​Author: Nancy Germond

Even given rumors of a possible looming recession and higher unemployment rates just predicted by the Feds, agency managers must do all they can now to reverse employee losses. The stay interview is a strategic tool employed by many organizations to determine the reasons employees would leave, a proactive approach to employee retention. Once you perform an exit interview, it is usually too late to salvage the relationship between you and that exiting worker. The stay interview can catch that dissatisfied employee before he or she starts looking for a new employer.

What is a stay interview?

A stay interview is a guided conversation between an employee and his or her supervisor. In that conversation, you will learn what your employee likes about the job, what stressors that employee may face, and where that employee may feel stuck in his or her career path. The stay interview is proactive because, ideally, you schedule the talk before you recognize that employee is a flight risk. It's almost like a performance review – something you want to perform annually. As we saw when COVID hit and many employees transitioned to work from home, things can change quickly.

The stay interview is effective only in corporate cultures where employees trust their managers. With trust, employees will be more open and provide honest feedback. If they believe they will either face a penalty for speaking honestly, or that nothing will change based upon the interview, the stay interview will be ineffective.

The benefits of the stay interview

Here are some of the benefits of the stay interview.

• Managers can pinpoint pain points before they fester and burst in either a confrontation or a resignation.
• Managers can help to ensure they understand where the employee wants to go in his or her career. Designing a clear career path for employees is one excellent way to retain them.
• Managers can better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the interviewee.
• Managers can better align workflows based on that employee's likes and dislikes when possible. For example, if an employee is less detail oriented and more strategic, reassigning some detailed work such as expense reports to others can help reduce the interviewee's task friction.
• Managers may be able to realign tasks viewed as clerical to appropriate clerical help.
• Employees will feel valued and that their thoughts and opinions matter.

Questions to ask

While a Google search for “stay interview questions" will yield many suggestions, here are some important ones to consider asking.

• What is going right in your job?
• What would you change if you could?
• What are your favorite tasks?
• Are there tasks you do not enjoy or that you feel others could perform more effectively?
• How are you getting along with your coworkers? Do you feel there is a good teamwork spirit? If not, what can we do to improve teamwork?
• Do you understand your duties?
• Do I (your manager/supervisor) support you in your efforts? How can I do better?
• Did you receive adequate training for new tasks, or do you need additional training?
• If you need additional training, in what areas do you need training and do you know of any resources?
• How do you feel about your pay and benefits?
• Do you feel our organization has a good life/work balance? If not, what can we do to improve?
• Where do you feel you are going in your career? Do you have some one-year and five-year goals we can help facilitate?
• Would you come to us if you were considering going elsewhere or received another offer?

Stay questions are flexible. As the conversation progresses, other logical questions may arise. Do not be afraid to stray off the suggested questions.

The benefits of stay interviews

The stay interview can have several benefits in addition to keeping a great employee. Here are a few.

• Stay interviews build trust. They make employees feel valued and “heard."
• With input from a current employee, you may find your onboarding of new or transitioning employees is ineffective. With input gleaned in the stay interview, you can improve your onboarding processes. Stronger initial mentoring and development increases the likelihood of keeping that new hire.
• You can improve workflow processes by pushing some tasks like administrative functions to lower-paid employees.
• You can tweak benefits, when possible, to improve candidate attraction.
• You will build stronger employee/manager relationships.
• You may be surprised by your employee's career path desires and can help improve other departments using their talent.
• You will be proactive in addressing problems and can usually reduce employee flight.
• You will not spend a dime; you will only spend time.

Identifying flight risks

There are subtle and obvious signs of flight risk, but often we are too busy to notice them or ignore the more obvious signs. Denial can prevent us from exploring those obvious signals of an unhappy employee, as can procrastination. Time flies and managers often push performance issues to the back burner. Unless the employee's work product or behavior becomes a fire managers need to extinguish, they may fail to act.

Here are some potential flight risk signs.

• Employees with formerly good attitudes suddenly begin to complain.
• Employees who have not ordinarily done so who begin spreading discord among other employees.
• Employees paid below market or less than their peers.
• Employees who experience life changes such as the loss of a life partner, loss of a pet, or a significant health challenge, including depression.
• Employees assigned to a supervisor where there has been an unusual amount of conflict.
• Employees who apply for a different position but do not get the promotion/position.

These are just a few of the signs of impending flight. There are organizations that specialize in building flight risk models, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

Why exit interviews rarely work

One way to reduce flight risk is through better usage of the exit interview. However, the problem with an exit interview is two-fold.

1. The horse has already left the barn, to borrow a farm phrase.
2. Exit interview results rarely get shared outside of human resources (HR). This important tool may not reach senior management.

Very often, employees leave their jobs because of their supervisors. If through exit interviews you discover this pattern, the supervisor needs coaching and mentorship, not necessarily the departing employee.

The exit interview can be a strong management tool, but only if used effectively. Do not leave the exit interview sitting in an HR file; use it to coach and mentor your managers to higher performance.

Handling employee exits with good grace

It's important that you manage an employee's resignation gracefully. While we are often frustrated when good employees resign, they often find the grass isn't as green as they'd envisioned once they move employers. Many return to their former employer with a new sense of appreciation for your organization. Only by handling exits with composure and warmth will you keep the door open for a rehire.

Should you counteroffer after a resignation?

We know that responding to a counteroffer once your employee submits his or her resignation rarely works long term. In one recent Cornell study outlined in Fast Company, employees who accept a counteroffer usually leave anyway within six-to-24 months.

In most cases, it's best to work with and support the employees you currently have rather than trying to find replacements. The stay interview, and taking appropriate action based on exit interviews, can help you develop and maintain your workforce.

First published: June 24, 2022