The purpose of a stay interview is to identify the reasons why top performers choose to remain in the organization, identify what can be done to keep them engaged, and to recognize potential determinants of what might cause them to leave. This allows managers to pinpoint what’s working, what’s not working, and what can be done to provide support for employees. Stay interviews are one of the most effective strategies an organization can use to reduce employee attrition and turnover.
Big River Group has conducted stay interviews for numerous organizations. These interviews are conducted in a relaxed, casual tone and only take 15-20 minutes. While the interviews are meant to be conversational, the interviewer does come into the interview with a predetermined list of questions. Each interview is unique and adjusted as the conversation continues to gain as much information from the employee as possible in a relatively short amount of time. The questions of any effective stay interview should be developed based on any existing concerns of managers and supervisors. Once those have been addressed, questions that are broad enough to allow the employee to decide the specific direction of their answer serve the best results. Ranking questions are also an effective route but should not consume the entire interview.
A few example questions include:
- What do you look forward to when you come to work each day?
- If you could change something about your job, what would that be?
- What motivates you?
In the past, employers have not only been able to identify common concerns among employees, but they’ve been able to take a proactive approach to addressing those issues. Although stay interviews conducted by Big River Group have often been anonymous, those who chose to disclose their answers are able to receive individualized assistance from management by helping them learn more about the people they manage.
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