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Empowering your business needs. |
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HR
Digest - Updated 31st August 2005
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Screen and Glean
employee feedback and exit
interviews
If hiring the right people is costly, time-consuming and difficult, then
keeping them is critical, and probably one of the most important issues
facing organizations today. It is no wonder that, from the boardroom to the
first-line supervisor, companies are wrestling with what they can do to
retain talent.
What is the answer? Nothing less than a complete system of employee
communication tools
can serve to enhance an organization's ability to retain its top talent.
Without such a system, an
organization will wallow in the mediocre, competing with, and frequently
losing to, other
organizations in the ongoing war for talent.
Current research confirms that it is generally not pay, benefits, or
dissatisfaction with the job
that prompts good employees to leave. In fact, according to the Corporate
Leadership Council
(www.clcinteractive.com), the vast majority (67 percent) of employees who
intend to leave their
organizations are satisfied with their jobs. Rather, employees most often
leave because they
feel they are not valued. And, the majority of employees who feel this way
say it is
demonstrated by the fact that management fails to either solicit or listen
to their opinions.
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman make this point in their book, First
Break All the Rules
(Simon & Schuster, 1999), when they suggest that people don't leave
organizations, they leave
managers. Jack Martin, vice president, human resources, for Land O' Lakes,
Inc., agrees. "In
my experience, the single most important attribute to the retention of
high-potential employees
is the quality of the manager," says Martin. What can an organization with
an existing
management team in place do to increase the probability that it will retain
its talent? Martin,
who has been in the human resources field for over 20 years, says that the
best employers
always use a number of employee feedback systems to keep a handle on the
pulse of the
organization.
What are the best practices and how can they assist managers in retaining
talent? Betsy
Buckley, a noted speaker on effective communication and president of
What-Matters, says,
"The fundamental principle of communication is that it be two-way;
unfortunately, most
employee communication programs are one-way and are, therefore, more likely
to fail. Any
system must incorporate two-way communication." In addition to an effective
system being two
way, Buckley says, "the 'system' itself must be a series of internal
communication initiatives
that, together, are integrated into the fabric of the organization."
Such systems typically involve a variety of integrated components, such as
periodic, structured
employee surveys, ongoing employee feedback that includes such things as
management
broadcasts, pulse surveys, exit interviews, and post termination surveys.
The reality is that any
single system used independently will not produce positive results. However,
taken together,
they not only send a strong message that employee feedback is desired and
encouraged, but
they also generate incredibly valuable information with which to more
effectively run the
company. The critical factor is that management must actually use this
information.
A brief overview of each of the component tools can help to pinpoint how
they can be
coordinated for maximum benefit.
Employee Surveys
For decades, organizations have collected employee feedback through periodic
surveys. Many
employees are cynical about these efforts, because for the most part, little
if anything is ever
done with the information. In fact, employees are so distrustful that they
often think that the
questionnaires have been coded so that their responses can be traced.
Typically, the results
also are not available for months, so that when the results are published,
there is often little or
no connection between the findings and management's subsequent actions. At
the extreme, so
much time elapses between the data collection and the analysis that the
results are no longer
reliable. Nonetheless, structured surveys of employees' opinions can give
management an
important, big-picture idea of what the main issues are, and the results can
set the framework
for ongoing feedback efforts.
What's important is how the information gleaned from an employee survey is
used as part of an
overall outreach effort. An experience at American Express Financial
Advisors is a good case in
point. Not long ago, the company's management was taken by surprise by the
low scores
received on an annual employee survey about the company's career management
initiatives.
Employees felt not enough attention was being paid to this much-needed
activity, especially at
a time when the company was going through significant change. Consequently,
from the top of
the organization on down, management made a very strong and visible effort
to strengthen the
support available to employees in the area of career management. Not
surprisingly, the scores
on subsequent surveys improved dramatically.
Ongoing Feedback
Probably the most neglected component of an effective employee communication
system is one
that provides ongoing feedback from the front lines. Karen Gustafson, former
director of
employee communications for The Pillsbury Company, whose employee-feedback
system won
an Optimas Award in 1998 from WORKFORCE, describes the benefits of such a
system.
"Obtaining ongoing feedback from employees ensures that there are no
misunderstandings
between what is in the hearts and minds of employees and what management
believes is in the
hearts and minds of employees," says Gustafson. "Senior management is
somewhat isolated
because they analyze and plan organizational changes long before the changes
are presented
to the troops. A system that provides real-time feedback to management
provides a reality
check," continues Gustafson.
