An exit interview is not required by law. An exit interview is a chance for you to learn from a departing employee their employment experience with your company. Many employers choose not to conduct exit interviews. An exit interview by a hostile employee can create documentation that could be damaging in a lawsuit or claim for UI benefits.
On the other hand, an exit interview could provide information that an employee is leaving your company for a substantially better job. This information may be significant to you. UI benefits paid to an employee who leaves one job for a substantially better one and who later becomes eligible for UI are not chargeable to the previous employer’s account. This situation might occur if the former employee lost the new job or the new employer reduced thier hours.
An exit interview can provide your company with organizational insights that may improve retention and future management. An exit interview may also unearth concerns relating to potential unlawful practices, such as discrimination, and allow your organization the opportunity to investigate and, if necessary, remedy the situation.
The Exit Interview form contains a series of questions. The answers to these questions would indicate if an employee is leaving for a substantially better job. Conduct an exit interview on the final day of employment or allow the employee to take the form home and return it by mail.
If the employee is to return the form by mail, provide the employee with a postage-paid return envelope marked “confidential” and addressed to the person in your company who is authorized to receive the completed form. You can fill in the employee’s answers if the exit interview is conducted orally. However, you will be more likely to receive candid answers if the employee is allowed to fill out the exit interview form themself. Keep the exit interview in the employee’s personnel file.
