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 to this aspect at all as I attempt to sketch a picture that is more of a preventive nature. Here it goes...
Do You Really Know Why Your Employees Are Leaving?
Generally, HR professionals 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. She also suggests that the exit interview be conducted a couple of weeks 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 of 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 their chest, but it also helps the company that has paid their paycheck for the last few years and their friends they are leaving behind. These days, the information doesn't just sit on an HR generalist's desk. The information is aggregated with other employees who left to give HR insights, which gets escalated to senior management to understand 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 sever connections from such companies hardly give any worthwhile feedback because they not only want to secure themselves in the next job (background check) but 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
Andy Teach 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 come 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. They are the pioneers of QC Circles and also the TQM concept, which addresses most pain issues openly, and they have fewer emergencies to handle. It is practiced as a culture. The manager is the organizational culture and the most powerful person in an employee's 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 that 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 ones 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 making 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."
Regards.