Exit Interviews

As competition for talented employees becomes fiercer than ever, finding and retaining them becomes increasingly crucial to a company’s success. Each and every termination of employment is tough for any company to endure, prompting a plethora of questions, consequences, and labours. Nevertheless, these hardships are worth it if dealt with correctly, for each end of a relationship carries multiple insights in itself.

So, when an employee does decide to leave, it really is best practice to conduct an exit interview to find out why. Here are some of the benefits companies can expect from conducting exit interviews:

• A better understanding of the reasons an employee has left the company.
• How to leverage the information gathered for an in-depth analysis of problems concerning employee satisfaction.
• A deeper insight into how to improve your HR strategy in order to retain employees.
• Unfair, unethical, or illegal practices—like discrimination, sexual harassment, or fraud—might be uncovered and can then be dealt with.

There are several methods to choose from when conducting an exit interview, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

• A dialogue with the former employee—ranging from formal to informal
• A structured interview
• A questionnaire

Questions answered in this report

1. Are exit interviews really worth the time and resource costs to an organisation? How can the knowledge gained be practically applied in the workplace?  
2. What are the main topics that should be covered in the exit interview? 
3. How should the exit interview and the pre- and post-interview processes be conducted? 
4. How does an ERA member company we interviewed conduct their interviews? What reasons are they finding for their employees choosing to leave? What trends are they noticing?
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a questionnaire instead of an in-person interview? 
6. Which attributes make a well-designed questionnaire? Which types of questions should be included? 
7. How should the questionnaire results be formatted and interpreted? 
8. What to do if misconduct, harassment, or any unethical behaviour is reported? 

This report was produced by the ERA Future Group. For more more on human resources in the rental industry, please also see:

• How to compete with other industries in securing talent for the future?
• The use of HR Key Performance Indicators in rental companies
• Job Positions Profiling: Branch Manager
• Customer journey through job position in a rental company
• The Impact of Social Media on Recruitment and HR