Exit interviews are a trap • Hacker News Board

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#41

Post by sdoering » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:16 PM UTC

I have to disagree. At least in some very specific circumstances.

First a bit of context. In Germany, some companies have something called a works council. A body of employees that represents the interests of the workforce vis-à-vis the employer.

The works council has certain rights and is well protected against reprisals. And it is bound to confidentiality.

For works councils, exit interviews are a valuable way to learn about problems that have previously flown under the radar. And in most cases, the works council is interested in improving things.

In many cases, it has the means to do so. It may take some time, as everything does, but in my experience exit interviews can help.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#42

Post by Scarblac » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:17 PM UTC

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.

Way too dystopian, not all companies are like that.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#43

Post by eeeficus » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:17 PM UTC

I agree with the article. If you leave, feedback is not worth it. I always gave honest feedback at exit interviews and felt like shit for a while afterwards. And I don’t understand why companies are doing this, honestly. Take feedback from your employees and really listen! What is the gain to ask for feedback to someone leaving the company? Is it more honest? Then you have a cultural problem because it means your employees are afraid to give honest feedback.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#44

Post by gbfkjdjvc » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:18 PM UTC

dweinus wrote: post #39

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.

Nothing that passes through HR is anonymous.

Ever.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#45

Post by optymizer » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:18 PM UTC

andrew_ wrote: post #6

Generally spot on in my experience. I've only ever agreed to one, and it was a mess, with the interviewer getting very upset and pushing back on all of my answers. Since then I politely decline. I've had one boss tell me it wasn't optional, to which I responded that I'd be happy to leave earlier if he wanted to enforce the requirement. He swiftly backed down, as we hadn't yet finished knowledge transfer.

Hypothetically and assuming 1) at-will employment, 2) company policy requires exit interview and 3) they didn't care about the knowledge transfer, could the company then terminate you "for cause" because you refused to do the exit interview?

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#46

Post by tqi » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:18 PM UTC

> Last I checked, the organization was still very much headed in the direction that I disagreed with.

This assumes that your opinion on direction is the right one, and that anyone or team that doesn't agree is wrong?

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#47

Post by phoe-krk » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:18 PM UTC

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…

> 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?

This upside is dutifully noted in the beginning. It's just that the author considers it highly improbable, therefore greatly diminishing its averaged value, especially when compared with the possible downsides.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#48

Post by ithkuil » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:19 PM UTC

At one of my last jobs at a big corp I was so surprised that when I quit there was no exit interview. It kinda made sense though, as I noticed there were no real incentives to improve things.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#49

Post by truthwhisperer » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:19 PM UTC

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…

No post body was provided.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#50

Post by Scarblac » Mon, Apr 04, 2022, 6:20 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #36

jfk13 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 g…

> 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.

And the best, and certainly the cheapest, way to achieve that is by having happy employees in a healthy work environment. So in my experience, that's what HR tries to achieve.

I'm sorry your experience was different.