Sadly, I was not contacted for an exit interview. HR said they would call. But they never did. When I first gave my notice I had this big speech in my head. Nothing out of anger, mind you. Just these are areas of improvement.

In the end my boss wished me well and HR couldn’t be bothered to call. Maybe that’s the best way to end it.
I have steered potential clients away from the company because if a manager won’t take care of his internal customers, how will he take care of his external customers? I don’t bad mouth them I just simply say, well, consider all your options before hiring them and leave it at that.

As an employee, I can help you grow or watch you fail. (The company just put itself up for sale two weeks ago). Sometimes the silence is deafening.

Not everyone was meant to lead. So what skills do you look for in an associate before promoting them from “doer” to “leader?” And if you promote from within, do you make sure they manage people other than those who were their peers prior to the promotion?

And never forget that employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers. Make sure you are doing everything you can to promote the right people into leadership positions and helping them build the right skills to be successful.

Think twice (three times!) before promoting your best technical person to a management position. It has proven time and again to be a big mistake — for the company and the person.

You are welcome. For more information on the book, go to: http://www.rockportinstitute.com/pathfinder.php

I read the “parachute” book a long time ago.

I think the general consensus is that if the only time you ask for opinions is after the employee is out the door – you probably don’t really care what they have to say. Oooh, was that too harsh?

I have witnessed employers who run their business purposefully avoiding asking for opinions and feedback and the morale and desire of the employees to go the extra mile is rare in those cases.

Paula, you hit on a great point – the surveys DO provide great information but if you continually ask for feedback but never point to any changes or procedures that have resulted from that feedback, people will tire of sharing their ideas.

At one point Pearle Vision had a program that provided a financial reward for ideas – if I remember correctly – if the idea resulted in a corporate financial gain, the person with the idea recevied a financial reward.

Not a bad idea. But at the very least if a company conducts surveys they should share the results and the follow up actions that will occur because of those results. In some cases, you just can’t make the changes, but if you at least acknowledge the feedback I would think that would be received positively.