In a survey of HR employees, 71 percent had noticed their organizations were falling short in getting employees to participate in exit interviews. This meant many were unable to get office issued equipment such as laptops or smartphones returned.

Researchers believe this is because "HR departments … aren't taking offboarding as seriously as they should". Offboarding is an important process in the retention of future employees. It can lend itself to better processes and insights into "employee pain points".

Unreturned equipment can contain an organization's sensitive information that could become problematic if it is not able to completely lock out the former employee from the devices - not to mention the cost of replacing laptops and smartphones. Some employers have found that not until they threaten legal action is equipment returned. Capterra, "HR Departments Say Employees Are Ghosting Exit Interviews and Stealing Laptops", www.capterra.com (Jan. 31, 2023).

So, the question for our readers is: Are Your Employees Ghosting Exit Interviews?

Please take the poll. Subscribe and listen to our RiskTrendsTM Trusted Insight Podcast to hear discussions regarding the responses of our readers to the poll question in our weekly "You Make The Call" articles, as well as discussions on other emerging workplace risks.

Here is the opinion of one of the McCalmon editorial staff:

Jack McCalmon, Esq.

Off-boarding is important for many reasons. Making certain that equipment with sensitive information is returned is just one, but it is also important to make sure that credentials are turned off or returned (e.g. badges). An additional value is documenting the reason why an employee is leaving. Knowing the reasons helps with self-improvement and may also prove important in later employment practice disputes.

You can answer our poll. Please note any comments provided may be shared with others.