What is a stay interview and why should you be conducting them?

Many employers are conducting exit interviews as part of their off boarding process. I would always advise on conducting exit interviews, they provide insightful, honest feedback that helps the company know what they are doing well, what they could improve on, and specific reasons for leaving. However, it is key for employers to also reflect on this throughout the employee lifecycle, as only doing this at the exit of an employee is sometimes too late.

This is where stay interviews come in. Employers should try to carry out a stay interview with all employees, particularly high-value ones, to gain open feedback about their role and the workplace and what circumstances would tempt them to begin a job with an alternative employer.

Stay interviews give companies the opportunity to assess what improvements can be made now, they provide a more personal platform than what is currently in place from engagement or satisfaction surveys. In turn, this allows for the building of trust between employees and managers that contributes towards a positive engagement culture.

Both parties can collaboratively discuss ideas, with an opportune environment to ask follow-up questions or elaborate on answers. This 2-way dynamic is essential in getting to the root of problems and evaluating key issues and trends which warrant change.

The wider company picture also needs to be considered and trends and patterns identified and evaluated. If a pattern starts to emerge of employees leaving for career progression or increased pay, then action should be taken to review policies and practice in this area before it becomes a bigger issue for the company.

The stay interview should be conducted in a way that gives the individual the opportunity to openly discuss their feedback on the company. To carry out an effective interview try to ensure the following points are covered:

• Questions should be relevant, clear and easy to answer

• As with one-to-one meetings or appraisals the interview should be conducted away from the work area and in a private area with no interruptions.

• The reason for the interview should be clearly explained and the context set for the discussion.

• Stay interview surveys can be used to complement existing satisfaction/engagement surveys to establish trends or patterns in relation to the workplace, enabling the company to address any issues for the future.

• The employee needs to be able to see why the question is being asked and feel comfortable in answering. Questions that seem personal and unrelated to work or that are seen as leading could cause the individual to feel defensive about the whole process.

• If you ask too many questions it will put people off answering and make them feel on the spot rather than engaged in a two-way process so make sure you listen to the employee’s responses and allow them to raise issues they wish to discuss.

If you would like to implement a stay interview in your company, get in touch by filling out the contact form over on our blogs page. Following receipt of your information, we will be in touch to provide you with a complimentary stay interview checklist and interview questions.