Hospitality glossary · People and retention
An exit interview is a structured conversation with someone who has resigned, held to find out why they are going and what would have kept them.
In practice
Definitions are easy. What matters is how the thing behaves in a real operation, and where it tends to go wrong.
The version that produces anything useful is held by someone other than the person's direct manager, after the decision is settled rather than while it is being negotiated, and asks about the first ninety days rather than only the last fortnight. Individual answers are unreliable; the pattern across a year is not.
Accepting the first answer. “More money” is the polite exit reason almost everywhere. The question that gets past it is when they first thought about leaving — and what was happening in the business at that point.
Questions
Something here that doesn’t match what you’re seeing in your own business? That is usually worth a conversation rather than another article.
An exit interview is a structured conversation with someone who has resigned, held to find out why they are going and what would have kept them. The version that produces anything useful is held by someone other than the person's direct manager, after the decision is settled rather than while it is being negotiated, and asks about the first ninety days rather than only the last fortnight. Individual answers are unreliable; the pattern across a year is not.
Accepting the first answer. “More money” is the polite exit reason almost everywhere. The question that gets past it is when they first thought about leaving — and what was happening in the business at that point.
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