How Stay Interviews Lead to Higher Retention

As we reach the halfway point of the year, employees may begin to lose the enthusiasm they once had for their role. While your team can’t participate in a procedure to create a separate persona who stays at work indefinitely like on the Apple+ series hit, Severance, there is a way to help retain top talent in your workforce—by conducting stay interviews. Also referred to as retention interviews or stay conversations, stay interviews are proactive, employee-focused conversations that often take place with a direct manager or an HR team member.

Stay interviews are typically informal, designed to identify what keeps each employee engaged and motivated while also recognizing areas for improvement to enhance satisfaction and longevity. Not to be confused with performance reviews—which focus on objectives and outcomes—stay interviews focus on employees’ feelings. Though you may choose to schedule these types of conversations with staff members who are at a higher risk of leaving, such as new hires and high-performing employees, this practice can be used as a retention tool for everyone.

Stay Interview Benefits

Here are some benefits that stay interviews can provide:

Improve Engagement

By consistently meeting with your team to gather feedback on what’s going well and any challenges or issues they may be encountering in their roles, you’re showing that you’re invested in them and care about their well-being. This can help motivate your staff and build trust, leading to higher levels of engagement and fulfillment.

Save Time and Resources

If you consider the costs involved with employee turnover, implementing a simple retention strategy is a suitable solution. Plus, gathering the thoughts and opinions of your team members is considerably less expensive than hiring new personnel.

Identify Improvement Opportunities

While having these discussions, be mindful of the information your employees share. They can provide valuable insights and possible opportunities for improvement to create a better work environment. Further, these conversations can uncover potential problems before they occur, enabling you to actively prevent employee dissatisfaction.

Increase Employee Retention

As you conduct stay interviews with your staff, demonstrate that you’re actively listening to their feedback and address any concerns they may have. Your efforts can help reenergize them, creating a positive impact on employee retention.

Stay Interviews are NOT Performance Reviews

While it would be easier for you to combine the two, stay interviews should not coincide with annual performance reviews. However, they can happen annually with check-ins as needed. Remember, stay interviews focus on feelings, while performance reviews focus on results. These interviews should be informal and take place in a comfortable environment, such as on a walk or during lunch. While it may be necessary to schedule time to meet, take as long as you need to conduct the interview for each of your team members to feel heard.

Be Prepared for Pushback

Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying, “With great risk comes great reward.” Unfortunately, being vulnerable is a risk some people are not willing to take. Your employees may not be comfortable answering questions about how they feel regarding their roles. In fact, they may feel intimidated about participating in these interviews. Therefore, it’s your responsibility to put their mind at ease. While understanding and addressing any issues may take some work on your part, the reward will come with staff being less resistant to provide their feedback.

Interview Questions to Consider

If you’re ready to give stay interviews a try, here are some questions to help you spark conversation between you and your employees:

1. What do you value most about working here?
2. How is your work/life balance?
3. What are some of the pros and cons of our career development program?
4. When did you last think about leaving and why?
5. What can I do to improve your work experience?

For additional questions, click here.

Stay interviews are an easy, cost-effective approach to retaining employees. If conducted correctly and consistently, this tactic can increase engagement, save money by reducing turnover, identify issues and concerns, and retain your top talent. The benefits are definitely worth the effort.