Many small business do not routinely interview their leaving staff – but remember this is a time when the staff are likely to be their most honest, as they do not fear reprisal. It is a good way to keep relations between employees and employers friendly. For a small business the last thing it needs is staff to leave unhappy, and sully the reputation of your business.

1.    Reasons for Leaving

If you have a quick turn over of staff it may be best to ask some pressing questions. A stable work force with reliable, honest staff is conductive of a healthy working environment. A quick turn over of staff  does not boost the morale of existing or new staff – it suggests there is something wrong with the job. Only long term employees can make improvements for your business as they have adequate time to get to grips with the companies structure and working practises. Often staff are hesitant about why they are leaving, so it can be best to prepare a list of questions and possible answers. Try asking them to score their experience on hours, pay, type of work involved. If relationships are strained with said employee then questionnaire type feedback sheets may be an alternative option.  You may question why it is important to have happy staff – but happy staff will work longer hours, be more efficient and productive for your company. In the long run, no feedback is worse than some.

2.    To leave Information about current projects to existing or new staff.

Aside from the common sense aspect here, if an employee has been good at their job, they have also, probably been innovative. Depending on staff size and numbers it is best to determine what new practises this staff member has been involved it and how they would have continued to develop them. Employees can point out logical successors to their job, and may also be open to training days where they will come and education new staff members in their position.

Questions

It is important to avoid leading questions – after all honest feedback is what you are looking for.  The two main types of questions are about how the employee felt working for you, and how the employee felt about the company.

Type 1 questions include, how satisfied where you with the work/hours/pay? Did you feel like part of the company? What incentives were there to work harder? How can we work to retain good workers such as yourself?

Type 2 questions include, how efficient do you think the company is? How can we improve? What opportunities has the work offered you? What examples of waste occur on the job? (Be that supplies or time – this is good to ask at this point as employees won’t be hesitate to be honest!).

Employers may not be happy conducting these interviews with all members of staff – but remember even if they are leaving under less than optimum conditions, they still may have feedback that is useful. Remember even if you do not know how they feel about the position - other surely will.