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You're leaving your current place of employment and it hasn't always been the most pleasant experience.
Do you tell your boss to take this job and shove it?

Do you just leave?

Or should you choose your departing words carefully?

The answer, according to a new survey, is the latter. Because it turns out bosses actually do listen to what those moving on have to say.

The research, by staffing service OfficeTeam, asked 150 executives if they ever acted on the advice given them by those leaving a company during a so-called 'exit interview'. The response was a surprising yes.

While six percent admited they don't conduct such exit strategies and the same amount maintain they 'never' pay attention to what the dearly departed think, a whopping 57 percent agreed they 'frequently' take those famous last words into account and use them to form new policies to help the staff who remain.

And it doesn't matter if an employee's relationship with his fellow job mates or bosses has been positive or negative.

The survey shows most executives actually like to hear the comments because most workers are afraid to make any suggestions at all, for fear they'll anger the higher-ups.

People who are leaving their jobs aren't quite so reticent and sometimes come up with solutions for problems bosses didn't even know they had.

Experts suggest if you're ever in this position, you should make sure you're honest but not too harsh, regardless of how you feel about your former firm. Don't burn bridges, be diplomatic and keep it constructive.

Because in the ever-curving road that is the current business climate, where takeovers and mergers occur in the blink of an eye, you never know when you'll be traveling back to that same person or company again one day.

And leaving things on a bad note could mean getting completely left behind

City Pulse

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