Retiring Director's Exit Interview Scheduled for Three Years After Retirement Date

Former Department of Revenue Director Herbert Farewell received a letter last week inviting him to attend his mandatory exit interview, a routine HR procedure that would have been unremarkable had Farewell not retired three years ago. 'I thought it was a joke,' said Farewell, reached at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he has been spending his retirement playing golf and not thinking about departmental org charts. 'Then I saw it was on official letterhead with a case number and a scheduling link. They want me to come in on the 14th. I don't even live in that state anymore.' The delay was traced to a backlog of 4,200 unprocessed exit interviews in the HR department's Exit Processing Unit, which is staffed by one person. 'We process exit interviews in the order they are received,' said Exit Processing Specialist Doris Queue, who has held the position since 2018 and is currently working through interviews from mid-2022. 'Director Farewell's interview was submitted in 2023. We're getting to it.' When asked why the unit is staffed by a single person, HR Director Franklin Headcount explained that exit interviews are classified as 'non-urgent personnel actions' and do not qualify for additional staffing under the department's hiring priority matrix. 'The irony is that if more people quit, the backlog gets worse, which makes the exit experience worse, which makes more people quit,' Doris observed. 'It's a self-reinforcing cycle, but not the kind they teach in management seminars.' Farewell has declined to attend the interview, noting that he no longer has a building access badge, a parking permit, or the will to return. HR has informed him that declining a mandatory exit interview may affect his final personnel file. 'My final personnel file,' Farewell repeated. 'I've been retired for three years. What are they going to do, un-retire me?' HR has confirmed that this is not an option, but has requested that he complete a 14-page Exit Interview Declination Form. The form must be submitted in person.