An Employee Quits: Control the Exit Interview

One of your employees walks into your office and says I”I need to talk to you.” In the next few minutes the employee quits. You need to be prepared in advance for this eventuality because if you have employees some will leave. There can be several different scenarios.

The Friendly Quit: This might happen if the employees spouse is transferred, other family changes or other reasons not related to the company or their compensation. This will be the easiest conversation but you need to treat it the same as the other scenarios.

The Unfriendly Quit: The most likely scenario is the employee has found another job and is leaving for more pay or promotion.

The Hostile Quit: The employee announces he no longer can stand working for the company.

Often the “quit” is a combination of the above. I had an employee who apologized for leaving. She said she needed to stay home to take care of her elderly parents. A few weeks later I received a call from one of our customers who told me this employee was working for a competitor and was soliciting our customer’s business for her new employer. 

You should have a scripted exit interview. Get it out and complete the interview immediate while everything is fresh. It will likely you will catch the employee off guard and you will get the best information before they have too much time to think and develop excuses instead of reasons for quitting.

Once you complete the interview (see article Script an Exit Interview) you or a trusted employee should escort the former employee out of the building. If you return to the now former employee’s office or work station, do not leave them alone. Let them collect their personal articles and escort them out of building. If the exit interview shows any signs of hostility then escort them out and send them their personal items. Allowing a former employee even a friendly one to work for several weeks after they give notice is inviting lose of critical data and even theft of proprietary information.

original content copyright Thomas Robinson 2010

Exit Interview: Create a Script

If an employee says they are quitting you need to assume this is the last conversation you will have with the employee and have a script for a exit interview to work from. Have a list of items you want to discuss. At a minimum this list should include;

·         Company related items                               

o   Are there any incomplete projects they are working on? How and who in the company would the employee recommend take over the project.

o   Are there any pending problems such as customer complaints?

o   What company properties need to be collected; cell phones, keys, autos, lap top, etc.

o   What passwords and codes need to be collected and changed?

o   Are there any appointments they have made that need to be canceled or rescheduled?

·         Employee related

o   Try to determine the exact reason they are leaving; more money, better job, whatever. The more information you collect the more it will help you when you hire the replacement. If they are leaving for more money try to get as much as much information on their compensation as possible including salary, benefits and perks.

o   If they are leaving because they are unhappy with the job or company try to get specifics. As difficult as it might be do not argue just listen.

·         The paperwork

o   If the employee is entitled to severance pay tell them what you are going to give them and when. You should have an established written policy so you do not have to decide on the fly what severance package is appropriate.  

o   If the employee is on your health insurance program tell them the insurance is being cancelled in accordance with you policy. It is best if your employee manual contains your policy in writing. You should also have prepared standard information on employee rights and COBRA.

o   Complete any other termination paperwork that you need.

Do not get into argument or negotiation. Give the former employee what they are entitled to and not more. If they want to give you a list of things wrong with your company take notes and use the information. Do not get defensive. It will do no good. If the employee is leaving for a raise or promotion do not make a counter offer from a position of desperation. It is likely you will overpay for the position the person is performing and worse the employee will think he or she has found a way to leverage future pay increases.

original content copywrite Thomas Robinson 2010