In designing such a system, it is important that it be easy and safe for
employees to use. Not
doing so is a mistake that many organizations make. One example of an easy
and safe
feedback system consists of providing employees with an easy-to-remember,
toll-free number
they can dial up at any time, Once connected to the system, they are
instructed to record a
message for their organization's management. Within one business day, a
verbatim copy of
their message is on management's desk. Employees also have the option of
leaving their
names and requesting a response, an option that about one-third of callers
use. This system
can be paired with management broadcasts, in which senior management records
a message
on the toll-free number that employees can listen and respond to, and pulse
surveys, where
questions are recorded for employees to answer. Organizations can receive a
written monthly
report highlighting the trends in this feedback and comments on the content
and tone of the
calls, as well as recommendatio ns about how management can respond to the
feedback.
Without management's response, this easy and safe tool loses its
effectiveness.
Exit Interviews
A third important component of an effective employee communication system is
a consistently
monitored exit interview process and post-termination survey. The objective
of the exit interview
and survey process is not only to identify feedback from departing employees
that can be used
to make the organization more effective, but also to demonstrate that
employees' opinions are
valued. At most organizations, the exit interview and survey are
administered through a formal,
written survey that is simply handed or sent to departing employees.
Alternatively, an open-
ended, face-to-face discussion between the departing employee and his/her
manager or a
human resource person, or a combination of both formats takes place.
Unfortunately, the
response rates of traditional exit interviews are exceptionally low,
particularly with the mailed
format, and yield sanitized, or nearly useless information.
There are many examples of the valuable information an organization can
acquire as a result of
conducting these interviews, information that can help in the retention of
talented employees.
For example, a neutral third-party specialist recently conducted a series of
exit interviews for a
large employer that wanted to know why so many IT employees were leaving.
The results of
more than 400 telephone interviews showed that people were leaving because
they did not
believe their work was valued. They were doing more with less, and
management did not seem
to care. It wasn't the money, benefits, working conditions, or the work
itself; it was the fact that
management seemed unmoved by their hard work, increased productivity, and
technological
talent. Yet they acknowledged that the organization purported to value those
things. The
interview itself would not have retained those individuals, but knowing what
they believed helped
management take steps to value the efforts of the remaining staff.
Unfortunately, exit interviews and post termination surveys are generally an
afterthought on the
part of many organizations. The task of conducting them is usually given to
someone who
already has a full-time job; as a result, the data are collected
inconsistently. More frequently,
the back end of the process is not in place, so there is no automatic way to
process the
information or use it effectively. The reality is that, in many cases,
employees who are leaving
do not want to burn bridges, so they are unlikely to provide candid feedback
because their
responses might be attributed to them. Instead, they either won't respond or
choose not to be
honest.
However, when exit interviews are done consistently and allow for anonymity,
and when the
organization actually uses the information it receives, another link in the
employee feedback
loop is provided. Employees begin to feel that management values their
opinions.
Making It Work
How can an organization ensure that it receives open, honest feedback from
employees, both
while they are working and when they leave? A simple, yet effective method
has probably
already been used for other human resource tasks: outsource it. The work can
be completed
consistently, in a timely manner, and less expensively to the organization.
The bottom line? An integrated employee communication program will serve
both recruiting and
retention. First, the program makes a powerful statement about an
organization's commitment
to its employees. This allows potential employees to know right away, even
during initial
interviews, that the company has in place a series of initiatives place that
encourages every
employee to provide feedback to management, including sending a message
directly to the
CEO. Second, an integrated system offers great versatility when it comes to
demonstrating to
employees that their concerns, opinions, and ideas are being reviewed and
acted upon.
Management can choose from a variety of ways to convince employees that they
genuinely are
listening, and most important, are responding.
Third, experience suggests that approximately 70 percent of the information
received from such
feedback identifies improvements that can benefit an organization. These
include streamlined
processes, new product ideas, suggestions for improved productivity, and
ways to enhance
management effectiveness.
Engaged talent is a company's prime source for creating and maintaining a
competitive
advantage. Any company seeking to exploit this competitive advantage must
instill in its
management a mind-set that they not only value employees, but also encourage
them to share
their opinions. As Buckingham and Coffman conclude, it is only with engaged
employees that
an organization can have loyal customers, sustainable growth, increased
profitability, and
enhanced shareholder value.
Sallie Moniot Lilienthal holds a doctorate in organizational behavior from
the University of North
Carolina. She is a board member of the Minneapolis-based consulting firm
Management
Communications Systems, the creators of In Touch, an award-winning internal
communication
tool that facilitates dialogue between management and employees to improve
retention, identify
liability issues and increase an organization 's productivity and
profitability. |
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The information
provided in this section has been gathered from published sources. The
information is true to the best of our knowledge and Topplanet has
taken reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the information. |
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