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Honestly, it's amazing that anyone gives an exit interview. If they were not listened to as an employee, what reason do they have to do our jobs and prescribe a solution? Instead, perhaps switch to stay interviews and give employees an incentive and an opportunity to benefit from the feedback they provide.
Love this idea!
Exit interviews sit in the same category as self‑evaluations and “set your quarterly goals” — corporate rituals that pretend to be meaningful while everyone involved knows the script is already written.
Here’s the real reason they feel ridiculous:
By the time someone is in an exit interview, the damage is done. They’re not trying to fix anything; they’re trying to leave cleanly. HR is trying to collect “insights” that leadership will ignore unless it matches what they already believe. And the whole thing becomes a polite autopsy of a body everyone watched bleed out months earlier.
It’s theater.
Everyone smiles, nods, documents, and nothing changes.
If companies actually wanted actionable information, they’d ask the hard questions while the person was still employed — not when they’ve already emotionally checked out and mentally packed their desk.
Exit interviews and self‑performance reviews both operate on the same fantasy: that honesty magically appears at the end of the process instead of being cultivated throughout it.
This is such a fair point.
The only thing you can d0 -- and only if something really troublesome is revealed in the exit interview -- is investigate after the fact. I did once facilitate the firing of a department Director after a very honest exit interview, after which I spoke with that person's coworkers and found out he was a truly awful manager. Nothing illegal, but clearly very toxic. I interviewed the entire staff and they told consistent stories about his behavior. I gave all that information to his boss and the guy was let go the next day.
But I do agree that stay interviews are a better approach.
Thanks for sharing!
I have found themes matter more than individual comments. When patterns show up repeatedly, that is where action becomes clearer.
Agree here!