Exit Interview & Reason for Leaving Analysis

  1. Introduction

The purpose of this report is to summarise the reasons for staff leaving, provide an overview of the Trust turnover rates, exit interview information, provide details of any trends, and outline the actions being taken to reduce turnover.

NB: All information excludes junior doctors.

  1. Methods of Data Collection
  • Manager meets with staff to complete termination form
  • Reasons for leaving recorded within the Electronic Staff Record (ESR)
  • Invitation to an exit interview and an exit interview questionnaire are sent to all leavers within the Trust.
  1. Turnover

Chart 1.0 shows the Trust turnover over the past 12 months. Whilst turnover peaked in November 2013 we have seen a steady decline in the numbers of staff leaving the Trust. However the past two months have seen a gradual increase, which is broadly in line with the increase experienced during the same period in 2013. Therefore the challenge for the Trust is to influence the trajectory over the coming months and halt the increase.

Chart 1.0

  1. Reasons for leaving

The reasons for leaving are defined nationally and recorded in the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) for upload to a national database. During the period April 2013 until May 2014 a total of 284 staff left the Trust. Of the total staff that left our employment, 62 staff left for non voluntary reasons, which have been outlined in Table 1.0.

Table 1.0

Death in Service / 4
Dismissal - Capability / 4
Dismissal - Conduct / 4
Employee Transfer (TUPE) / 2
End of Fixed Term Contract / 36
Mutually Agreed Resignation / 10
Retirement - Ill Health / 2
Total / 62

Of the remaining 222 staff that have left the Trust, the three highest reasonsare recorded as; voluntary resignation other, retirement and relocation.

133 staff selected “voluntary resignation – other” which does not provide the Trust with more detailed information concerning the reason for leaving. This is disappointing and further work needs to take place with line managers who complete the termination form, to increase the awareness of the importance of understanding why staff leave. Where staff agree to an exit interview with a member of the HR team, the reasons for leaving are explored in greater depth and this detail is capture later in this paper.

The “voluntary resignation – other” category have been removed fromthe termination form, however this may still be recorded on ESR, which cannot be changed as it is a national system

Whilst only one person has left due to incompatible working relationships, which is not statistically significant, this always raises a concern that a member of staff felt they could not work at the Trust for this reason. This member of staff was contacted for an exit interview but did not respond.

Table 1.1

Retirement Age / 36
Voluntary Early Retirement / 9
Voluntary Resignation - Better Reward Package / 7
Voluntary Resignation - Child Dependants / 3
Voluntary Resignation - Health / 6
Voluntary Resignation - Incompatible Working Relationships / 1
Voluntary Resignation - Other/Not Known / 133
Voluntary Resignation - Relocation / 17
Voluntary Resignation - Work Life Balance / 10
Total / 222
  1. Exit Interviews– overview

Of those staff that have left the Trust during April 13 and May 14, 50 members of staff have completed the exit interview process. An analysis of these questionnaires is outlined below.

About staff roles at the Trust (responses are from the 50 staff interviewed)

When asked what do you least like about your role, of the people surveyed 14 members of staff answered work pressure, 7 answered work politics re breaches/impossible targets, 3 staff attitude and 3 not being able to spend enough time with patients.

There were 20 people who found the workload unacceptable.

  1. Working Relationships

Staff reported good working relationships with their colleagues and managers. The exit interviews also identified staff describingthe people they work with as one of the things they liked most about working at the Trust. This is supported by the NHS national staff survey results where the Trust scores above average for team working.

4 members of staff raised concerns about management capability, 2of these staff referred to their managers as unprofessional and 2 members of staff felt their managers should be more involved within the team.

  1. Training, Development& Appraisal

Staff overall reported positive experiences regarding their training and development. Areas of concern are noted as 2 members of staff felt there were no development opportunities at the Trust, 3 members of staff felt they did not have enough time to complete the necessary training for the role and 2 members of staff that had reported never having received an appraisal.

  1. About the Trust

11 members of staffdescribed the Trust as an excellent place to work. When asked whether they would recommend the Trust as a place to work, 42 answered yes and 8 answered no. Of the 8 that answered no, the following reasons were provided:

  • Because of their line manager (1)
  • Excessive workload (4)
  • Uncertainty regarding the future of the organisation (3)

With a relatively low number of staff completing the exit interview questionnaire, it is difficult to draw a statistical significance from 8 members of staff who would not recommend the Trust as place to work. However we know that this year in the NHS staff survey whilst our score in response to this question improved, from last year (3.46 2013 compared to 3.22 in 2012), the Trust stills scores in the lowest 20% of NHS Trusts. The exit interview outcomes seem to support the NHS staff survey outcomes and reinforce this as an area to of improvement for the Trust.

All staff interviewed were asked what would improve the Trust as place to work? The following answers were provided as actions that would have the most positive impact on the Trust:

  • Better/more open communication
  • Valuing staff
  • Managers listening and understanding team needs

When considering these three items as areas to most improve the Trust, this is consistent with the feedback from the locally run staff survey and listening events in September 2013 which identified the following reasons for not recommending the Trust as a place to work:

  • Poor management/leadership/communication
  • High workload/low staffing levels
  • Uncertainty regarding future of organisation/job security
  1. Conclusions & Recommendations

Overall there is not one overwhelming reason for staff leaving the Trust. However as outlined in section 4 there are a number of consistent themes that are identified through the exit interview process, which correlates with local staff surveys and the NHS national staff surveys. These are;

  • Communication – with immediate line manager or senior manager
  • The uncertainty of the future of the Trust

Feedback regarding concerns around communicationsuggests that staff feel communication can improve particularly from their immediate line manager or senior manager.

The uncertainty regarding the future of the Trust is also a consistent theme. However recent progress and announcements may have a positive impact. This will be reviewed as exit interviews continue.

As the themes outlined through this report are consistent with the NHS national staff survey and local survey outcomes the following actions are in place as part of the staff survey action plan.

  • Repeat staff listening events with Executive Directors and Senior Managers to seek feedback from staff and improve our communication and engagement with staff
  • Hold an annual celebration of success event, where staff are nominated for their excellent work to recognise and value the hard work by our staff
  • Re-launch team brief (Nicks Grill) to be held in main hospital to make it easier for staff to attend and change the format to give staff more opportunity to ask questions and

Further actions have been identified that will improve the quality of the information received in relation to the reasons that staff leave the Trust and actions that can be taken to reduce turnover , these include:

  • Improve the number of staff completing the exit interview process to improve the validity of information provided by having a wider data source, target a completion rate of 25% to 50% of leavers
  • As retirement is one of the highest reasons for leave, complete a full Trust Wide age profile analysis to identify potential shortage areas over the next 5 years (this will link with the work currently underway on workforce planning).
  • Continue to provide and promote management and leadership development through local and national programmesfor supervisors and managers at all level of the Trust.

Whilst more work came be done to improve the exit interview completion rate, it can be viewed as positive that there are consistent themes that arise through all of our feedback mechanism. This helps the Trust build a clear picture and enables the Trust to focus on specific areas of improvement.