Do you know why employees stay?

Some employers conduct Exit Interviews to learn more about why an employee is leaving. You can also do Stay Interviews, a more proactive way to learn about their experience working in your organization. Our favorite way to do this is a semi-structured conversation that allows for follow-up questions and a “deeper dive” into areas that may not be covered through a feedback format like a survey.

Stay Interviews can be conducted by managers (with training) but often they are done by someone in a more “neutral” role such as HR. Smaller employers (without HR) can have someone in a leadership role who is not the employee’s direct supervisor. This is not totally necessary but it may provide more candid responses. If you work with an HR Consultant, this is a great area to get their help in, consider asking them to do the interviews and share a summary of what they hear from employees.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), these five questions are the most helpful for facilitating a meaningful conversation and learning about an employee’s experience at work. With each one, ask follow up questions that help you learn more about the employee’s initial response (the ones that follow are examples).

What do you look forward to each day when you commute to work?

• Give me an example

• Tell me more about…

• Who do you look forward to working with the most?

What are you learning here, and what do you want to learn?

• Which other jobs here look attractive to you?

• What skills do you think are required for those jobs?

• What skills would you have to build to attain those jobs or some responsibilities of those jobs?

Why do you stay here?

• Tell me more about why that is so important to you.

• Is that the only reason you stay or are there others?

• If you narrowed your reasons to stay to just one, what would it be?

When was the last time you thought about leaving us, and what prompted it?

• Tell me more about what happened.

• Is there anything I can do to make the situation better for you?

• How important is that situation to you now?

What can I do to make your job better for you?

• Do I tell you when you do something well?

• Do I say and do things to help you do your job better?

• What are three ways I can be a better manager for you?

Tips for effective stay interviews:

• First, and obviously, only have a stay interview when you can be free of distractions. No one entering to ask questions, leave your phone and computer (consider taking hand-written notes rather than typing), and no interruptions on your part.

• Spend more time listening than talking. Adopt a frame of mind to listen to understand, ask questions to gain more clarity, and refrain from responding or offering explanations.

• Show interest and care in what the employees have to say. Ask questions with the spirit of genuine curiosity. Express empathy when it makes sense (if they share something difficult or stressful).

• Take notes! Ideally, write notes by hand. This greatly reduces the possibility of being distracted by electronic notifications, etc. and it is also more personal. Taking notes on a computer may be more efficient and if you must, make sure you spend most of time looking at the employee and not at the screen! Don’t rely on your memory for key details and ideas.

How often and who?

Ideally, everyone who has worked at your organization for a certain period of time (at least a year) will be invited to a stay interview. If you have a larger group of employees, these can be done on a rolling basis (i.e., a certain number each quarter). Since employees might provide similar feedback during a performance review process, you may do Stay Interviews less frequently, such as every two years for employees who have worked with the organization for at least two years. Regardless, create a system and make sure it does not discriminate by leaving out certain individuals or segments of the workforce.

Stay interviews should be voluntary.

What to do with all of that information

Before conducting the interviews, have a strategy for what you will do with the information. This doesn’t mean you have to plan to take action on everything you hear. Rather, make sure all of the insights, comments, and suggestions you ask for have a place to “go” and do not fall into a void.

If you need support with your current process or want to begin conducting stay interviews and are not sure how to begin, get in touch. We’d love to help.