Exit Interviews
Turn Your Former Employees into Workforce Consultants
PRESENTED BY DANNY A. NELMS
The Work Institute
MEET YOUR SESSION LEADER
Mr. Danny A. Nelms, MBA
Managing Director
The Work Institute
� Co-author of The Why Factor: Winning With
Workforce Intelligence
� Agent of change, thought leader, and expert in
helping companies forge new directions with 20
years of experience and insight into human capital
dynamics
� Bachelor of Business Administration from Georgia
State University
� Masters of Business Administration from the
Massey School at Belmont University
� Adjunct faculty member at Lipscomb University in
Nashville, Tennessee
KEY TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
� Impact of Employee Retention
� Former Employees as Consultants
� Making the Case: Former Employees Make the
Difference
� Evidence-Based Employee Retention
� Q & A
� We Believe Every Word Counts
The Impact of
Employee Retention
“Leading-edge companies are increasingly adopting sophisticated
methods of analyzing employee data to enhance their competitive
advantage. If you want better performance from your top
employees – who are perhaps your greatest asset and your largest
expense – you’ll do well to favor analytics over your gut instincts.”
- Competing on Talent Analytics, Harvard Business Review, October 2010
WHY FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE RETENTION?
� Cost of turnover
� Significant loss of company knowledge
� Disruption of customer service
� Turnover creates more turnover
� Significant loss of productivity
� Lower employee engagement
� Lower performance
� Undue stress on employees and organization
Elements of Turnover Costs:
�Lost productivity
�Temporary replacement
�Hiring costs
�Training costs
�Administrative costs
FINANCIAL CASE FOR IMPROVING RETENTION
� Typical Company� 1500 employees
� 12% turnover
� 180 terms per year
� Average salary = $50,000
� Cost of Turnover� $50,000 * 33% = $16,500 per employee
� $16,500 * 180 =
� Direct Cost� $2,970,000 * 1/3 =
COST IMPACT FOR A SMALL COMPANY
$2,970,000
$990,000
� Typical Company� 5000 employees
� 10% turnover
� 500 terms per year
� Average salary = $35,000
� Cost of Turnover� $35,000 * 33% = $11,550 per employee
� $11,550 * 500 =
� Direct Cost� $5,775,000 * 1/3 =
COST IMPACT FOR A MEDIUM COMPANY
$5,775,000
$1,925,000
� Typical Company� 10,000 employees
� 15% turnover
� 1500 terms per year
� Average salary = $40,000
� Cost of Turnover� $40,000 * 33% = $13,200 per employee
� $13,200 * 1500 =
� Direct Cost� $19,800,000 * 1/3 =
COST IMPACT FOR A LARGE COMPANY
$19,800,000
$6,600,000
Former Employees
as Consultants
“someone who provides professional or expert advice[ in a
particular area.”
- Consultant Definition
BUILDING A RETENTION STRATEGY
COMPLETELY ASSESS THE REASONS WHY
RECOGNIZE EXITING EMPLOYEES AS A SAMPLING
BUILDING BLOCKS TO A SOLID RETENTION STRATEGY
The first phase of developing a comprehensive retention strategy is
completely assessing the reasons why employees decide to leave your
organization.
Recognize that employees that leave are a representative sample of
employees who are considering exiting the organization.
USE INTELLIGENCE TO BUILD A STRATEGY
Once reasons for turnover are recognized, you will be able to take the
necessary steps required to reduce turnover and increase the overall
value of your organization.
BEHAVIORAL BASED EXIT INTERVIEWS
� Exit interviews have been conducted since the 1920s
� Timing
� Inside vs. Outside
� Confidentiality
� Mixed method approach
� Act on the data
� Former employees are a representative sample of
current employees at risk
� Engagement data supplement
Research Musts• Clear Goal
• Proper communication
• Sound questionnaire design
• Data and Demographics
• Research execution
• Detailed reporting and analysis
• Meaningful action planning
Effective Communications:
� Drive High Response rate
� Encourage Authenticity
� Reinforce Confidentiality
� Report Findings and
Actions
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
DATA AND DEMOGRAPHICS
- Who needs to receive reports
- How do we manage our organization
- Facility
- Business Unit
- Country
- How detailed can I get
- Don’t forget
- High potentials
- Performance Rating
- Special groups
Let us ask the right questions
Question Structure
On a scale of Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair or Poor, how
would you rate Company X as an employer?
<Ask: Why?>
<Probe for specificity and for up to 4 responses. Ask which is
most important.>
<If Very Good or Good Ask: Why and What would it take to
earn an Excellent rating?>
<Probe for specificity and for up to 4 responses. Ask which is
most important.>
GETTING THE ANSWERS
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Engagement Drivers
- Team
- Manager
- Organization
- Job
Develop Questions with Engagement in Mind
� 10-12 open-ended questions
� Double probing for specificity
� 12-15 minutes
� 6 outbound calls per employee
� Talk with behavioral interviewer
� External, third party
RESEARCH EXECUTION
Real Time – Flexible and Decision Oriented
• Require Real-time reporting
• Ability to slice and dice data
• Drill down to qualitative data
• Action Oriented
• Data whenever and wherever you need it.
REPORTING THE DATA
ACTING ON EXIT INTERVIEW INTELLIGENCE
Use the results from exit interview intelligence to begin
building the foundation for your retention strategy.
Identify topics
whose results
suggest issues
you should
address.
Define those
issues to get to
the root cause.
