Exit Interview Advice?

mandy30

Hi,

I have been made redundant and they want to do an exit interview before I leave.

It is my line manager and his manager who want to sit in on the meeting.

I do not want to sit in with these 2.

Would I be able to refuse and say I would prefer the meeting to be conducted by HR? HR are in the UK, but they can do it by phone.

I just feel that an exit interview should be documented correctly by HR and these 2 clowns should not be doing it.

mikemac

Refuse to do it
And if you can't get out of it, treat it like an interview at the garda station, say nothing

Do you think they'll thank you when you highlight their out of touch HQ in the UK, their meetings about meetings and ridiculous work practices?
You call them clowns and they might have had all this and more.

They've made you redundant, it's for the staff who are left behind to resolve these.

But HR are even worse, don't give information to them either

There is nothing to be gained from an exit interview, you can only lose

mandy30

I am only doing it in case they try give me a bad reference if i refuse

mandy30

Anyone else any input on this?

paulgalway

Always try to be positive, you never know - some time in the future you may meet these people in another company.

pow wow

Are you planning to say something about the 'clowns' and that's why you don't want them there? Realistically, for anyone who leaves what they say in an exit interview means very little - any complaints will go nowhere and for most organisations the interview is just a formality. They're not interested in how badly the places is run, who is stealing the printer paper etc. and the exiting staff member will get no thanks for highlighting any of those problems.In an ideal world it'd be an opportunity to discuss any issues you had but in reality it isn't. As you're being made redundant you (presumably?) had no choice in the matter so the interview will probably be rather short. You might be asked if you'd recommend it as a place to work, would you come back if offered a position, was the training adequate and other tick-box type questions.

Your best bet is to do it, be polite, brief and to the point, and let the two 'clowns' sit in if they insist. And don't burn your bridges.

mandy30

I just feel that I would like to deal only with HR on any of these types of things.

I am not going to badmouth anyone. Even if I wanted to bad mouth my boss, its not right he is conducting the interview!

Surely I am not burning bridges if I am still saying I will do the exit interview, but just that I would prefer to do it with HR?

I am happy to do it.

pow wow

Does HR usually do the exit interviews?

mandy30

I don't know.

Very few of us work in Ireland and all of us being made redundant.

There is nothing in contract of handbook about exit interview.

mandy30

I was under impression HR should be only ones to conduct these interviews as they are neutral and objective.

Your boss is always your boss!

pow wow

Again in an ideal world yeah HR would do it, but if there aren't that many on the ground in Ireland it might seem more logical to them to have the manager do it. As it's largely a box-ticking exercise they wouldn't anticipate anyone having an issue with that set up. There's no harm in asking at all and they could quite well oblige.

mandy30

I would like to send an email just saying I am happy to participate in an exit interview, however only with a member of HR. I can say I am happy to receive a phone call from them at any time or an email questionnaire.

That way I am not burning my bridges, am still offering to do it.

I am meeting the 2 clowns anyway during the week to give my stuff back, so can sign anything that needs signing then if needs be.

Do you think if I do it this way it paints me in a bad light?

pow wow

The manager(s) may wonder why you won't do the interview with them and conjure up all sorts of reasons why that might be. Is everyone else happy to go through the interviews with the managers? I wouldn't say it paints you in a 'bad' light but if it were me and I was the only one who would rather go with HR I'd go along with everyone else and let the managers do it. Other than it not being an ideal situation I don't really see where the issue is.

brightspark

mandy30 wrote: »

I was under impression HR should be only ones to conduct these interviews as they are neutral and objective.

Your boss is always your boss!

HR are rarely neutral, they work for your employer not you!

The main purpose of HR is to prevent the employer from being sued, thye only act on an employees behalf if something illegal is being planned by the employer! even then they will try to find a legal way of doing it instead.

mandy30

My issue is that they put me on Garden Leave for my notice period because I had told people I was being made redundant.

I do not feel I done anything wrong. They forbade me to contact any of my colleagues, clients etc. I was treated like a leper.

This is why I do not want to sit in front of these 2.

So they already see me in a bad light for telling people I was losing my job.

I feel going through HR is the best way as everything is recorded and cannot be taken out of context.

pow wow

Ah well you didn't mention that part earlier! There's no harm in asking the question.

mandy30

Lol

Well, regardless of what has happened, I still would like HR to handle the finalities of it.

I feel annoyed by being made redundant and annoyed for being made feel like I have done something bad. :mad:

If I sat in front of them, I would explode!

Stheno

mandy30 wrote: »

My issue is that they put me on Garden Leave for my notice period because I had told people I was being made redundant.

I do not feel I done anything wrong. They forbade me to contact any of my colleagues, clients etc. I was treated like a leper.

This is why I do not want to sit in front of these 2.

So they already see me in a bad light for telling people I was losing my job.

I feel going through HR is the best way as everything is recorded and cannot be taken out of context.

Most client facing roles result in people being put on gardening leave when made redundant. Perfectly standard practice.

Eoin

I'm not sure what the point of an exit interview is when you and everyone else based in Ireland is being made redundant, Normally they're held to find out why someone is leaving voluntarily, so the company can try to reduce attrition.

mandy30 wrote:

these 2 clowns should not be doing it

Are you hoping that either of these "clowns" will be a referee for you? If so, then you might have to suck it up, and not say anything controversial.

mandy30 wrote:

They forbade me to contact any of my colleagues, clients etc.

Of course they did! They - rightly - want to control how this is communicated to their clients. They don't want their clients thinking that they're in financial trouble or anything like that.

Don't take garden leave personally; as Stheno says, it's not unusual at all.

Irish_Elect_Eng

Hmmm.....

While it is certainly within your rights to discuss your redundancy with anyone you choose, you can also look at it from their point of view.

It seems that they did as you to keep it quiet, they were probably concerned with what redundancies would do to staff morale.

When you started to discuss it with other staff members , they took the only action that they could to minimise the impact to the workplace and asked you to finish up.

It seems that your relationship has soured with your former employers, so it is probably safe to say that they will probably not be offering a glowing reference, in this case you not really going to gain anything by attending the exit interview.

Buford T Justice

Last big company I worked in had their exit interviews conducted by HR, and not their TL / TM, as there would be a conflict of interests in passing information up the line.

Speaking personally, I would request it to be done by HR, and be honest in what I say. Now don't go on a mega rant or anything, but if they ask a question, what have you got to lose?

In regards to a reference, don't be expecting anything fantastic. They are not obliged to give a reference anyway, and when we were made redundant all we got was a standard letter saying

'This is to confirm that <insert name here> was employed by <insert company here> between <insert dates here> They were blah blah blah......'

Nothing overly generous.

allibastor

what a prediciment.

exit interviews are usually held to assess the reason for leaving and to see if the company could have done more in terms of staff role asperations etc. i have never heard a company doing an exit interview for redundency.

as far as i know it should be HR who do the interview as a line manager is not objective and has no input into the HR side of business. also a company cant give a bad reference to you unless you have a bad track record, a bad reference could be seen as lible. they have to give you at least a standard refernce

dont do it if you dont feel comfortable, it doesnt sound like a good company if the HR dept. could not be bothered to come over to conduct these interviews themselves for departing staff.

thanks,