I’m facing my first exit interview in a week, and I don’t really know what tack to take. There are lots of things about my job that have changed for the worse since I started. However, those changes will never be reverted, since our new CEO completely changed the way we operate. I suppose it’s pointless to bring those things up, so I won’t be wasting my time. But I wonder if it might be worthwhile to bring up small things about the work environment that maybe *could *be improved. Like, our no-perfume-spraying policy is never enforced. Neither is the one about minimizing non-work noise on the floor. Some mothers bring their babies and young children up and down the aisles after work to visit with coworkers who are still on the clock, while dozens of people are still on the phones. It’s a call center, not a regular office job, so small children crying, laughing, and talking is a pretty big problem. There’s a heinous microwave-to-staff ratio. Has anyone considered that making free coffee available could greatly increase morale and productivity at very little cost to the company? Stuff like that.
I don’t want to burn bridges by sounding like a whiner or troublemaker, but I honestly think changing a few things would improve the work environment for the coworkers I’m leaving behind. But am I being too idealistic? Should I just smile and nod so I can gtfo asap and look like a good worker bee? Although I’m intending to leave the area permanently (and my HR department doesn’t provide references for *anybody, *no matter what), I want to be eligible for rehire. The company is nationwide, and there’s always the off-chance I might reapply at another location “someday.”
Any Dopers who have gone through exit interviews: Do you prefer to go the route of honesty, tact, or no comment?
Use tact, don’t burn your bridges. Even if you think you’d never go back there looking for a job you may need a reference from that company some day. Chances are they have a policy of only confirming your employment, but you never know who might answer the phone or respond to the email some day.
Everything you’ve mentioned is pretty petty/subjective (except for people bringing their kids in to work, and if it hasn’t been stopped yet, it ain’t gonna be) - my vote is for just keep it short, simple, and positive as well. Say something you liked about working there, and call it a day.
Assuming for a moment you weren’t interested in getting a job with them in the future, given that they don’t give references what would compel you (in that scenario) to even agree to go through an exit interview?
I’m facing having to do an exit interview in a few weeks when my disability runs out - I can’t go back. As much as I would like to be honest about the truly soul sucking corporation they are, (and it would feel good to tell them) I won’t do it because I don’t want to poison my reputation going forward. Your company may not give references (which is bizzare) but people gossip, so assume that everything you say or do is out there for future employers to find out about.
I guess it won’t hurt you to be honest, but if I were the person giving the interview and that’s what you gave me, I’d be rolling my eyes so hard my head would be spinning. Everyone gets mildly annoyed by stuff at work, and nobody really cares about your particular set of annoyance. If you have something constructive to say about the organization or about improving efficiency and service, it may be helpful. But if you want to say your coworkers smell bad and you don’t like the beverage choices? Probably not worth the use of breath.
I think this is a little more cynical than is warranted. If Rachel keeps the tone of the interview predominantly positive (“I did really enjoy working here, I think I’ll have fond memories of this job for a long time.”) and mentions here a few (and really no more than two) little things that might make things go even more smoothly, which are not insane demands (and Rachel’s are not), I think HR will listen.
That might not mean that anything gets done about, but I don’t think they’ll be annoyed. Do you get annoyed when your coworkers talk to you about life in the office? No. It’s par for the course office chatter. HR staff are no different (however fervently non-HR people will insist that they’re joyless disciplinarians with no sense).
In fact, I think this might even work in her favor. When somebody responds to the question, “Anything you’d change around here?” with a completely disingenuous “Nope! Are we done now?” then that makes it unpleasant. Yes, an exit interview is a quarter-hour you’ll never get back, but there’s no need to telegraph just how much you’d rather be anywhere else. By answering, “Well, I might be a little more insistent that only people who are on the clock should be on the call floor. All that extraneous noise can be a little distracting.” you make it clear that you’re willing to engage the exit interview in an honest, relaxed manner, which everyone prefers to acting subtly put out.
I have only gone through one exit interview and the company acted on my input, eventually.
The first point I raised with them was, “Why the hell should I care what the company does now that I will no longer be working there?” And I proceeded to give my unvarnished input.
Next point was that continuing the employment of someone after he pulled a knife on a fellow member of staff was not wise. Forcing out three female employees after they file sexual harassment complaints against that same employee is not the proper way to handle the situation. When a new female employee who never knew of the prior complaint reports the problem employee showed up drunk on her doorstep after midnight asking her to “Show me your tits,” it is more than past time to take formal action. And that perhaps the site manager should not be directly supervising this problem employee who was her husband.
A mere 5 years later the problem employee and his wife were transferred to other roles within the company and the company sponsored them for an immigrant visa. Meanwhile there was an overall turnover well in excess of 150% over those five years at that location.
There are some things HR really should know about. If they later refuse to act on it then that is their liability.
