foster a positive work environment.
Thus the proper implementation of feedback obtained from exit interviews is not only
valuable for the departing employees, but also for the organization as a whole because exit
interview is an important HR means for employee retention. Despite the merits above
mentioned, some experts are of the view that exit interviews are a mere waste of time

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Conclusion
Exit interview is one of the effective ways by which the organization can retain the best. By
proper documentation of feedback obtained from the employees as they resign from the
organization can identify and resolve key issues that may be helpful in retaining valuable
human capital. A well-designed plan of exit interview has the potential to become a valuable
tool to help retain the talented workforce. Thus it has been truly said, "The Exit Interview is
an opportunity to shake hands and leave as friends and not as enemies

Exit interviews and Knowledge transfer (Tips for employees and employers, sample questions
and answer)
Exit interviews are interviews conducted with departing employees, just before they leave. From
the employer's perspective, the primary aim of the exit interview is to learn reasons for the
person's departure, on the basis that criticism is a helpful driver for organizational improvement.
Exit interviews (and prior) are also an opportunity for the organization to enable transfer of
knowledge and experience from the departing employee to a successor or replacement, or even
to brief a team on current projects, issues and contacts. Good exit interviews should also yield
useful information about the employer organization, to assess and improve all aspects of the
working environment, culture, processes and systems, management and development, etc.; in
fact anything that determines the quality of the organization, both in terms of its relationship with
its staff, customers, suppliers, third-parties and the general public. Many employers ignore the
opportunity that exit interviews offer, chiefly because exit interviews have not been practiced in
the past, and starting them is a difficult initiative to undertake, given the potentially subjective
and 'fuzzy' nature of the results; the time involved; and the unspoken corporate urge to avoid
exposure to criticism. Exit interviews are nevertheless a unique chance to survey and analyze the
opinions of departing employees, who generally are more forthcoming, constructive and
objective than staff still in their jobs. In leaving an organization, departing employees are
liberated, and as such provide a richer source of objective feedback than employed staff do when
responding to normal staff attitude surveys.
As ever, corporate insecurity and defensiveness can be an obstacle to implementing exit
interview processes, so if the organization finds it difficult to begin the practice as a matter of
general policy, you can still undertake your own exit interviews locally with your own staff as
and when they leave.
From the departing employee interviewee perspective, an exit interview is a chance to give some
constructive feedback, and to leave on a positive note, with good relations and mutual respect.
Recrimination, blame, revenge and spite are destructive feelings and behaviors, so resist any
temptation you might have to go out all guns blazing. Be calm, fair, objective and as helpful as
possible. In the future you may wish to return to the organization and you may cross the paths of
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your ex-colleagues, managers in the future. The adage about treating people well on your way up
because you might meet them on the way down applies just as well on your way out. The exit
interview is an opportunity to shake hands and leave friends, not enemies.
The days, weeks (or months in some cases) between the decision for the employee to leave, and
the employee's actual departure date offer a crucial opportunity for the organization to gather
important information and knowledge from the employee. This is especially relevant in roles
where the employee has accumulated a significant amount of knowledge and personal
connections, as typically applies in sales and buying roles, and obviously business unit
management. The knowledge of the departing employee commonly has immense value, and the
recovery of it is often overlooked altogether by the organization, until the employee has
departed, or more likely been hurried out of the door holding the contents of their desk in a
cardboard box.
When any employee resigns, or a decision is made for a person to leave for any reason, always
ask: Should we spend some time thinking about how to enable some sort of knowledge transfer?
In other words, if we place a value on the knowledge that the departing employee holds, isn't it
worth thinking about how to enable this knowledge to be passed to the appropriate people
remaining in the organization?
Instead of course all too often, senior management's response to all the head scratching after a
vital person has left, is to rationalize the loss of information (and vital personal contacts often)
with the old clich, "No-one is indispensable". The adage might ultimately be true, but that's not
really the point. The fact is that most people who leave do actually possess useful (often critical)
knowledge and experience. Moreover most departing employees are delighted to share this
knowledge, to help a successor, or to brief a management team, if only the organization would
simply ask them politely to do so (assuming their exit is handled decently of course, which the
exit interview helps to enable). This is another good reason for thinking properly about the exit
procedure, and for properly organizing some form of exit interview process.
So much depends of course on the atmosphere surrounding the departure. Often, particularly in
sales, there is suspicion and imagined threat on both sides, which rather weakens the chances of a
helpful hand-over. This mistrust should be diffused - it really does nobody any good. In an ideal
world the leaver should be encouraged and enabled (and arguably rewarded if necessary) to hold
a briefing meeting, which all interested parties (and certainly the person's replacement if
possible) can attend and learn what they need to know. Regrettably however, it is not unusual for
traditional-type THEORY-X sales directors and managers to be so intoxicated with testosterone
and the taste of blood that such suggestions rarely make it off the stony ground of the boardroom. I would urge you to take a more open constructive view. Give people the benefit of doubt,
and discourage advocates from retaliating before there's any suggestion of being attacked. There
are some suggested enabling questions below.

