Outsourcing exit interviews!

Personal reasons' and `better opportunities' are two of the most standard answers that an employee gives at the exit interview, when he or she is leaving the firm for another job, according to Abhay Phadnis, Chief Operating Officer, Ma Foi Consultants. As a result, the exit interview becomes a routine exercise, with little or nothing to show for it. Outsourcing the exit interview to a firm dealing in HR processes could circumvent this problem, says Phadnis. When the interview is conducted by a third party, the employees are more likely to be honest, safe in the knowledge that the feedback will not go back to the employer. Ma Foi has already cashed in on this opportunity, starting the exit-interview service in India six months ago. K. Pandia Rajan, Managing Director, Ma Foi Consultants, says the concept was to take a host of data derived from these exit interviews, apply a high level of analytics to draw meaning from the data, and give feedback to the system, the person who is in the position of responsibility. "The challenge in exit-interviews is multiple, because you also have to take into account the industry dynamics," he said. Basically, it works on the same foundation as social research methodology. The company, since it began operating the service six months ago, currently has four clients, three from the IT/ITES sector, and one from the banking sector. The company expects IT companies to be a major driver for this particular service, because of the attrition rates. "Attrition is a fact of life for BPOs," says Phadnis, so it makes sense that these companies would look for third-party assistance. But it does create a slight logistical hurdle - dealing with a company with 4,000 to 5,000 employees and a 50 per cent attrition rate leaves Ma Foi with 2,000 exit-interviews a year for that one client alone. The company has subsequently designed a model where the interviews are done with the help of an online questionnaire, and about 25 to 30 per cent of the employees are interviewed. This helps in terms of providing a sample, a cross-section, and also in revising the online questionnaire, making it more relevant. "The online model is the next best thing," says Phadnis, "And the neutral third party factor is the key anyway. We have put in an elaborate write-up at the start of the questionnaire that details the process, and explains the confidentiality of the statement." (Only patterns are picked out in such interviews and reported, not the actual conversation.) When it comes to the actual analysis of the data, the company is able to pick up trends and key factors, and suggest corrective mechanisms. "It allows you to look at the attrition rate on a macro level," he says. He gives an example - "One of the business entities we worked with had two clear groups under the same umbrella, with differential attrition rates," he explained. In doing a comparative study of the exit-interviews, the company was able to arrive at the conclusion that the leadership styles of the two companies was the differentiating factor - while one leader made it a point to have weekly meetings to discuss developments and plans for the future, the other didn't. Ma Foi recommended that the latter group plug that gap, either through a weekly newsletter or through the intranet system, in order to help the employee feel a sense of commitment to the future of the company. This is how the outsourcing of exit-interviews process works, through analysis and recommendations. But in quantifiable terms, says Phadnis, it is too early to say.Nell Mathew, Assistant General Manager - Human Resources, Kumaran Systems, one of Ma Foi's clients for the outsourcing of exit-interviews, says the company's attrition rate in 2005 was 26 per cent — Kumaran Systems employs about 450 people — and it wanted to bring it down to 15 per cent this year. In that endeavour, the exit-interview service was a good value addition to the process, she says."When conducted internally, there is a dilution of process," she said, whereas a third party brings with it the confidentiality factor. With the third party analysis coming back, the company can then see which area needs to be looked at, and see what intervention is required. She says the company benefited because it was able to look at specific problems and address them, such as a particular policy, or a certain head or peer who is the cause of a given situation. It also brings some information, such as what kind of a salary another firm in the industry is offering. "We already do have a team studying this, and we do know where we stand with respect to the industry in terms of salaries, but it is a good indication," she says.Another fact that came out of the study is that while a better salary might be a compelling factor for the lower-end employees, it was usually a trigger factor in the higher end, a particular incident, that caused the exit. Kumaran Systems is a client for Ma Foi's online model of the service. Some hurdles that the third party might face? Phadnis says that if people see someone from outside, the degree of trust and rapport between interviewer and interviewee could be limited. The skill of the interviewer becomes a key determinant to build up that rapport. Pandia Rajan feels that since the issue involves a variety of factors outside the company as well as inside it, analysis becomes all the more challenging. He stresses that the third party can "only give recommendations, and perhaps aid in implementing those recommendations" but can't actually fix the problem.