Create an action
plan for each
issue.
TYPICAL EXIT INTERVIEWS FINDINGS
According to research by The Work Institute, these are the key
retention issues facing companies over the last two years:
� Career factors
� Supervision and management
� Scheduling and hours
� Training opportunities
� Type of work
Any computer can perform a survey. To answer the question “Why?”, understand employee characteristics, needs, values, and experiences.
+ USE RESOURCES & EXPERTISE
Combine quantitative and qualitative methodology for a comprehensive look at what drives the people in your organization.
No single research or survey tool can convey the breadth of factors that drive behavior in a workplace or institution. Involve practitioners that utilize a variety of methods and customized reporting tools.
+ GET THE BEST AVAILABLE RESEARCH
+ EXAMINE THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE
WORKFORCE INTELLIGENCE TO DRIVE EVIDENCE-BASED DECISIONS
IMPROVED DECISION MAKING
Making the Case:
Former Employee
Feedback Makes the
Difference
“I believe the real difference between success and failure in a
corporation can be very often traced to the question of how well
the organization brings out the great energies and talents of its
people.”
- Thomas Watson, Jr., A Business and Its Beliefs, 1963
THE SCENARIO
� In 2005, a national comprehensive cancer center partnered
with The Work Institute to collect actionable intelligence
from employees leaving the organization.
� They chose to partner with The Work Institute because they
wanted to collect data that would help identify issues that in
turn could be addressed.
� They did not have the internal resources to regularly conduct
exit interviews and thought former employees would be
more willing to share information with a 3rd party.
THE SITUATION
Prior to 2007:
� Nurse turnover was 14.1%
� Nurse vacancy rate was 11%
� Attended approximately 35 nurse specific career
fairs per year
THE WORKFORCE RESEARCH
� Top reasons for leaving� compensation (82%)
� schedule/hours (60%)
� Supervision/management (20%)
� Top suggestions to make the organization more
attractive� improve compensation (50%)
� improve supervision/management (25%)
� increase opportunities (25%)
THE ASSESSMENT AND ACTION PLAN
� HR began reviewing the exit interview data regularly and sharing
it with Nursing Administration.� Held bi-weekly meetings with HR and Nursing Administration to discuss and
address nurse recruitment and retention issues
� In 2008, they implemented a nursing career ladder.� Allowed the organization to pay for experience and entice nurses to obtain
advanced degrees and oncology specific certifications; geographic differentials
� They partnered with a local university and the local union to provide increased
tuition assistance to nurses
� They strategically removed several poor performing nurse
managers (approximately 6) and realigned outpatient clinics to
ensure adequate supervision.
THE RESULTS
� Nurse vacancy rate is 1%� They have a nurse waiting list for employment.
� Top reasons for leaving� retired
� personal
� Top suggestions to make the organization
more attractive� compensation (from 50% down to 22%)
� other
� work demands
Evidence-Based
Employee Retention
“A good spy movie never ends with the agents capturing the
intelligence; it starts with it. Good intelligence makes for a good,
action-filled plot. It should do the same in your workplace.”
- Danny Nelms, The Why Factor: Winning with Workforce Intelligence
TURNING OUR LENS TO A WIDER VIEW
What are the significant issues going on in your
organization?
� Turnover on the rise and engagement declining
� Strong financial case for improving retention
� Cost of turnover = 33%
� Exit Interviews based on Evidence-Based
Management
� Findings used as basis for solutions to reduce
turnover and improve overall value of organization
WINNING WITH WORKFORCE INTELLIGENCE
Typical Approach = Another HR Program
WORKFORCE INTELLIGENCE APPROACH = STRATEGIC BUSINESS IMPERATIVE
� Analytics need to be combined with financial measures and workforce
research to yield intelligence we can use to specifically and intentionally
intervene and impact business practices and results.
� If we don’t consider the employee’s perspective and feedback as well as
the organization’s financial resources, we are limiting our ability to be
effective to assumptions and predictions and leaving out the critical answer
to the question “Why?” – the question only our employees can answer.
RESEARCH IS THE KEY DRIVER
What gives us the foundation, perspective and ability
to think about HR differently?
RESEARCH
Q & A
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
- Voltaire
We Believe Every
Word Counts
“While quantitative surveys may provide you a compass to
understand direction, The Work Institute methodology is a GPS! We
can hone in on the key actionable information so you drive your
organization and achieve your goals with confidence.”
- Danny Nelms, The Why Factor: Winning With Workforce Intelligence
Discover a better approach to gathering and
understanding workforce intelligence, and get results
that give you a competitive advantage.
� proprietary, customized solutions to get to the root of
how people respond to your organization
� emphasis on mixed method research – we get the best
information, so we can give you the best information
� a commitment to meeting clients where they are,
matching research and analysis to the client’s needs,
and asking the right questions
The Work Institute gives your organization the power to
improve overall satisfaction, reduce cost, and promote
growth.
Leading national and international
organizations rely on The Work Institute
to gather actionable data to help
manage talent, improve performance
and mitigate risk.
Stop wondering. Start knowing. Start winning!
ABOUT THE WORK INSTITUTE
UNDERSTAND YOUR EMPLOYEES.
MANAGE MORE EFFECTIVELY.
COMPETE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.
The Work Institute | 1620 Westgate Circle, Suite 100 | Brentwood, TN 37027
Toll Free: 1-888-750-9008 | Phone: 615-777-6400
www.WorkInstitute.com