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For organizations large and small, exit interviews therefore provide lots of advantages and
opportunities:

Aims and Outcomes

They provide an opportunity to 'make peace' with disgruntled employees, who might otherwise
leave with vengeful intentions.

Exit interviews are seen by existing employees as a sign of positive culture. They are regarded as
caring and compassionate - a sign that the organization is big enough to expose itself to criticism.

Exit interviews accelerate participating managers' understanding and experience of managing

people and organizations. Hearing and handling feedback is a powerful development process.

Exit interviews help to support an organization's proper HR practices. They are seen as positive
and necessary for quality and effective people-management by most professional institutes and
accrediting bodies concerned with quality management of people, organizations and service.

The results and analysis of exit interviews provide relevant and useful data directly into training
needs analysis and training planning processes.

Exit interviews provide valuable information as to how to improve recruitment and induction of
new employees.

Exit interviews provide direct indications as to how to improve staff retention.

Sometimes an exit interview provides the chance to retain a valuable employee who would
otherwise have left (organizations often accept resignations far too readily without discussion or
testing the firmness of feeling - the exit interview provides a final safety net).

A significant proportion of employee leavers will be people that the organization is actually very
sorry to leave (despite the post-rationalization and sour grapes reactions of many senior
executives to the departure of their best people). The exit interview therefore provides an
excellent source of comment and opportunity relating to management succession planning. Good
people leave often because they are denied opportunity to grow and advance. Wherever this is
happening organizations need to know about it and respond accordingly.

Every organization has at any point in time several good people on the verge of leaving because
they are not given the opportunity to grow and develop, at the same time, ironically, that most of
the management and executives are overworked and stretched, some to the point of leaving too.
Doesn't it therefore make good sense to raise the importance of marrying these two situations to
provide advantage both ways facilitate greater delegation of responsibility to those who want it?
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Exit interviews are an excellent catalyst for identifying specific mistakes and improvement
opportunities in this vital area of management development and succession.

Exit interviews, and a properly organized, positive exit process also greatly improve the chances
of successfully obtaining and transferring useful knowledge, contacts, insights, tips and
experience, from the departing employee to all those needing to know it, especially successors
and replacements. Most leavers are happy to help if you have the courage and decency to ask and
provide a suitable method for the knowledge transfer, be it a briefing meeting, a one-to-one
meeting between the replacement and the leaver, or during the exit interview itself.
Exit interviews are best conducted face-to-face because this enables better communication,
understanding, interpretation etc., and it provides far better opportunity to probe and get to the
root of sensitive or reluctant feelings. However, postal or electronic questionnaires are better than
nothing, if face-to-face exit interviews are not possible for whatever reason (although I remain to
be convinced that there is never a proper excuse for not sitting down for 30 minutes with any
departing employee.
In some cases perhaps a particularly shy employee may prefer to give their feedback in a
questionnaire form, in which case this is fine, but where possible, face-to-face is best.
In terms of managing the interview, listen rather than talk. Give the interviewee time and space
to answer. Coax and reassure where appropriate, rather than pressurize. Interpret, reflect and
understand (you can understand someone without necessarily agreeing). Keep calm, resist the
urge to defend or argue - your aim is to elicit views, feedback, answers, not to lecture or
admonish. Ask open 'what/how/why' questions, not 'closed' yes/no questions, unless you require
specific confirmation about a point. 'When' and 'where' are also more specific qualifying
questions, unless of course they are used in a general context rather than specific time or
geographic sense. 'Who' should be used with care to avoid witch-hunts or defamatory risks
(moreover many exit interviewees will be uncomfortable if asked to name people or allocate
personal blame - exit interviews are not about 'blame', the allocation of which is not constructive
and should be avoided for anything other than very serious complaints or accusations, which
must then be suitably referred as follow-up would be beyond the normal exit interview remit.
Prepare your exit interview questions and topics that you'd like to explore, especially when you
believe that the interviewee has good experience, appreciation and understanding. Importantly,
see also the job interview page for interviews techniques, which relate to exit interviews too.
Remember simple planning aspects such as arranging a suitable time and place, avoiding
interruptions, taking notes, preparing questions, being aware of the body-language and feelings
of the interviewee and adjusting your own approach accordingly, etc.
Obviously the style of exit interview is different for someone who is being asked to leave,
retiring, being made redundant, dismissed, or leaving under a cloud, compared to an employee
leaving whom the organization would prefer to retain. However everyone who leaves should be
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given the opportunity of an exit interview, and the organization can learn something from every
situation. In certain situations (where appropriate) the exit interview also provides a last chance
to change a person's mind, although this should not be the main aim of the exit interview
situation.
When the interview is complete say thanks and wish the interviewee well. If there is some
specific checking or follow-up to do then ensure you do it and report back accordingly.
After the interview look at the answers and think properly - detached and objective - about what
their meaning and implications.
Take action as necessary, depending on your processes for analyzing and reporting exit interview
feedback. If there's an urgent issue, or the person wants to stay and you want to keep them, then
act immediately or the opportunity will be lost.

