It’s Monday morning and one of your employees has just handed in their notice.

Depending on the particular employee, this news will cause you to react somewhere on the spectrum between total devastation and relief bordering on elation. You might be losing a valued employee or finally getting rid of a disruptive influence. In truth most likely you’ll feel somewhere in between. Either way you’ve just got another big job on your to-do list, along with an extra cost, to hire and train their replacement.

As part of the conversation about their notice you will probably ask them why they are leaving and you will get told a sanitised version of one aspect of the truth. But whatever their reasons really are, they will only tell you the least controversial part it.

If they’re leaving because of endless frustration with another employee it may become “I want to develop my career”.

Annoyance at your management style might come out as “I have found somewhere that will pay me more and I really need the extra money”.

The reason they give will all be true to an extent but it may not necessarily be the biggest factor in their decision. Most people who leave a company do so because of a build-up of multiple frustrations along with an opportunity to do something else. In most cases people are naturally set in their ways and therefore inclined to stay where they are if all their concerns were satisfied.

If you don’t get to the bottom of their reasons for leaving there is always the danger that the same frustrations will drive others away. So it is important to find out the real reasons which may be complex and involve some personal as well as business influences. Then you can at least be aware of the problems and take steps to solve the ones under your control.

Either in the week they resign or in their last week, when they have nothing to lose, get someone else in the company or even someone from outside to conduct an exit interview. But one way or another get out of them as much of the real truth as possible. Ask searching questions about specific areas of their job and give plenty of space for them to say or write their own opinions. Then bury your pride and hear the message, knowing that however annoying it might be there will be some truth in their opinion.

Then act on it! There is no point listening to them and then not doing anything about it. This can increase staff retention not to mention saving you on recruitment costs.

If you need any help with your exit interviews please contact us on www.HRBusCons.co.uk