Exploring the behavioural options of exit and voice in the exit interview process

Exit interviews are often considered to be a powerful tool for providing information to monitor and analyse employee turnover. The main objective of this study was to analyse the exit interview procedure adopted by a large professional publishing organisation. In doing this the effectiveness of the exit interview process was examined as a tool for employee voice on departure from an organisation. The exit and voice components of the ‘Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect’ model were used to determine the efficacy of the exit process. The results indicate that despite the praise awarded to exit interviews for employees to voice their dissatisfaction, the exit interview process may not be as effective in practice as we have been lead to believe