Over 143,000 federal employees left their jobs in 2012, taking with them a wealth of valuable feedback and according to the Merit Systems Protection Board, agencies would do well to methodically use exit surveys to try to identify patterns in responses about a range of topics from where the agency is succeeding and what needs to be improved.
MSPB said departing employees can offer invaluable insights into an agency’s strong points and deficiencies. For example, it said analyses of exit surveys linked to data from the Central Personnel Data File provide insight into who is leaving, including whether some groups of employees may be leaving in greater numbers and could also highlight trends in why employees are leaving.
Agencies might want to know more about the perception of unfairness, favoritism, nepotism, discrimination, inappropriate supervisor or colleague conduct, lack of advancement, development or career opportunities and so on that they might not otherwise have better sources of information about.