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

121–130 of 431 posts

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#121

Post by dragonwriter »

Scarblac wrote: post #50
dragonwriter wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ex…

> And the best, and certainly the cheapest, way to achieve that is by having happy employees in a healthy work environment.

It's generally not the cheapest, and often not even possible where there is a deep conflict between preferences of employees and/or between the fundamental market realities of the line of business and ideals of “healthy work environment“.

It's true that “cattle not pets” isn't the line you give to the cattle, who really want to believe that they are “valued members of the corporate family“.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#122

Post by zamadatix »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #102
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…

> criticize bad managers. What do you do when you work for a company where you think managers are bad, and their managers are bad, but they all think they are great and they think you're the problem? How do you objectively (not subjectively) determine if a manager is bad? If 200 people in the organization are "happy enough", it's your word versus theirs on what a good manager vs a bad manager is. HR doesn't care (in…

If you find yourself on the opposite side of opinion with the entire management of a company you've found that you don't fit with the company. In this case it doesn't matter if one manager or all managers are objectively bad or not your communication on the way out should be why you feel you didn't have a good fit with the company not why the company should fire manager #14 specifically and expecting them immediately to do it on the word of the 1 guy leaving the company.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#123

Post by whymauri »

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.

At smaller companies with no HR, there is a lot of room for personal gripes to muck up exit interviews. I've experienced this firsthand with an unhinged founder.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#124

Post by omoikane »

The main (possible) positive value for exit interviews is for the coworkers you left behind, if you want to use your departure as the last chance to help your teammates. The author also mentioned this, and if I were to say anything in my exit interview, that's what I would use it for.

That said, my motivation for staying at a job is mostly because of my comrades, and if I decide to leave, it's probably because all the people I liked have already left.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#125

Post by chillingeffect »

hsnewman wrote: post #14

I got burned once when my company did a annual employee survey. My boss determined who gave the anonymous answer and fired me eventually.

same here. the companies that give those surveys play games with categories to ensure managers can always narrow it down. If I were a manager, I could never trust employees' survey answers. Since I got laid-off, my answer to every question has always been perfect 5 out of 5, unless I genuinely thought it needed improvement, it which case it gets a 4 out of 5. And even then I will answer no more than 5% of questions with 4s.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#126

Post by olivierlacan »

sdoering wrote: post #41

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 l…

You don't "have to disagree". You're presenting a very different context than the one the author presents, a decidedly non-European working environment.

The one you relate has far more balanced relationships between employers and employees. In that one, there are stronger guarantees against reprisals, but I'd wager those guarantees are not foolproof either. It's very easy to poison someone's reputation in a community without them finding out for a very long time.

Everything can be disagreed with if you switch the context to an alternate universe. Your example was useful and probably astounding to a lot of North American workers, so I appreciate you sharing it.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#128

Post by ARandomerDude »

hectormalot wrote: post #89

I’ve had 2 exit interviews and both were good experiences. The first scheduled the exit interview 5 months after leaving my job. Clearly said that they wanted to make sure I was comfortable in my new job before asking for feedback. I think the gap of a few months is a good mechanism to get honest feedback if someone is willing to provide it (and is what I now do for exit interviews myself) Second time was with a mana…

> he showed me the list still on his office wall, with 12/15 items crossed off

Wow. I want to work for that guy.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#129

Post by jrsj »

rising-sky wrote: post #73
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

then they are not professional, taking constructive criticism come with being being professional

most “professionals” aren’t professional about this (in my experience)

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#130

Post by heurisko »

Apreche wrote: post #29

What's with the assumption that you are quitting a job because it sucks? A lot of times people have to quit or change jobs for their own reasons and only have positive things to say. And if the job does suck, who cares if you burn bridges there on the way out? You only need to maintain bridges that go to good places.

> who cares if you burn bridges there on the way out? You only need to maintain bridges that go to good places.

There are only potential personal material downsides to burning bridges, e.g. you might need a contact one day in the previous company. There is no personal material upside for burning bridges.

Post reply on HN