Responsibilities, Process and Outcomes

Participation in exit interviews by the employee leaving is voluntary. Do not compel departing
employees to attend exit interviews. Offer a questionnaire form alternative, which again must be
voluntary. You cannot compel a departing employee to give you knowledge that is in their head,
although the return of files, paperwork and material is normally something that an employer
rightfully can insist happens. In any event, a positive constructive, grown-up approach is the best
assurance of a happy outcome and an optimal transfer of knowledge and contact names, etc.,
should this be helpful, which often it will be.
Ideally the organization should have a documented policy stating how exit interviews happen,
when, and by whom. Some organizations hand the responsibility to a skilled interviewer in the
HR or Personnel department. Alternatively line-managers or even supervisors can conduct the
interviews. Interviewers need to be trained to interview, just as for normal job interviews. All
types of interviews are sensitive emotional situations which require ability and maturity to
manage properly, especially if interviewees are anxious or volatile.
In large organizations HR or Personnel department should be responsible for designing the
process, issuing guidelines and documentation, collecting results data, analyzing and reporting
findings, trends, opportunities and recommendations, especially including anything relating to
health and safety, or employment law and liability.

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Actions resulting from exit interview feedback analysis, in any size or type of organization, fall
into two categories:

Remedial and preventative, for example improving health and safety issues, stress, harassment,
discrimination., etc.

Strategic improvement opportunities, for example improved induction, management or

supervisory training, empowerment or team building initiatives, process improvement, wastage
and efficiencies improvements, customer service initiatives, etc.
The head of HR or Personnel would normally be responsible for raising these issues with the
board or CEO, and the conversion of exit interview feedback into action is a critical factor in
justifying and maintaining a serious priority and operation of the process.
For many organizations, exit interviews provide a major untapped source of 'high-yield'
development ideas and opportunities.

An exit interview is a survey conducted with an individual who is separating from an

organization or relationship. Most commonly, this occurs between an employee and an
organization, a student and an educational institution, or a member and an association. An
organization can use the information gained from an exit interview to assess what should be
improved, changed, or remain intact.
More so, an organization can use the results from exit interviews to reduce employee, student, or
member turnover and increase productivity and engagement, thus reducing the high costs
associated with turnover.
Some examples of the value of conducting exit interviews include shortening the recruiting and
hiring process, reducing absenteeism, improving innovation, sustaining performance, and
reducing possible litigation if issues mentioned in the exit interview are addressed. It is important
for each organization to customize its own exit interview in order to maintain the highest levels
of survey validity and reliability.

Stages of the Interview

The exit interview fits into the separation stage of the employee life cycle (ELC). This stage, the
last one of the ELC, spans from the moment an employee becomes disengaged until his or her
departure from the organization. This is the key time that an exit interview should be
administered because the employees feelings regarding his or her departure are fresh in mind.
An off-boarding process allows both the employer and employee to properly close the existing
relationship so that company materials are collected, administrative forms are completed,

