Dear Bob ... About four weeks ago, I gave six weeks notice at my job. Since that time, the company put out an employee survey. One of the major deficiencies they discovered was a big part of my decision to leave. Company communications since then appear to take the issue very seriously. I'm still 90% sure I want to leave. It makes me wonder how I should conduct myself in the exit interview, though. A former emp Dear Bob … About four weeks ago, I gave six weeks notice at my job. Since that time, the company put out an employee survey. One of the major deficiencies they discovered was a big part of my decision to leave. Company communications since then appear to take the issue very seriously. I’m still 90% sure I want to leave. It makes me wonder how I should conduct myself in the exit interview, though. A former employee at this company used to sit in on exit interviews. When he left, I asked him if he would raise certain issues since he was leaving anyway and had nothing to lose. He told me that a hidden objective of the exit interviews was to make sure no bad news got passed up the chain. If somebody was leaving because they wanted more money, then they were characterized as greedy and they didn’t understand the non-financial benefits the company offered. His plan was to be very nice, present his reasons for leaving as all personal and nothing to do with the company. I have two very good friends with the company who will soon be in a similar situation to the one I was in six months ago, and I would like to advise my company to handle it differently. Is the exit interview the proper forum to bring this up? – Moving on Dear Moving … There are companies that take exit interviews seriously, analyze them for trends, and take corrective action based on what they learn. There are such companies, but they are the exception, not the rule. More often, HR departments conduct exit interviews because it’s something they’re supposed to do. The exit interviewers do what they’re supposed to do and write reports for the HR director to look at. Most often, the HR director will take action if it’s (a) politically safe, and (b) within the purview of HR. Exit interviews are mostly window dressing. My best advice is to treat the exit interview as if it was an entirely legitimate activity, but without saying anything that would be unwise to say if you were planning to continue as an employee the next day. Bring up whatever points you think are essential, doing so as diplomatically as you can and without any sense of acrimony at all. If one of the subjects is a political hot potato, you stand much more to lose than you stand to gain. What you stand to lose is that the business community in most cities is small, and you might find yourself wanting to work at this company again sometime in the not-all-that-distant future. What you stand to gain is nothing at all. Duck it. – Bob Powered by ScribeFire. Technology Industry