Exit Interviews

What are exit interviews?

An exit interview is a 121 session between an employee and employer when the former is leaving the latter’s employment. Exit interviews are best undertaken by an independent party (such as Human Resources or an independent provider) to enable for more open and honest discussions during the session. The main purpose of an exit interview is to gain insight from employees as to their reasons for leaving and what can be done to improve attraction and retention of employees in key staffing-related areas such as onboarding, culture, reward, development, line management etc. It is vital for businesses not just to hold exit interviews, but to take action on the key themes arising from them, in order to reduce turnover and increase retention.

Why offer exit interviews?

By offering your employees exit interviews your business can:

• Understand trends on the reasons employees are leaving the business
• Learn how and where the employee experience can be improved – thus improving attraction and retention of staff
• Facilitate positive and open communication between employer / employee relations particularly around staff exits
• Encourage employees to stay (in certain circumstances) where there are quick fixes
• Learn from the employee voice, making the workforce feel more valued and listened to, increasing engagement

What topics can be included in exit interviews?

You can use standard, pre-developed exit interview templates or you can develop your own bespoke exit interview for your business. Typical topics included in exit interviews may cover some of the following staffing related topics:

• Onboarding
• Performance and appraisals
• Reward and recognition
• Work-life balance
• Employer brand
• Duties and work
• IT, HR, facilities etc.
• Line management
• Strategy
• Communication
• Culture
• Environment
• Learning and development
• Reasons for leaving and new employment

Why outsource my exit interviews?

Nockolds HR is an independent, outsourced HR provider. All our consultants are CIPD qualified with many years of experience in in-house and consultancy HR roles in senior positions. We are experienced in designing and implementing exit interviews as well as exit strategies. As experts in this area, we can provide our best fitting solutions and our recommendations, not only on designing and implementing exit interview processes but also our independent advice on managing and handling exit situations.

Using an independent provider such as Nockolds HR means that we are an unbiased, neutral contact to manage and hold your exit interviews. Staff will therefore feel more comfortable having honest and open discussions with us about these key areas. As experts in HR we can provide our recommendations and advice on how to reduce turnover and increase retention. Dependent on the level of leavers your business has, we can provide feedback reports (month, quarterly, or annually)  outlining:

• Key leaver reasons
• Notable feedback themes
• Areas for improvement
• Areas of positive feedback
• Recommendations and advice
• Demographic analysis

How are Nockolds HR’s exit interview services provided?

At Nockolds HR, we work flexibly with your business to provide our exit interview support. We can offer your business the following services:

• Fully managed – your business can outsource your entire exit interview process to us to manage. We can contact exiting employees directly, hold 121 exit interview sessions in person or virtually, and provide you with thorough feedback report on our findings and recommendations
• Bespoke interview survey – developing a bespoke exit interview survey and process designed for your business specifically
• Interview survey template – providing you with our Nockolds HR recommended exit interview survey template for you to manage your own exit interviews with
• Holding interviews – holding your business’ exit interviews with your existing templates and providing you with feedback reports
• Expert advice – if you have already carried out your own exit interviews and would like expert HR advice on improving the results, then we can help with this.

Exit interview content is confidential. Summary reports / feedback will contain details on key themes rather than individual data which could be attributable. Any data from your business including individual data, is kept strictly in line with GDPR guidelines and our Data Privacy Notice.