{"id":218,"date":"2018-10-08T21:32:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T21:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsite.payrollmedics.com\/blog\/?p=218"},"modified":"2018-10-18T21:44:36","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T21:44:36","slug":"the-power-of-stay-interviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.payrollmedics.com\/blog\/the-power-of-stay-interviews\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Stay Interviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why are you here? It’s not an existential question to ask employees, but a practical one: why do you stay in this job? Asking this question is an important \u2014 yet often overlooked \u2014 aspect of retention.<\/p>\n

Like the exit interview, the stay interview solicits employee feedback; but instead of being conducted as an employee exits, it\u2019s conducted before employees decide to leave. As the name implies, the stay interview asks employees why they stay.<\/p>\n

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“Transparency is key, particularly as you won\u2019t be able to fix everything or please everyone.”<\/div>\n
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Preparing for Stay Interviews<\/b>
\nStay interviews ask employees to assess what they like and dislike about working for their organization. But if employees fear reprisal, they may be hesitant to speak candidly. For stay interviews to be effective, employees need to know they can trust the interviewer specifically and their employer generally. And they need to know that their employer will listen to them and strive to make improvements based on what they learn.<\/p>\n

Some of this trust-building will take time. Employees will probably become more open and expressive after they\u2019ve been interviewed a few times, especially if they\u2019ve seen changes made in response to their feedback. However, when you first get started with these interviews, it\u2019s helpful to reassure employees that the answers they give will not affect their performance reviews or result in any kind of retaliation.<\/p>\n

Scheduling the Interviews<\/b>
\nThirty minutes or less should be sufficient. Make sure you first ask the questions you most want answers to, as some employees may have long answers that lead to a fruitful, but possibly tangential, conversation.<\/p>\n

How often you conduct these interviews will likely depend on how many employees you have, who you have conducting the interviews (individual managers or HR), and whether you have regular check-ins with employees.<\/p>\n

If managers have regular one-on-one meetings with their employees, then conducting a stay interview once a year should be sufficient. In fact, a great way to start every regular one-on-one meeting is to ask how things are going for the employee. If you\u2019re regularly chatting with employees about these matters\u2014say once or twice a month\u2014a separate stay interview might not be necessary. However, having HR conduct a separate stay interview can be helpful in cases where employees are not comfortable discussing these matters with their manager.<\/p>\n

Executing the Interviews<\/b>
\nYou may wish to open the interviews with a statement such as, “Thank you for meeting with me. I wanted to have an informal discussion about how your job is going, how you enjoy working here, and what we can do to support you. We value your feedback, and we want this to be a great place to work.”<\/p>\n

Open-ended questions are best, as they can provide more actionable information. But it\u2019s also important to limit your questioning to matters that are within your power to change. There\u2019s no sense in asking if an employee is happy with their rate of pay if their rate of pay cannot be increased. Asking about pay in this case might give you additional information, but it\u2019s likely to cause frustration on the employee\u2019s part when nothing comes of their feedback.<\/p>\n

Here are a few questions you might consider asking:<\/p>\n