Employee engagement is a defining pillar of long-term success for businesses.

Understanding how employees feel about their experience at work holds incredible value for business owners and management teams looking to improve and innovate. If people are the lifeblood of business, then understanding them better makes sense on every level.

Two groups that shouldn’t be ignored are those entering the business, and those leaving. Taking the time to really understand their experiences and attitude towards the business can help to identify underlying issues. Actioning the insights gained from such employee interviews can help to improve employee retention, employee engagement and generally a more productive and happy workforce.

Entry interviews along with general employee onboarding activities, and exit interviews, are useful components to a business’s overall employee engagement strategy.

Entry interviews

Not all businesses choose to conduct entry interviews with new employees, but there should be some type of employee onboarding. Whether the business has a formal process, or something more casual – welcoming new employees and gaining insights into how they are settling in and what they want from their work, are two areas that shouldn’t be ignored. First impressions count!

Entry interviews are incredibly valuable for clarifying expectations. Instead of wondering why a department is struggling or has high staff turn-over, conducting entry interviews can reveal vital data about what candidates are expecting, and any initial issues they are facing.

Entry interviews or general employee onboarding should allow new employees to provide useful information about how best they work, their interests, their knowledge, and other aspects that may impact the way they will contribute to the business. Being able to identify areas of improvement or training early, can ensure a seamless entry into an organisation, with fewer hiccups along the way.

Understanding how the reality of working for the business compares to employees’ expectations and hiring promises, can also reveal meaningful insights into the underlying culture of the business. Hiring and employee engagement should be aligned to foster a system that attracts the right type of candidate and keeps them engaged once they join the business.

Entry interviews reflect a proactive approach to employee engagement. Instead of waiting until problems arise and focusing on exit interviews, smart businesses can gain leverage by valuing employees’ satisfaction and engagement from day one. Used in conjunction with employee engagement surveys and ‘stay interviews’, it can set the tone for a business that cares about its employees.

Exit interviews

All employees leave eventually, whether that be to go to a competitor, for a career change or retirement. However, when employees leave for reasons that could have been resolved early, it begs questions about how well a business is listening to and responding to its employees.

Businesses can’t assume anything when it comes to employee engagement and retention, and must look to gain measurable and evidence-based insights.

Exit interviews can provide refreshingly frank feedback about what the business is doing well and what it is doing badly in the eyes of its employees. Interpreted in the right way, this can lead to great opportunities to improve the way the business operates. Utilising third party employee engagement software, can be a great way to coax out the most honest and frank opinions that can be anonymised.

Exit interviews benefit from a pre-defined structure that allows employees to contribute to the same questions and topics, as well as giving each employee a chance to offer personal opinions and insights. The types of questions asked, and the way they are asked, can have a big impact on the effectiveness of these employee surveys. For help in designing and deploying employee surveys, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team here at Edgecumbe Surveys. We can offer tips and advice, as well as more strategic insights to ensure any form of employee engagement initiative or measurement your business undertakes, yields meaningful results.

Benefits of entry and exit interviews

When the costs of employee turnover can be so high, especially with executives or skilled workers, investing in processes and systems that focus on improving employee engagement and retention is crucial. Retaining key talent needs to be at the top of every business’ priorities.

Having established onboarding and exit processes also means time can be used more effectively. Managers don’t have to spend time answering the same questions or dealing with the same issues – instead, an effective onboarding process can ensure new employees hit the ground running.

Understanding employees with Edgecumbe surveys

If you’d like to learn more about how your business could benefit from leveraging employee interviews and other types of employee engagement surveys, get in touch with our friendly team. We can help create engagement strategies that will yield meaningful results for your business.

Get in touch today.