I quit Lowe’s a few months ago and they mistakenly gave me an exit interview. Not only did I put my grievances in writing, but I was adamant that the “HR” person typed what I was saying verbatim.
There’s no point in those interviews unless you say what needs to be said.
P.s. Chris, you were the worst manager I’ve ever had. You’re a terrible human. That’s why the entire department left and got hired at another company… the one I went to. The entire department, Chris. I made that happen.
I’m of the opposite opinion. Exit interviews are just a way a company can further pretend to give a shit what you think, while not actually giving a shit. Do you really think what you say will make a difference?? If they didn’t listen to you while you were working, why would they listen to you if you’ve quit? It’s all smoke and mirrors designed to make you feel good while giving the company marketing material to say, ‘we listen’ when they don’t. HR is on team company. They are not your friend. The odds of them actually doing anything different based on an exit interview is zero. If anything, they’ll use what you say against you to frame it as ‘clearly he/she is not a happy person’ so they just dismiss what you say. Just like they did when you were working for them.
I deny them that chance so I don’t do them.
Fuck them. Leave and say nothing and just be happier at your new job. They had their chance and blew it. You don’t owe them anything and you’re better off channeling that energy into something more in line with what makes you happy.
They don’t care whether you think they give a shit or not. The contract has already ended, they have no “legal” motivation to give you the light of day.
The reason exit interviews exist is that some people within the company do care about employee feedback / retention rate, because from a strictly practical point of view, hiring/training costs many thousands of dollars for any vaguely skilled position so knowing if there is an avoidable problem is valuable.
The flip-side is that in most cases, circumstances are out of control of whoever is in charge of exit interviews. If an employee quits for personal reasons, can’t do anything about it. If the owner is a cunt, can’t do anything about that either. However, if five employees quit because “Chris is the worst manager in the world”, then maybe Chris will eventually find himself “promoted” to a non-management position.
From an employee perspective playing nice and being professional can be worthwhile, depending on the size of the industry, whether you’re willing to burn bridges, and the importance of networking for your job position. The company you were working for may suck but your previous manager might get a new job and offer to hire you there.
Even if the HR person did type it verbatim and show it to you, they’re just going to turf it the second you leave and spin a tale that makes their boss happy.
There’s zero chance that the upper management who needed to hear what you said actually heard it.
There’s no point in those interviews unless you say what needs to be said.
" Yeah great, well I generally come in at least 15 minutes late. I, uh, use the side door, that way Lumberg can’t see me and, uh, after that I just sort a space out for about an hour. Yeah I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I’m working. I do that for, uh, probably another hour after lunch too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about 15 minutes of real, actual, work. Oh yeah, let me tell you something about TPS reports. See the thing is Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care. It’s a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see another dime. So where’s the motivation? And here’s something else, Bob, I have eight different bosses right now. Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only real motivation, is not to be hassled. That and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that’ll only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired. Listen, I’m going to go. Uh, it’s been really nice talking to both of you guys. Good luck with your layoffs, all right? I hope your firings go really well."
I quit Lowe’s a few months ago and they mistakenly gave me an exit interview. Not only did I put my grievances in writing, but I was adamant that the “HR” person typed what I was saying verbatim.
There’s no point in those interviews unless you say what needs to be said.
I love exit interviews.
P.s. Chris, you were the worst manager I’ve ever had. You’re a terrible human. That’s why the entire department left and got hired at another company… the one I went to. The entire department, Chris. I made that happen.
I’m of the opposite opinion. Exit interviews are just a way a company can further pretend to give a shit what you think, while not actually giving a shit. Do you really think what you say will make a difference?? If they didn’t listen to you while you were working, why would they listen to you if you’ve quit? It’s all smoke and mirrors designed to make you feel good while giving the company marketing material to say, ‘we listen’ when they don’t. HR is on team company. They are not your friend. The odds of them actually doing anything different based on an exit interview is zero. If anything, they’ll use what you say against you to frame it as ‘clearly he/she is not a happy person’ so they just dismiss what you say. Just like they did when you were working for them.
I deny them that chance so I don’t do them.
Fuck them. Leave and say nothing and just be happier at your new job. They had their chance and blew it. You don’t owe them anything and you’re better off channeling that energy into something more in line with what makes you happy.
That’s just my take though.
They don’t care whether you think they give a shit or not. The contract has already ended, they have no “legal” motivation to give you the light of day.
The reason exit interviews exist is that some people within the company do care about employee feedback / retention rate, because from a strictly practical point of view, hiring/training costs many thousands of dollars for any vaguely skilled position so knowing if there is an avoidable problem is valuable.
The flip-side is that in most cases, circumstances are out of control of whoever is in charge of exit interviews. If an employee quits for personal reasons, can’t do anything about it. If the owner is a cunt, can’t do anything about that either. However, if five employees quit because “Chris is the worst manager in the world”, then maybe Chris will eventually find himself “promoted” to a non-management position.
From an employee perspective playing nice and being professional can be worthwhile, depending on the size of the industry, whether you’re willing to burn bridges, and the importance of networking for your job position. The company you were working for may suck but your previous manager might get a new job and offer to hire you there.
Well, Chris got fired… so, yeah I guess losing an entire department in a weeks time, each person citing Chris as the reason, might cause some actions.
But what do you think that accomplished?
Even if the HR person did type it verbatim and show it to you, they’re just going to turf it the second you leave and spin a tale that makes their boss happy.
There’s zero chance that the upper management who needed to hear what you said actually heard it.
Meh, they get taken seriously at least where I work. Especially if they were a high performer or if there is a significant trend in departures.
That said, some leadership will hear parts that don’t make them feel so bad and gasp onto those.
These giant corporations are extremely data driven, and managers who get bad reviews do eventually become squeaky wheels.
" Yeah great, well I generally come in at least 15 minutes late. I, uh, use the side door, that way Lumberg can’t see me and, uh, after that I just sort a space out for about an hour. Yeah I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I’m working. I do that for, uh, probably another hour after lunch too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about 15 minutes of real, actual, work. Oh yeah, let me tell you something about TPS reports. See the thing is Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care. It’s a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see another dime. So where’s the motivation? And here’s something else, Bob, I have eight different bosses right now. Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only real motivation, is not to be hassled. That and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that’ll only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired. Listen, I’m going to go. Uh, it’s been really nice talking to both of you guys. Good luck with your layoffs, all right? I hope your firings go really well."