I'm "up with people" today on a Friday.  I'm going to wave the flag a bit, because there are plenty of bashers related to the situation in the US on a variety of fronts.  Times are tough.  Companies don't treat workers the right way.  The EEOC is running active PR campaigns to publicize the companies they sue.

As a result of tough times, lots of people like to rage against the machine that is America.  Companies suck.  There's not fairness, no equity.

You know what I'm saying to the haters?  If you really believe that America doesn't do things the right way, you need to give up your iPhone.  Probably your Android as well.  

Why?  Because for all the drama in America, people generally don't die in our workplaces.  And why you're sniffing the marketing juice of companies like Apple and thinking they're above the fray, the bottom line is it's a lot more complex that we care to admit.  From the New York Times:

"In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.

However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.

Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.

More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers’ disregard for workers’ health. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within seven months last year, two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning."

Tim Cook replied to this article with the following letter.  Go give it a read.  That article says what I've known for awhile, but most people are unaware of.  The conditions in China are horrible.  Apple and everyone else takes advantage of that supply chain with limited human rights.  It makes the American workplace look like heaven.

My point?  Fairness and equity in the workplace is complicated.  Hate the way things are going in America?  Like to hate how much power companies have?

Cool.  You ought to give up your digital device when you compare that to what goes on in China out of protest.

Last time I checked, that American low wage manufacturer or hourly retail shop that has low-end jobs didn't have suicide nets.  

Be consistent.

It's true.  It's better to do nothing on the exit interview front than to do it poorly.  Example below with a hat tip to Deadspin:

"Tweets Sean Locklear, tackle extraordinaire: "Worst exit meeting ever! No coaches,no front office, just physicals and goodbye to teammates! We did just spend 5 mos together, WOW!"

That was a tweet from an NFL player who was going through the Washington Redskins exit process that's conducted at the end of a season.  Of course, he later pulled the tweet down after it caused a small storm.  But not before we got the window into his soul.

Clinically, the exit process was fine.  Checking to see if anything was wrong or if anything needed to be followed up on - we get it and expect it.  

But underneath, once you say you're going to do an exit interview, the expectations rise, usually with one question that has two parts:

"Where's the presence of someone who cares, but also someone who can make a change if things didn't go well for me while I was here?"

And that my friends, is a big, big burden.  Most people won't tweet out their dissatisfaction, but you can bet they're asking the same question if you handle your exit interviews in a similar fashion.

You've got some exit interview forms and your coordinator is running people through your "Exit Interview" process face to face.  Is that enough?  Or does it actually take your company's "approval rating" down a couple of notches?  Would it be better to follow up a few weeks after the ex-employee has left the company, when expectations are lowered, emotions have calmed, etc.?

Think about it.  Your exiting employees and NFL players have more in common than you might think.