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knowledge base and projects are transferred or documented, feedback and insights are gathered
through exit interviews, and any loose ends are resolved.
Exit interviews in business are focused on employees that are leaving a company or when
employees have completed a significant project. The purpose of this exit interview is to glean
feedback from employees in order to improve aspects of the organization, better retain
employees, and reduce turnover. During this interview employees will be asked why they are
leaving, what specifically influenced their decision to leave, whether or not they are going to
another company and what that company they are going to offers that their current company does
not. Businesses can use this information to better align their HR strategy with what employees
look for in an organization and enact programs and practices that will influence top talent to stay
at the organization.
In the past, exit interview data was being collected by the organization but not much was being
done in terms of interpreting the data and making it actionable. Today there are metrics,
analytics, benchmarks, and best practices that help organizations make sense of and use the data
towards proactive organizational retention programs. Recently an array of exit interview
software has been developed and popularized. These programs facilitate and streamline the
employee separation process, allow surveys to be completed via the web, make separation and
retention trends easy to identify, and amass actionable data which can increase organizational
effectiveness and productivity. Additionally, some of these programs make it possible to quantify
data gleaned from the surveys to more accurately understand why employees are leaving the
organization.
Common questions include reasons for leaving, job satisfaction, frustrations, and feedback
concerning company policies or procedures. Questions may relate to the work environment,
supervisors, compensation, the work itself, and the company culture.

Examples:
"What are your main reasons for leaving?"
"What did you like most/least about the organization?"
"What, if improved, would have caused you to stay at the organization?"
"Would you recommend the organization to others as a good place to work/study/join?"

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The Basics
An exit interview is an important HR tool to assess the company's well being at various levels.
Good exit interviews enable organizations to extract relevant information from exiting employee,
analyze it, and subsequently, perform reformative or corrective measures for organizational
growth.
Exit interviews are a means to understand the underlying reasons that influences an employee to
leave. Employee feedback can provide insights that can be used to eliminate the recurring factors
and lower the attrition rate. The positive impact of such practices can sometimes even result in
retaining the concerned employee.
However, exit interviews go beyond simply gauging employee issues and attempting retention.
Exit interviews are critical since they provide an opportunity for introspection within the
organization.

Doing it right
To make the most of exit interviews and ensure that they are not conducted as mere formality,
organizations must begin by asking the right questions through the right people. Appropriately
planned discussions are an excellent opportunity to learn about both the strengths and
weaknesses of both, the manager and organization. The interviewer must try to comfort the
employees and ensure them that the information they share will be confidential. It largely
depends on the maturity of the person conducting the interview. If it inspires a level of comfort,
then unpleasant conversations and subsequent discussions that trickle in could be sensibly
handled. The discussion pointers must include the overall work experience of an employee in the
organization, reason key triggers for leaving and indicators that can make the employee stay.
He stresses on the fact that the interviewer must keep the discussion open and that information
should be fairly presented to the management team.

Putting it in the perspective

While organizations must remain neutral and encourage honest responses from exiting
employees, some inputs placed before the organization may be explosive in nature and, perhaps,
against the management's practices. It is important that in the face of negative feedback the
organization does not get defensive and lose sight of the larger picture, the hallmark of a good
organization lies in its ability to accept criticism with grace and have mechanisms to assess and
effectively deal with them.
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Most importantly, perhaps, exit interviews reflect that the organization cares. When employees
resign, companies often steer their focus on finding apt replacements and figuring a smooth
transition strategy from everyday business perspective. As a consequence, the importance of
organizing a purposeful exit interview takes a backseat. Thus, not only does the organization lose
an excellent opportunity to learn about its strengths and weaknesses, but also on parting on good
terms. An exit interview is an inexpensive and effective primary research that gives solid insights
into the internal culture of the organization, its strengths and weaknesses, and identifies the gaps
in perception as well.

Reduce attrition, retain talent and increase productivity

High employee turnover has made exit interviews as important as recruitment interviews for
Human Resource practitioners. Exit interviews help companies reduce attrition by giving them a
window to learning reasons for employee exits. A company can capture and analyze employee
exit reasons and feedback and develop necessary retention strategies. Synctons Exit Interview
Outsourcing Service provides companies operational and analytical support for the entire exit
interview process.
Syncton manages the exit interview process through its dual services of
a) Telephone based exit interviews and
b) Web based reporting forms.
Syncton 's services provide clients with independent, truthful and correct data, which is
analyzed, to understand and address key retention and attrition issues faced by each organization.

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Why outsourced interviews are better than in-house exit interviews?

They are a more effective way to get honest and complete information; only an external party
can provide assurance of 'safety net' needed to hear a difficult or negative (critical) feedback

Time saving for HR department as a lot of time is spent in conducting exit interviews, logistics,
data recording and report filing for each case

Exited employees perceive their organizations in positive manner for having invested in a
specialist external exit interview process to get genuine information.

