How to break up – professionally
Understanding why employees resign is one of the most valuable tools in an organisation’s arsenal
Local and international headlines have recently seen their share of highprofile resignations. Kenya Airlines’ head of marketing has resigned, while the finance sector was hit by four Skye Bank executive directors’ resignations. In Nigeria, the banking sector has faced a high staff turnover for some time, with researchers questioning its managerial styles.
Breaking up can be hard to do — which is why the vast majority of Top Employers take the time to understand resignations. “Employee exits can be an important strategic tool that many organisations overlook,” says Billy Elliott, country manager: Africa for the Top Employers Institute.
The Top Employers Institute, which recognises excellence in the conditions employers create for their people globally, helps organisations stay on top of current human resources (HR) best practices. Its research has revealed that in Africa, 88% of certified Top Employers have a formally defined channel in place through which HR officers conduct exit interviews with all employees, and an additional 12% have a formal channel in place using a specialist external party to conduct a more in-depth qualitative exit interview.
“As the saying by Michelle Ventor goes, ‘People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, you’ll know what to do.’” This may be hard, because it can be difficult to face uncomfortable truths, believes Elliott. But if a company loses good talent, it can be costly not to understand the reasons.
With this in mind, says Elliott, there are three key reasons why an exit interview is worth its weight in gold.
A rare opportunity for free and honest feedback
“In today’s knowledge economy, skilled employees are the asset that drives organisational success. Thus companies must learn from them — why they stay, why they leave, and how the organisation needs to change. A thoughtful exit interview process can create a constant flow of feedback on all three fronts,” argue Everett Spain and Boris Groysberg in the Harvard Business Review.
“Exit management should be seen as an area for growth and learning — a rare opportunity for An exit interview should be aimed at establishing the reasons for the employee leaving the organisation. These insights should be fed into retention strategies. Knowing why an employee is leaving can also generate useful insights into the market and competitor offerings.
According to Spain and Groysberg, using the exit interview as an opportunity to learn about HR benchmarks (salary, benefits) at competing organisations and to see how your organisation stacks up against other employers in terms of time off, ability to advance, different benefits, and pay packages, and other factors, is one of six key outcomes that a good exit interview should strive for.
Top Employer British American Tobacco South Africa (BAT SA) ensures that data from their exit interviews is fed directly into the business strategy, explains talent manager Riana Ohlson. “At BAT we aim to conduct exit interviews with all employees who resign. The exit interview is conducted by an HR officer in order to determine what the reason for leaving is, as well as to provide us with meaningful insights into retention opportunities for the future. These exit interviews also shed light on our competitive landscape,” she says.
In order to gain these insights, however, it’s crucial to follow a few golden rules. To improve the quality and veracity of the exit interview process, the Top Employers Institute recommends that the interview not be carried out by the employee’s immediate superior and, where possible, is anonymous. The Top Employers Institute reports that 63% of Top Employers in Africa have a formally defined channel in place to use anonymous questionnaires for exit interviews.
“An anonymous exit interview can provide deeper insights, as it gives the employee the freedom to express their true concerns without feeling that he or she will burn their bridges when leaving,” explains Elliott. “It can take place in the form of a questionnaire or be conducted by a third party.”
A good exit interview is the first step in recruiting future staff
An exit interview is not always the end of the road with an employee. In fact, it can be an opportunity to learn to do better. HR expert Susan M Heathfield writes in The Balance that it’s crucial to commit to taking the employee’s feedback on board and end the interview graciously; in that way they leave the organisation more likely to be an ambassador than a critic.
Andre Muller, head of HR at Top Employer Pernod Ricard, says: “We believe that we create ambassadors for life when people join our business and place enormous importance on the exit process being treated as professionally as the on-boarding process. As a result people often want to come back after they have left,” he says.
“In a rapidly changing HR environment, employers need all the understanding they can get,” concludes Elliott. “Exit interviews open a valuable door to that insight. And a good employer will take care to ensure that the quality of the exit interview is high. It is no coincidence that 98% of Top Employers on the continent ask HR to evaluate the quality of the exit management process,” he says.
Top Employers Institute
The Top Employers Institute globally certifies excellence in employee conditions. Learn from the world’s most advanced employers to benchmark and advance your HR. For more insights, follow the Top Employers Institute on LinkedIn at: @Top Employers Africa and on Twitter @TopEmployersAF. www.top-employers.com