Exit Interviews as a Knowledge Retention Tool in Organizations
- Rom Global
- Jan 1, 2007
- 2 min read
Exit interviews conducted with employees upon termination of their employment are one of the most common methods for receiving feedback on their perception of the organization and as a measure of their satisfaction with other employees.
In addition, exit interviews can be leveraged as a tool for collecting the departing employee's knowledge beyond the formal handovers that take place. It's important to remember that when an employee leaves the organization, knowledge and experience accumulated during their role may be lost, which are worth preserving.
What are the advantages of conducting exit interviews?
Exit interviews create a win-win situation:
The organization captures the essential knowledge of the departing employee before it is lost and needs to be relearned.
The departing employee feels they have left a mark on the company (a factor that encourages knowledge sharing).
The new employee benefits from the departing employee's experience and steps into their role more quickly and easily.
Of course, these interviews are more manageable or only possible with employees who leave voluntarily, not terminated employees.
How are the interviews conducted?
Typically, exit interviews are conducted using several methods: face-to-face, by telephone, through questionnaires, and more.
They are usually performed by the employee's manager or the human resources department. They are characterized primarily by being brief, with a large portion dedicated to formalities such as farewell greetings and well wishes.
However, to collect knowledge from the departing employee, we recommend conducting face-to-face interviews with a colleague in the employee's professional field rather than with a manager or the human resources department (though there is a place for this, too, at the end).
The purpose of the interview is to assist the next person who will perform the role. Therefore, it is advisable to identify who in the organization would benefit most from this information before it takes place.
Before conducting the interview, plan what information you're interested in and how deeply you want to "dig."
Questions in an exit interview
To extract the knowledge stored in the employee's mind, ask them:
About the main tasks they performed and their routine work plan
About how they performed the tasks
About problems they encountered and how they solved them
About the knowledge needed to succeed in the role
About insights they gathered while performing the role
They relied on reliable work sources, such as contacts, colleagues, relevant social networks, etc.
Don't rush to delete the departing employee's stored information. No matter how good the interview is, it won't reveal all the information.
Therefore, it is recommended to verify where the departing employee stored their documents and not automatically delete their mailbox on the day they leave. You can also ask them to write notes on important documents if possible.
In conclusion
Even companies that conduct exit interviews focusing on personal aspects can, with little effort, leverage them and turn them into an integral part of the knowledge capture process in the organization.
This article has been adapted from the articles "Exit Interviews" and Disappearing Knowledge
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