Question

Company E has a new CEO who is keen on improving process efficiency. She has reviewed the process documentation for the HR management and payroll process and has asked you to remove the requirement to conduct an exit interview with terminating employees as it appears to be totally inefficient.

a) should you agree to remove the exit interview? Why or Why not? (LO1, LO3,LO5)

b) If you would not agree to remove the exit interview, how would you explain your decision to the CEO? (Lo1, Lo5)

c) If you do degree to remove the exit interview, how would you justify this change to the HR and operational mangers? (LO1, Lo5)

d) If you remove the exit interview, will you need to measure the process performance differently? (LO1, LO6)

Answer 1

a) An exit interview is basically a review of the employee agreement and the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) the employee signed upon starting his job. Without a defined termination procedure, the act of firing an employee can result in numerous security oversights that can easily be exploited. Hopefully your organization will never experience retaliatory attacks from a terminated employee. But it is in the best interest of your organization to plan ahead and implement preventative safeguards.

b)  The exit interview provides you with an opportunity to understand more about the strengths and weaknesses of your company from employees who are fired. It doesn’t just provide feedback pertaining to your business’ operations, but also helps reveal worrying aspects about pay and working conditions, and issues with the management and employees. Chances are higher for fired employees than employees who voluntarily resign to give you the truth. You can gain useful knowledge, tips, contacts and more from the departing employee.

Exit interviews can also give you documentation that could be potentially useful should you ever be charged for wrongful termination. During the exit interview, the employee may reveal points which you can utilize in your defense, especially if the employee acknowledges his unsatisfactory performance on the job.

Although he face-to-face discussion in an exit interview is an personal and ideal way for both parties for reasons provided above, if you have a concern that firing an employee might provoke violence, then an alternative way is to write a termination letter instead of having a face-to-face confrontation.