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Exit Interviews:
Are They Valuable?
What You Can Learn
From Them
Maryann T. Dillon, CAE
Dental Practice Consultant
October 2006
WHITE PAPER
Great effort is put into the selection of a new employee.
You prepare by analyzing the characteristics and type of person you want in the
job, evaluating the job to determine if task realignment is necessary, writing a new
job description, determining the salary, writing a descriptive recruiting ad,
interviewing the candidates and making a selection. All of this is in anticipation
that the person will perform as they said they would or be as capable as they
appeared to be in the interview. What happens when the person proves to be
incompetent, is not willing to learn new things, does not fit with the work ethic of
the business, is found to be untrustworthy, is not a team player or any number of
other characteristics that either irritates the boss or upsets staff morale to the
point that it becomes necessary to fire the person?
Or, what if an employee gives their notice of termination, or perhaps a long-time
valued employee chooses to leave employment for any of a variety of reasons.
The reason given may be for higher salary, a shorter drive to work, or to be home
more with the children, but those may not be the real reasons. A few well-thought
out questions may reveal the real reason for leaving.
Although your time is precious, valuable information can be obtained from taking
the time to do an exit interview. There are several benefits: they help maintain
good relations with the person leaving; they assure remaining staff of the
employer’s desire to maintain efficient, friendly staff; as well as obtain feedback
that can help improve the quality of the practice/business.
It would be easy to avoid exit interviews because of the fear they may be
confrontational, especially if the employee is leaving under negative terms. It is
not easy to hear comments and discuss circumstances surrounding an
employee’s departure. However, doing so can help prevent costly turnover among
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