The original question by CITIZEN 1502 - Trichy based, R.Mohana Sundaram
H.R Manager, was whether it's legal to record an "Exit Interview."
My attempt here may not refer this aspect at all as I draw attempt to sketch a picture which is more of a preventive nature.
Here it goes..
Do you really know why your employees are leaving?
Generally, HR pros open an exit interview by asking “Why are you leaving?” While useful to a point, HR could be asking a far more revealing question: “What made you start looking for another job in the first place?” says Sharlyn Lauby, in her article, The Real Reason for Exit Interviews, who also suggest that the exit-interview be conducted say a couple of weeks actually after the person has left. To quote her, "I’m an advocate for waiting not only until after a person leaves but even giving them a couple of weeks. In my experience, time allows employees to gain perspective. I’ve seen many situations where departing employees were upset with the company or their manager. A couple weeks later, they still aren’t happy but they’re able to talk about it with less emotion. They’re able to offer some constructive criticism."
This actually sounds good if this can be practiced.
Exit interviews are an extremely important and useful tool for managers.
In a value-based progressive minded company, The beauty of exit interviews is that there are no negative consequences to being candid. For most employees, they are still emotionally vested in the organization even though they are leaving. The exit interview gives them an opportunity to share what they liked, what they didn't like and what the company can do better. Not only does it feel good to get this off the chest, it also helps the company that has paid your paycheck for the last x years and your friends you are leaving behind. These days, the information doesn't just sit in an HR generalists desk. The information is aggregated with other employees who left to give HR, gets escalated to the Sr. Management and idea of what policies and initiatives they should work on to make the company even better.
Proper exit interviews are an excellent opportunity to learn about both the strengths and weaknesses of the manager and the organization, to help understand how best to satisfy and retain employees. Managers know they should do exit interviews but so often when someone resigns they are focused on finding a replacement and figuring out a transition strategy with their team, while also managing their busy workloads. This makes connecting with HR to have an exit interview completed before they leave a last priority. Once that person walks out the door, managers believe that they’ve missed their opportunity; in fact, it is actually more beneficial to do an exit interview after some time has passed.
Having said this I just want to quickly add, that exit interviews in most places are seen as a mostly meaningless ritual – career experts advise departing workers not to say anything too charged, and by the time they’ve sat down to explain reasons for leaving, employees are largely out the door. Employees who severe connections from such companies hardly give any worthwhile feedback because they not only want to secure themselves in the next job (background check*) they also do not want to burn their bridges.
*Andy Teach, a corporate veteran and author of From Graduation to Corporation: The Practical Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder One Rung at a Time, falls somewhere in between. “I think it’s important to be honest but don’t be too honest,” he warns. You want the HR department to know the positives and negatives of your experiences with the hope that they will listen to you and take action when necessary. However, if you’re too honest and you are overly critical of an important executive or of the company itself, you could hurt your reputation within that company and could jeopardize your chances of getting a reference from them. “This is unfortunate but I’m sure that it happens. I think there are ways to be honest and get across your point if you preface your negative comments with positive ones about your experience with the company,” he says.
Exit Interviews company mainly from the Western Management Models, whereas it's virtually non-existent in the Japanese Management model, for they believe that all companies are value-based, and they take pride in all that they produce. For them "Made in Japan" holds more than anything else. In most manufacturing companies, in such scenarios, if you are in a job once, you are in it for life. The are the pioneers of QC Circles and also the TQM concept which addresses most pain issues openly and they have less emergencies to handle. It is practiced as a culture. the manager is the organizational culture and the most powerful person in an employees work life. Employees do not leave organizations they work for, they leave the manager they report to. Research clearly shows that manager behavior is a key predictor of the bottom line of an organization. Managers directly have an impact on employee commitment, prescription drug use, stress leave, absenteeism, job satisfaction and therefore client satisfaction, and retention. The manager plays a key role in the success of an organization because of their capability to harness the skills, experience and abilities of their staff. A supportive manager who recognizes the value of, and is able to capitalize on, their employees to create the solution to team and organizational challenges, is priceless.
In conclusion, I would submit, if all said above is true, then it would be well advised to have "Stay Interviews" to get a pulse and a feel of things happening. Issues get surfaced in the open without any fear and when they are heard, the one's who speak out get a feeling of having improved the situation, or process. When acts like these get encouraged, more and more become open to make their contributions too. It becomes a really good participative management style of functioning which is more productive too in the long run. It then becomes "Our Company" from "Your Company."