Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Exit interviews are a trap

jacobian.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 431 posts

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#31

Post by legalcorrection »

sweetheart wrote: post #11

The author states there is no upside to giving honest feedback of a company in an exit interview, and the one comment I see at the moment which argues perhaps there could be an upside is making the case that the upside is when you personally benefit from stock prices increasing. Why is it difficult to see that an upside would be that the company makes a positive change and people other than yourself are benefitted? W…

>The author states there is no upside to giving honest feedback of a company in an exit interview, and the one comment I see at the moment which argues perhaps there could be an upside is making the case that the upside is when you personally benefit from stock prices increasing.

He talks about exactly this.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#32

Post by cjhowarddev »

jfk13 wrote: post #19
dragonwriter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Think of them as a benign internal police But drop the benign; HR are at least as prone, if not moreso, to being malign than the regular kind of police.

Seems like every time HR comes up here, someone says this stuff. It's really tiresome. I get that there are doubtless places where this is essentially true -- particularly, perhaps, in the US scene, given the overall culture there -- but I do not believe it to be a universal truth. If your experience of life and work has led you to believe this of every company and every HR department... well, I'm sorry for you. And…

I agree with you as I've never seen this side of HR and I've worked at various companies in the US (including Amazon, which was by far my best employer).

The tide in the US seems to be normal people vs business with this idea that all businesses are out to take advantage of employees and I just don't feel that's true in a general sense.

Granted, I'm a highly skilled software engineer making great money and with seemingly limitless opportunities in the current market so saying I have privilege is an understatement.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#33

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

cpach wrote: post #22

What’s the point of exit interviews really? I had an exit interview earlier this year. All the constructive criticism I had, I had already given, during my tenure. And as Jacob alludes to, there’s no point in venting in an exit interview.

I've always assumed the point was that an employee on their way out would be more forthright in providing honest and candid feedback since they're no longer worried about getting fired, and they would use that feedback to reduce further turnover.

But seeing how rarely that feedback is acted on, yeah...I'm failing to see the point in exit interviews.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#34

Post by arcticbull »

I generally agree, but it also depends why you left.

If you left because you hate your boss, yeah probably pass. If you left because you hate your co-workers, yeah probably pass. If you left because you hate the new direction of the company - pass.

If you loved working there but want to work in a different field, your buddy started a company, you got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to France - no reason not to go, tbh. If it doesn't work out, they'll happily have you back.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#35

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

legitster wrote: post #26

I have no idea what the author is on about. The exit interview is often the best 30 minutes of a bad job! You can tell them what they are doing well, what they aren't doing well, praise good employees and criticize bad managers. If you are both professionals, it's a cathartic experience that supports your remaining coworkers. If they are not professional, they weren't going to give you a good reference anyway. But if…

> If you are both professionals, it's a cathartic experience that supports your remaining coworkers. If they are not professional, they weren't going to give you a good reference anyway.

It seems to me that the author is suggesting a third type of person: one who is professional until they're criticized.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#36

Post by dragonwriter »

jfk13 wrote: post #19
dragonwriter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Think of them as a benign internal police But drop the benign; HR are at least as prone, if not moreso, to being malign than the regular kind of police.

Seems like every time HR comes up here, someone says this stuff. It's really tiresome. I get that there are doubtless places where this is essentially true -- particularly, perhaps, in the US scene, given the overall culture there -- but I do not believe it to be a universal truth. If your experience of life and work has led you to believe this of every company and every HR department... well, I'm sorry for you. And…

HR is the subunit of the firm dedicated to minimizing risk and maximizing efficiency across the firm (and thus, independently of the specific business function of other units) in the extraction of surplus value from workers.

Their function within capitalist industry is directly, fundamentally, and uniquely concerned with the manner in which capitalist industry itself is hostile to workers.

A firm in which HR is not generally hostile to the interests of workers is fundamentally maladapted to competition in a capitalist economy and is, ceteris paribus, likely to either fail in the face of competition without this defect or be forced to rectify the defect.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#37

Post by erehweb »

Why does HR do exit interviews anyway? Basically it's a CYA technique - they want to try to detect lawsuit-related risk like harassment. Maybe as a secondary if they get a lot of bad reports about a manager they might investigate. But mostly it's formalized box-ticking on their part, and should be on yours too.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#38

Post by jessaustin »

dragonwriter wrote: post #9
vishnugupta wrote: post #7

PSA: HR is not your friend . Their job is to keep tab on and shield corporations from employee unrest. Think of them as a benign internal police; sort of complement of legal department. Legal is to handle external threat and HR is to handle internal threats.

> Think of them as a benign internal police But drop the benign; HR are at least as prone, if not moreso, to being malign than the regular kind of police.

...police...

I had a problem at work. I called HR. Then I had two problems.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#39

Post by dweinus »

Is everyone really doing exit interviews this wrong? At my company the exit interview is with HR. All feedback is anonymous, rolled up with non-exit feedback, and delivered to managers/leads periodically so it can't be easily linked back. As a manager, this has been extremely helpful. HR is not always your friend, but in my scenario there is really nothing to lose.
Post reply on HN