Exit interview

[MiamiWindMachine]

I’m about to leave my job after five years. I was headhunted, so it wasn’t that I was particularly unhappy or desperate to leave - I just got a very good offer. I have a great relationship with my boss, who is disappointed I’m leaving, but understands that it’s a great opportunity. I’m glad to be leaving on good terms with her and the team and will only have good things to say about them in my exit interview.

However, I don’t feel the same way about HR. I know that, as a sector, it doesn’t exactly have a reputation for attracting the best and brightest, but this is genuinely the worst team I’ve ever come across in my career. I had to deal with the then Assistant UK Manager a couple of years back and she was robotic, utterly lacking in empathy and made several mistakes. She’s since been promoted to UK Manager 🙄

As you can tell, I have no time for her, but it isn’t about personal dislike. The whole department is run extremely poorly. Everything is very “computer sez no”; there’s nothing approaching common sense in any of their decisions. Last year, they opened the annual review feedback system - with a fixed window of two weeks - on 12 December. Our annual review deadline was Boxing Day. They used the same system to open an important survey on 17 December. It’s like Christmas and New Year - which in my experience roll around roughly every year - and all the associated disruption don’t exist in their world. They must have had complaints, because they moved the annual review forward by six weeks without a word, meaning you were buggered if you’d happened to book those two weeks off. There have been many other organisational issues too.

I wanted to say all this in my exit interview. But now I find they’re sending the most junior member of the team possible to do it. Not even the Assistant Manager; I’m essentially getting the secretary. I feel insulted, and it’s just another sign of their lack of interest, or even general critical thinking. They haven’t even bothered to find out whether the company is desperate to keep me or thrilled to be rid of me.

As I say, I wanted to talk up my boss and leave on a high note. But I feel like I have to get all this out there. Maybe it won’t do any good, but at least I’ve got closure.

WWYD?

Senior people have more important things to do than exit interviews.

They are a waste of time. You are not being fobbed off.

You sound like an absolute twat for this. HR don't care why you are leaving, they are not going to waste ££££s of senior staffs manpower to do an exit interview. Exit interviews change nothing, so personally in your shoes I would either refuse it or be nice to the junior member of staff and say nice things about your boss.

Do as others have said and send an email declining the interview and praising your manager.

It might make you temporarily feel better to give them chapter and verse on what’s wrong with the organisation, but it might come back to bite you. Leave with your dignity intact.

Bin men, shop assistants and cleaners all deserve to be valued too. That doesn’t mean I want them conducting my exit interview either.

The irony of saying I sound like a twat for wanting to speak to someone with some actual clout, yet simultaneously saying I’m not worth 15 minutes of their time because it’s too expensive…

Its tempting to unload OP, but its a small world and you never know where you'll end up in the future, or indeed, who will be your boss and/or have influence.

Make your points in a balanced and respectful way and you won't burn bridges.

You mentioned Secretary as an insult - did you want to start insulting bin men, shop assistants and cleaners too? No idea what relevance they have.

As PP has suggested email HR decline exit interview and praise manager and team.

THEN .....

Go to GlassDoor and do a review of the company. It's normally the companies HR that monitor and answers reviews so double satisfaction.

Decline the interview.

YANBU to not to want to do an exit interview with the most junior person, can you just decline? It does sound like you were relishing the prospect of telling the UK manager some home truths and she thwarted you.

As I’ve stated, I have a very good relationship with my boss - but there are plenty of meetings she wouldn’t delegate to me, and others our VP wouldn’t delegate to her.

If your boss' boss is the VP, what is your role? VP is not actually very senior in the UK.

Say they sent the director of HR, what do you honestly think would happen when you have your rant about how shit they are? Do you honestly think they will say "oh you're right, we will change it all", or do you think they will say "yes dear" and when you walk out not give a single shit about what you have said. Exit interviews are a pointless exercise, no one takes any notice of them.

I know it's tempting but as a pp said you just never know when you might bump into people again. Just decline the exit interview and start your new job.

I absolutely see your point but there's nothing to be gained by saying anything. It won't bring about change in the HR department and you don't have to deal with them anymore anyway. You would just be labelled a disgruntled employee and who knows, you might want to go back one day.

OP i 100% get where you're coming from.

Send a personal thanks to your managers.

Decline the exit interview with a vague "not an effective use of limited time available".

then go on Glass Door and review them honestly.

And on Indeed etc.

That's what i do now i'm more senior and have seen (from various angles) how useless HR can be.

It’s an international company and the VP reports to the COO.

My advice is never burn your bridges. Praise your manager, remain silent about HR.

I wouldn't bother attending if I were you as others have said. Sending the lowest ranked member of the HR team presumably to take you through a pre-agreed list of questions sounds like a low value activity that I wouldn't be wasting my time on.

I would do it, and I would be nothing but polite and cordial to all involved, with no anti-HR comments.

You say you're leaving an otherwise great job with a great boss to an unknown just for more money.
I've seen many people doing exactly this, then realizing the new place isn't all that, and having to try and return to the previous workplace which wasn't that bad in retrospect.

OR you can take some of the advice here to not waste your time and burn your bridges/escape route in case the new gig goes tits-up.

Personally I'll swallow my pride and act happy/suck up/talk bollocks for half an hour if it helps with my long-term employment potential.

I have worked for multinational financial services groups on three continents over the last thirty years. I would concur that reporting to a VP reporting to a COO is not particularly senior. But then I had already suspected you must be quite new to the workforce to be taking exit interviews this seriously. 😂

Why can’t you have the exit interview and offer constructive feedback? It annoys me to no end when people complain about things but don’t actually take the opportunity to raise the issues in the hope of working towards a solution.

Of course OP, you may find it difficult to speak to an HR minion with respect, so in that case I’d leave it as you’d end up looking like an arse.

This.

Trust me. HR are not going to waste the HRDs time and the company’s money doing a tick box exercise for a mid-level leaver. Go or don’t go. Literally no one cares but you.

You end up sounding a bit self important, and full of yourself.

They don't care about you, so do not do the exit interview, just leave quietly- or are you too important for that...

Why both arranging them then? Because the employee rarely wants to attend and apparently the company don't give a shit what you say. 🤷‍♀️

I've got to suffer an exit interview tomorrow, as I'm expected to attend. From what you've said, I genuinely see no point on either side!