There are many advantages to conducting exit interviews when an employee is terminated – either voluntarily or involuntarily.    The two main reasons people conduct exit interviews is to receive feedback from the departing employee and to notify the employee of administrative procedures from that point forward.  Of course, no departing employee is required to grant you an exit interview; however, most of them will.

Exit interviews should be conducted in private – preferably a closed office or conference room.  No unnecessary employees should be present or able to listen in to the exit interview.  

The best person to conduct exit interviews will vary but should usually be an individual at least a level above this individuals boss (i.e. their bosses’ boss) or someone from Human Resources if you have a dedicated Human Resources department in your company.  In the event that a termination is involuntary (i.e. the employee is being fired), it is best to have two individuals present to conduct the exit interview.    If possible, you may wish to exclude the terminated employee’s boss from the exit interview.  Employees may be more likely to open up about issues that may be occurring within the Company if they feel that they will not have to engage in a confrontation with their former boss.

 As mentioned above, there are several key administrative procedures that you will need to cover during the exit interview.  You need to may sure that the employee is aware of benefit continuation requirements such as COBRA benefits, retirement plan rights or obligations,  and conversion privileges related to health, life, disability, dental or other insurance benefits that are currently maintained by the employer.  You should also confirm the employees contact information to ensure that you can contact them via mail for such items as paychecks or W-2’s.   

You should also have the employee sign an acknowledgement that these items were discussed with them in the exit interview.  In the event that they refuse to sign the acknowledgement, send them a follow up letter restating the items that were discussed in the exit interview – remembering to save a copy for their employee file.  The exit interviewer should make notes as to what was discussed during the exit interview, including notes as to why the individual is leaving (if voluntary).    These notes should be maintained in the personnel file.

In Exit Interviews Part II, we will review some commons questions that you should ask employees during the exit interview.  Then, in Exit Interviews Part III, we will discuss what you, the employer, should do after the exit interview.

I just read an interesting article in USA Today about bringing babies to work.  This is a new but growing trend among employers who are trying to attract talented employees and offer a good work/life balance.    According to the Parenting in the Workplace Institute, over 80 companies accross the nation now allow babies in the workplace.  According to the Society of Human Resource management, the number of companies who allow children in the work place on an occassional basis jumped to 29% last year, up from 22% in 2006.  The article points out  many pro’s and con’s, but I can see the largest con for me.  I wouldn’t get any work done.  Of course, that is just me personally.  Apparantly, many of these companies are able to pull it off!

I was reading Seth Godin’s blog today on “The new standard for meetings and conferences” and it reminded me of my dislike for unproductive meetings.  We have all been to a meeting at some point and got up at the end wishing we could tell the meeting organizer, “Thanks for wasting my time!”    Meetings can eat up valuable time and resources in an organization if not properly managed.  The worst time eater are out of town meetings that accomplish very little.

I used to work for a telecommunications Company and upon merging with another Company, they were flying employees from both Corporate headquarters back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth again.  Everyone was complaining of the complete uselessness of the time spent traveling - because most were expected to complete their work regardless of the “lost” time.  Typically, employees would fly down on Tuesday evening, meet with people Wednesday and Thursday and fly back Thursday afternoon.  They would only be in meetings about 5 hours on Wednesday and 2 to 3 hours on Thursday.  The rest of the time was spent traveling or having a “business lunch.”

All of this was costing the Company tons of money.  Not just the travel and meal cost, but the inordinate amount of lost productivity.  And with employee morale already skiddish with the impending merger, all of these additional job pressures did not help retention.

As Seth points out, the standards for great meetings and conferences have changed.   If you are going to consume someone’s time, make sure you are well organized and accomplish something of substance during the meeting time.   As far as travel is concerned, the cost of quality video conferencing equipment will quickly be dwarfed by the cost of flying all over the place.   Many meetings can accomplish just as must via video or teleconference as they do in person.

The funny thing about my story above is that I was working for a telecommunications Company, yet they still insisted flying people all over the country for meaningless meetings that could have easily been done through teleconferencing - at virtually no cost to the Company.

Our offices have been using a dual monitor setup for a number of years now.  While I do not need any extensive research to tell me I am vastly increasing our productivity (I can see it myself everyday), there are several studies that are coming out that are promoting the advantages of dual monitors. 

In a recent study from the University of Utah, people using two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those that used a single 18-inch monitor.  For the many businesses who are strapped with the need for additional personnel, they must ask – do I really need employees or do I need the proper equipment for the employees I have.

Microsoft Researchers conducted user studies at determining the effectiveness of adding a second monitor to your workstation.  Their findings report that dual monitors increased productivity anywhere fro 9% to 50% depending upon the person performing the tasks and the type of task.   

The bottom line is that if you are even able to squeeze a mere 10% more productivity out of an employee, your cost savings can be extraordinary.   For more information on the Microsoft study click here.

I have been to numerous tax and accounting conferences and in the technology portion, dual monitors is always the strongest point of emphasis that is made.  There are always the usual doubters – people that have been doing things the same way for 40 years and refuse to change anything.  There are two additional things that are always consistent in these discussions.  The first thing is that there is never anyone in the room who has gone to dual monitors that will not rave about them.  Secondly, there is not a single dual monitor user in the room that will EVER let you take their dual monitors away from them – me included.  I hope to have three monitors before long!