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Exit interviews are a trap

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Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#131

Post by WJW »

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

Sure, but the GGP comment said they would be giving you a bad reference anyway, while the GP comment (and the article) made the point that sometimes they will only give you a bad reference if you manage to offend them during the exit interview.

Some people are just insecure and always get offended by constructive criticism, some people have poor communication skills and think they are "just being honest and constructive" while actually being very offensive (we probably all know a few coworkers like this) and sometimes the person doing the exit interview has just had the worst day of their lives. Bland platitudes in the exit interview will almost never hurt but candid feedback can definitely go sideways very quick. Game theory says it's better to play it safe.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#132

Post by justin_oaks »

wccrawford wrote: post #54
eeeficus wrote: post #43

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 emp…

Somebody up top thinks this will actually provide valuable information for the future. In my experience, it'll provide information, but the company won't actually value it. Either the information is actually useless (person is leaving because they want more experience that can't be had there) or the company won't actually learn anything from it (person is leaving due to bad situation or not enough money). They may cl…

I remember a previous employer sending out a survey to several customers to get feedback on the product. The boss who had the survey sent never bothered read the survey results, and he never sent them to anyone else either.

I'm sure he's not alone in ignoring important feedback. I'm sure feedback from people leaving the company is generally ignored too.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#133

Post by jrsj »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #35
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.

Not only does the third type exist, they appear to be the default.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#134

Post by respondo2134 »

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.

pretty tough for me to believe anything from HR is anon, when every URL contains a GUID...

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#135

Post by kyawzazaw »

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…

I mean maybe you need to find a different job? What do you consider a "sexy" problem?

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#136

Post by sslayer »

samstave wrote: post #77
gbfkjdjvc wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing that passes through HR is anonymous. Ever.

HR IS NOT YOUR FRIEND, EVER. Ive been in orgs where HR was literally sleeping with head of sales, and had me fix phones with dickpics and BJ vids and etc btwn employees... uh HR IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. Do not confide in them, especially anything personal. Also, if you have an IOS device - log into your apple account and confirm the devices tied to it.. HR will (in many SV orgs) attempt to add a device to your apple accou…

HR is there to protect the company, not you.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#137

Post by drcongo »

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…

The last time I had to do one it was with the head of HR, we went to a local restaurant / bar to do it, rinsed my expenses on cocktails and got absolutely smashed for the entire afternoon. It was fantastic.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#138

Post by respondo2134 »

julienb_sea wrote: post #59
optymizer wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes, they could, that is the definition of at-will employment. As long as the termination reason is not illegal there is nothing stopping them. Some employers will escort you out of the building immediately once you let them know you plan to leave, I know multiple examples of this happening at Microsoft at least.

this is not "with cause" though. They're always free to pay out your notice and have you finish immediately, but you can't be terminiated with cause after you've formally resigned.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#139

Post by Tempest1981 »

Seems like the same could be said for "360 reviews", where you're encouraged to review your managers.

Should you avoid those too? There is probably little chance that things will change. Maybe I'm too optimistic.

Re: Exit interviews are a trap

#140

Post by justin_oaks »

robohydrate wrote: post #52

I left a job a few years ago and put the entire management on blast because they could not fathom the singular reason for leaving was poor compensation. A few months later some former coworkers told me that everyone in the company got a surprise raise a few weeks after I left.

Did you ask for a raise and have it rejected?
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