The first one I was going back to grad school, which my boss had known about for about 5 months. The HR lady said “wow, this is the easiest exit interview ever”, mainly because I really did love that job and was not leaving for anything to do with the company.
The second one I left because the product was shit and management didn’t give a damn about the employees. I had an exit interview and said (and this is as close to verbatim as I can get) “I don’t believe in the product, and I don’t think management treats the employees well, from mandatory overtime, weekend work, not informing us of changes, and the small raises”.
After the first job, I had no trouble getting references.
The VP of the second job (who the exit interview was with), had me escorted out of the building, and then called a meeting to tell my old team that I had threatened to punch him in the face, and I was not welcome back. Which is ludicrous, because I am 150 pounds of nothing and 5’10", he was 6’2" and about 225 pounds of muscle. Which, since he lied about what happened in the interview when I couldn’t defend myself, meant none of my old managers or team leads were willing to give my references. So it’s a good thing my current job is awesome and I am never leaving, because that would be a pain in the ass.
So my advice for exit interviews is to lie your ass off about there being any problems, and if they ask why you’re leaving, have a reason that the company can’t do anything about (like you want a shorter commute and don’t want to work at home, because the company isn’t moving buildings just to keep you).
Thank you all! I love the candor so far. If I think harder on it, I can’t imagine they’ll start telling people with kids to leave (how would it look to the kids? not their fault mom is inconsiderate). So even though it’s a nice idea, it’d be pointless to bring it up. If they ask me for something I disliked, I think I’ll mention that spending 15 minutes waiting in line for a microwave when we only have 30 minutes for lunch is inconvenient. It doesn’t put blame on anybody in particular, so I wouldn’t look like an unstable reactionary for mentioning it.
Fortunately, I have a ready-made excuse! I’m moving out of state for personal reasons, so I don’t have to admit to job dissatisfaction. The pay is definitely below market value compared to COL in this area, but I imagine that’d go over like a lead zeppelin.
My understanding is that it is a liability thing. They cannot trash you, because you might find out and sue them, and praising you might be dangerous if you do not work out well with the new company.
I took it as license to give my honest opinions – which, of course, diplomacy and self-preservation led me to cast in the style of “constructive criticism.”
For instance, they hadn’t done an unload/reload of the big enterprise database in ten years, although standard practice is to do it once a year. (A lot of IT professionals get to do this over the Christmas/New Year’s break!) So I said, up front and flat out, “You guys are way, way, way behind on standard protective database maintenance.”
Do the managers ever wander around to see stuff like this? If they do, they might be ignoring it since someone above wouldn’t approve a new microwave. If not, maybe the best thing to say to HR is that the managers should come down to watch, without giving any details, They might get curious enough to actually do it.
Exit interviews are given to HR people who have to listen but who probably don’t have any power. Any complaints about work environment are going to be received by people who are doing well and might like the environment just fine.
In general, by leaving you’ve made yourself dead to them. And just consider how hard it would be to get any changes you might recommend through if you were there pushing. When you are not there - forget it.
Yup. The very large companies I’ve worked for have this policy. It is not uncommon. Someone who used to work for me used me as a reference, and I told the person at his new company, who I happened to know, the policy, and he is used to it.
An exit interview benefits the company and does absolutely nothing for you. They have a nice record of any grievances you might have against them, they get to use your time for feedback and it justifies Human Resources existence.
I absolutely refuse to do them when asked but I was once put into an exit interview and I chose to only answer questions with mindless positive responses.
If they truly wanted your feedback and were going to act on it - they would have asked before you were leaving.
If they ask you could go for the generic “there are perhaps some small things that I think could increase productivity and help make everyone more comfortable, but I’m sure it’s just the usual things you hear all the time [big smile]”. You show that you are willing to engage seriously with their question. They are free to ask for specific ideas if they want.
My advice: pick one thing where you have a suggestion for improvement and raise it in that way - not a complaint but a way things could be even better. Don’t bring up the rest, because if you have a list you’ll just be perceived as a complainer. What one thing would make the most difference to your colleagues? Pick that!
Those aren’t things the company will care about, unless they are affecting bottom line. All you’ll do is get it off your chest.
My last exit interview was three minutes with no “what do you think of the company.”
The most “successful” exit interview I ever had was not an interview, but a letter I wrote to my great grand boss after leaving. I told him “from the trenches” who was doing a great job, who was doing a lousy job, what work we were doing that was make work and what needed to get done that wasn’t getting done. I never heard anything from him, but a year later ran into my former coworkers - promotions had happened - guess who! People had gotten laid off - guess who! A program had been instituted to get rid of some make work - guess which! And some new tasks had been added. From what I heard about 80% of what I said was acted on. I said nothing at all talking to my coworkers except ‘oh, she deserved that promotion.’