If your organization faces a high turnover rate of new employees, your hiring process probably needs improvement. Figure out what to change by following the three steps suggested by John Sullivan, a management professor at San Francisco State University:

• Generate monthly reports that provide the names of everyone leaving the organization, their start dates, and whether they quit or were fired.

• For those fired within six months, compare the reasons for termination with documentation from the hiring process. Look for patterns of concerns raised in interviews that match up with reasons for firing. Develop a list of danger signs recruiters should not ignore no matter how good candidates look. In cases where no warning signs arose, tweak the screening process so it will better uncover those issues in the future.

• For hires who voluntarily separate within six months, wait about three months and contract with a consultant to candidly interview the ex-employees and find out why they moved on. The answers often reveal systemic problems within the organization that didn’t surface in your original exit interview, but they also can underscore recruiting issues such as not paying enough attention to culture fit.

Adapted from “The Sad State of Personnel Affairs and What You Can Do about It,” by Meridith Levinson, in CIO

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Why do workers leave? Here’s how to ensure your exit interviews provide the answers:

• Get outside help. Short-circuit emotions by using an objective third party to conduct exit interviews. Departing workers are more likely to believe confidentiality claims of vendors who have no stake in their comments. And interviewees will be less inhibited with interviewers who are compiling data rather than collecting gossip or defending the company.
  
• Escape immediate surroundings. Treat exit interviews with the same confidentiality shown performance appraisals or disciplinary meetings. Don’t allow departing workers to become intimidated by passing traffic or big ears in nearby cubicles. Hold interviews in a conference room, café, or park where people can speak freely.
  
• Compile useful data. Create a written policy explaining that exit interviews will be used to compile data that will be reported in composite form only. Don’t share plans to use exit data to investigate specific problems or individuals. Make sure data is reliable by using a uniform questionnaire.
  
• Let time work its magic. If you insist on conducting face-to-face interviews with departing workers on their final day of service, you’ll probably get a high level of participation. But you probably won’t get an accurate assessment of why these people are leaving. Departing workers may be bitter about personal conflicts or the company’s failure to, say, make a counteroffer. Or they may be caught up in the emotions of their good-bye parties. Wait long enough for them to gain perspective and feel confident that burning a bridge won’t damage their careers, then mail your questionnaire. Increase the likelihood of a response by offering a cash bonus or gift certificate to those who return the survey. Even if your response rate declines, you’ll know the responses you do receive will be more likely to offer useful insight.

Adapted from “This Way to the Exit Interview,” by Ken Gaffey, on the People First Solutions Web site

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PR firm Marc USA/Pittsburgh heaps praise on employees who seek new challenges elsewhere. But President and CEO Michele Fabrizi gets them thinking about coming back even before they get out the door. For the past six years, departing workers have been honored at all-staff meetings as part of Michele’s Boomerang Club. Fabrizi encourages the employees to discuss why they’re leaving before the festivities begin. “A lot of times we lose someone because their significant other or spouse needs to take the lead in a job and they have to move,” Fabrizi says. “Or sometimes, particularly with young people, they just need to try something else. We wish people well and have a party. There’s no shame in it.” Indeed, she adds, “We spend a lot of money educating and training our talent. So we want them back.” Alumni who make their way back to Marc USA earn a wooden Australian boomerang upon their return.

Here are a few tips for smoothly catching and capitalizing on boomerang employees:

• Don’t rehire for the sake of doing so. Make sure you’ve got a position that needs the person’s skills.

• Many workers leave when they stall on the career ladder. Woo back top alumni by offering promotions that take into account outside successes.

• Confirm that the employee’s initial reasons for leaving have been addressed.

• People and organizations change and grow, so double-check that the alumni is still a good culture fit.

Adapted from “Some Pittsburgh-area Companies Welcome Back ‘Boomerang’ Employees,” by Joyce Gannon, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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Exit interviews can help determine reasons for turnover and can function as an employee communication tool. Barnett Banks Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida, mails an exit survey to departing employees’ homes, Catalyst, a research and advocacy organization for working women, reports. The survey includes questions on the company’s ability to provide effective supervision, competitive compensation, good working conditions, and a professional development and training. Mari White, director of employee relations, says the survey is a strong indicator of the employee’s real reasons for leaving the company because it is completed away from company premises, several weeks after the employee leaves. Former employees are not required to disclose their identity.

The questions in the exit survey are similar to the company’s annual employee survey. This allows Barnett Banks to compare and evaluate survey results and to check for inconsistencies and trouble areas. Branch banks receive a summary of survey results and comparisons.

Source: Recruiting Trends

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When you need a healthcare management recruiter, call Steve O’Connor at the Michigan Health and Hospital Association in Lansing, MI at (517) 663-5755. He’s the search consultant who produces this monthly newsletter and has hundreds of management candidates currently registered with his service. Most are open to relocation. You are also invited to browse his web site for more information on Professional Search Services at www.mhaservicecorp.com.

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Stephen O’Connor, SPHR, Senior Director
MHA Service Corporation
Professional Search Service

Corporate Office:
6215 West St. Joseph Hwy.
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(517) 663-5755
Fax: (517) 663-5897
E-mail Address: soconnor@mha.org

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(248) 356-7950
Fax: (248) 356-8543

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