How to blame the boss at the exit interview

By Sruthi Gottipati, CNBC-TV18:

If you were ready to leave your job, would you be comfortable complaining about your boss to the company's HR department? Not really. That's what companies have realised. More and more organisations are now outsourcing their exit interviews.   

Employees don't leave companies they leave their managers. Those are the basics taught about human resources. But chances are that most employees would not be comfortable pointing fingers in their exit interview. The solution? Outsourcing this critical function largely to HR consultancies. Companies such as Standard Chartered Bank and Diageo have already taken the plunge.

Hitesh Asrani, Director, CRP said, “Our enquiries have gone up to more than 35 to 40 per cent from last year and that's a clear trend for me that enterprises and corporates are starting to understand the real value of having their exit interviews outsourced.”

According to experts, retaining talent in a competitive environment is a major challenge. So it's all the more important for organisations to understand the real reason for a person's exit.

Sampath Shetty, VP, Teamlease Services said, “When it's outsourced, it's neutral feedback, nobody can influence those interviews and it gives you a right perspective. From a cost perspective, it is more cost-effective."

By outsourcing exit interviews, they are now likely to move beyond being a mere formality and it can be an effective tool to control attrition.