How companies can put the brakes on exit interviews

With many business leaders grappling with the ramifications of remote work, off-site connection to corporate networks and post-COVID-19 disruption, effective management of human resources has increasingly come under scrutiny. The most recent issue to emerge is the use of ‘stay interviews’ to address a rise in the number of ‘exit interviews’.

Leading human capital management services and solutions specialist CRS Technologies says businesses are beginning to realise that it costs much more to recruit new talent than take more interest in existing employees.

Nicol Myburgh, Head: CRS Technologies HCM Business Unit, says a review of information online from the likes of Forbes, CNBC, Bulletin and others, points to the new growing trend of ‘re-recruiting’ or concentrating efforts away from ‘exit interviews’ and rather on what it would take to keep the employee with the company.

“’Stay interviews’ have now overtaken ‘exit interviews’ in business. Today’s business leaders want to steer the conversation away from why an employee is leaving to what would motivate them to stay. There is an emphasis on fresh career opportunities, and on positive factors to consider in building up profiles and jobs. As experts will attest, ‘stay interviews’ are not new, but there is now a more deliberate and focused effort to understand the role that employees play, their value to the business and why the arrangement is in their mutual best interests,” says Myburgh.

But CRS Technologies underlines the dynamics involved in this process that need to be considered.

While the ‘exit interview’ is generally considered to be a formal process – a formality as part of the human resources function – the ‘stay interview’ is more an informal straightforward procedure in which all parties need to understand, accept and abide by the ‘rules’.

“Employees and employers need to feel free to openly discuss the situation, without concern about any post-discussion fallout or discomfort.  There must be a level of trust and acknowledgment that there is a degree of vulnerability on both sides,” adds Myburgh.

CRS Technologies agrees with the sentiment that while exit interviews are certainly not gone completely, they are just as relevant in today’s economic climate. Today, the human resources focus is on staff retention, and mostly because of the shortage of qualified and skilled personnel.

“It is well known that skills are in short supply across many markets. The reality is that most businesses are not in a position to lose skills, and while it doesn’t mean that employees are calling the shots, it does mean that there needs to be a more concerted effort to address needs, to acknowledge roles, feelings and aspirations, possibly more so than has been the case in the past.”