An exit interview creates a sense of 'fair departure' to the employee and very useful as
organizations are looking more and more to re-hire ex-employees back in the company

Conclusion
Since employees are the most precious asset of a business, the hardest part of managing one is
watching good employees exit the organization. Of course its important to know why your
company is facing employee attrition. That is the very purpose of an exit interview. An exit
interview is conducted to determine the reasons for an employee quitting the company. While the
employer himself can do it, exiting employees are more likely to be frank and forthright with an
external party.
So how exactly will an exit interview help control attrition?
Information gathered from the exit interview can help you improve working conditions and stem
attrition. In his/ her exit interview the employee is gently persuaded to confide about his
experience in the company. This is important so that he or she does not carry any negative
emotions about the company into the next organization they will join. This also safeguards the
reputation of your company. In case the employee has any grudges against the company or his
colleagues he/ she will naturally be more comfortable to reveal this to a third party.
Exit interview is also a good time to debrief the employee and prevent leak of any sensitive
information regarding the company, It ensures you complete confidentiality of information
gathered in exit interviews. Our time and cost effective rates are for the benefit of big and small
companies anywhere in India.

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Case Study
Wipro

Wipro Limited (Western India Products Limited) is an Indian multinational Digital Strategy, IT
Consulting and System Integration services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of
December 2015, the company has 170,664 employees servicing about 900 of the Fortune 1000
corporations and has operations in 67 countries. On 31 March 2015, its market capitalization was
approximately $ 35 Billion, making it one of India's largest publicly traded companies and
seventh largest IT Services firm in the World. Wipro Limited demerged its non-IT businesses
into a separate company named Wipro Enterprise Limited in 2013.
Wipro helps customers do business better by leveraging their industry-wide experience, deep
technology expertise, comprehensive portfolio of services and vertically aligned business model.
Their 55+ dedicated emerging technologies Centers of Excellence enable them to harness the
latest technology for delivering business capability to their clients.
Wipro is globally recognized for its innovative approach towards delivering business value and
its commitment to sustainability. Wipro champions optimized utilization of natural resources,
capital and talent. Today they are a trusted partner of choice for global businesses looking to
differentiate at the front and standardize at the core through technology interventions.
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In todays world, organizations will have to rapidly reengineer themselves and be more
responsive to changing customer needs. Wipro is well positioned to be a partner and coinnovator to businesses in their transformation journey, identify new growth opportunities and
facilitate their foray into new sectors and markets.
According to the Code of Business Conduct & Ethics posted on to their website, it is mentioned
Employees leaving Wipro other than on normal retirement are required to serve a notice to
Wipro for the period specified in their employment contract or as applicable to their class. The
Human Resource representative or any other manager, who is requested to do it, shall conduct a
structured exit interview in the week prior to employees final settlement. The finding at the
interview is to be recorded and filed in the employees folder.
Employees shall not be eligible to take any leave or sponsorship for training and development
programs and trade fairs is during the notice period. However, leave based on merits and within
reasonable limit may be provided, subject to eligibility, by appropriate authority.
Any employee may be terminated from service for grave misconduct, illegal activities or
integrity lapse by the appropriate authority after an enquiry conducted in accordance with
principles of natural justice.

The main Questions which the HR Personnel asks the candidate are as follows:What is your primary reason for leaving?
Did anything trigger your decision to leave?
What was most satisfying about your job?
What was least satisfying about your job?
What would you change about your job?
Did your job duties turn out to be as you expected?
Did you receive enough training to do your job effectively?
Did you receive adequate support to do your job?
Did you receive sufficient feedback about your performance between merit reviews?
Were you satisfied with this organization's merit review process?
Did this organization help you to fulfill your career goals?
Do you have any tips to help us find your replacement?
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What would you improve to make our workplace better?
Were you happy with your pay, benefits, and other incentives?
What was the quality of the supervision you received?
What could your immediate supervisor do to improve his or her management style?
Based on your experience with us, what do you think it takes to succeed at this
organization?
Did any organization policies or procedures (or any other obstacles) make your job more
difficult?
Would you consider working again for this organization in the future?
Would you recommend working for this organization to your family and friends?
How do you generally feel about this organization?
What did you like most about this organization?
What did you like least about this organization?
What does your new organization offer that this organization doesn't?
Can this organization do anything to encourage you to stay?
Before deciding to leave, did you investigate a transfer within the organization?
Did anyone in this organization discriminate against you, harass you, or cause hostile
working conditions?
Do you have any other comments?

