I did recently leave a job where I was very unhappy (and had plenty to say about it). When taking the exit interview, it asked, "Would you recommend this company to your friends as a good place to work?" You were given the choices, "Yes! Definitely", "Yes, with reservations", and "No", then asked to explain. I couldn't bring myself to lie and say "Yes, Definitely." I didn't want to answer "No" and burn bridges. And I didn't want to answer "Yes, with reservations" because I'd be compelled to explain my very big reservations (basically management, the organizational culture, and the way business was done would have to change). I left the question blank.

I have yet to find such a place. Therefore, I only answer in a kind manner no matter how bad the manager and company is. This seems nice even if it is useless to the company. If I say anything bad even if it is true and ought to be changed, I feel it might be used against me if I ask for a recommendation. So just be nice on the exit interview and non-specific and you’ll do fine.

Hi Andre..To my understanding (Keep in mind, I’ve just read about them, not actually done them), a retention interview is a face-to-face individual discussion with a current employee, rather than an anonymous “tick the box” written survey of the group.

Ask a Manager…I like your way of thinking, I guess I do hold informal employee discussions already just to stay “in the know”, and yes, I do gather some great information that way. Perhaps informally is a better way to handle gathering this type of info rather than actually doing formal individual meetings with all employees? I also currently meet formally with new hires at the 3-month and 6-month marks just to see “how things are going”, so my folks are fairly used to these types of discussions with me.

Thanks all.

Obviously, the second question is the harder one if the person is willing to answer it in the first place. If the exit interview is not mandatory, and the employee decides to not interview, take that as a message that things might not be all that rosy inside the company. Unfortunately, the company then has to figure out – on its own – what’s wrong if the answer is not readily apparent.

For Just-Another-HR-Lady, I’m still a little vague on the difference between a “retention interview” and an “employee survey”; paper versus in-person?

It really depends on what kind of employee is leaving. Is it an employee who showed up every day, gave it their all and was a good contributing member of the team? If the answer is yes, chances are you’ll get some good feedback. If it’s a person who had sub-par performance, an attendance problem and liked to gossip and create problems, you’re not likely to get any decent feedback.

I agree with ask a manager, if you develop good repoor with employees and you can be trusted (meaning confidential conversations remain just that), you can get valuable feedback on a regular basis and often, won’t get caught off guard by someone leaving the company.