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Exit Interview

All of these questions are asked by the HR Personnel to the candidate. A satisfactory answer to
all the questions would result to the candidate leaving the organization smoothly, without any
issues. Exit interviews can be conducted face-to-face, be in the form of a written survey (hardcopy or electronic), or held over the phone.
Wipro takes Exit Interviews face-to-face which helps the interviewer analyse the behavior of the
candidate and gain even more insight. Wipro makes sure that the exiting employee feel more
comfortable by starting with friendly discussion and then easing into the more probing questions.
The answers to these questions helps the HR Personnel to know more about what are the current
problems being faced by the employees which is resulting to high labour turnover. Wipro always
keeps the recordings for Quality checks and for suggestions for further improvements.

Wipros Arch competitor, Tata Consultancy Services also adapts the same process for an
employee leaving the organization.

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Exit Interview

Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT)
service, consulting and business solutions company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is
a subsidiary of the Tata Group and operates in 46 countries. TCS is one of the largest Indian
companies by market capitalization ($80 billion). TCS is now placed among the Big 4 most
valuable IT services brands worldwide. In 2015, TCS is ranked 64th overall in the Forbes
World's Most Innovative Companies ranking, making it both the highest-ranked IT services
company and the first Indian company. It is the world's 10th largest IT services provider,
measured by the revenues.

A Year back, TCS had got into a controversy regarding its Exit Interview with one of its
candidate.
There are reports that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of the biggest private sector
employers in India, is planning to lay off between 25,000 to 30,000 employees in the coming
month. Now if an audio clip, allegedly recorded during an exit interview, is to be believed TCS
plans to lay off employees who are performing at a level of "C" or below.
The news about the alleged clip was reported by NDTV. For now, it is not clear if the clip is
genuine or not. Though it was posted on a Facebook page called "We are against TCS LayOff",
which has over 14,000 likes.

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Exit Interview
We have reached out to TCS and will update the story when we get a statement from the
company.
The clip was reportedly recorded by a Chennai-based female employee during an exit interview,
where the HR person stopped short of saying that she was an underperformer, but claimed that
layoffs were decided on the basis of performance rating, skill set and scalability to the next role.
"We would like to retain our As and Bs... they have done more than the guys who have got a C,"
says the HR manager in the alleged recording.
On the Facebook Page We are against TCS layoffs, there are comments from many mid-level
TCS employees. By the looks of it, these employees with 7-10 years of experience have been
asked to leave.
According to an employee who spoke to the News Minute, a news website, the C-Band stands
for meets expectations.
"There are five bands during appraisal. C-band means 'meets expectations', and a large number
of employees fall under that band. The buzz within employees is that people who have got C
Band for more than one year, will be asked to leave," an anonymous employer told the News
Minute.
-

Source India Today

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Exit Interview
After all these incidents, the then EVP & Head Global HR had issues this Letter to its
Employees.

After this damage control act, the situation was under control for TCS but this incident had
demotivated some of the new associates to work. After repeated sessions on why there were no
layoffs and multiple interactive sessions and through Bring Your Buddy schemes getting a
tremendous boost (due to Increased Commission) more and more people got motivated to join
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and the labour turnover fell. Currently TCS has a global workforce of 3,60,000+ employees
(According to its Q3 2015 Results).

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Exit Interview
Conclusion
Exit interviews in the Indian IT industry are now becoming pass. Many IT companies including
Infosys, Wipro and Accenture have unofficially stopped taking exit interviews for employees in
the last few months.
While HR personnel at firms never conducted exit interviews for staff leaving through
involuntary attrition (due to bad performance), this practice is now being extended to those who
leave voluntarily as well, according to industry sources. Further, a large part of the voluntary
attrition now includes several employees who are being forced to leave on the pretext of poor
performance and lack of projects.
Companies are not seeing adequate value in these exit interviews, as mostly only negative
feedback comes through. Also, there are companies like Mphasis which outsource exit interviews
to third party consultants which adds to the cost of operation.
However, companies like TCS and MphasiS are exceptions. MphasiS HR head R Elango said,
People tell you lot of things about the organisation that one doesnt get to know otherwise.
However he concurs that some of his peer firms who are retrenching or optimising their
headcount have stopped the process.

Their logic it seems is: Why spend so much on these interviews?

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