Attracting and retaining great people is crucial for the long-term success of any organization. For most small companies, retaining the best people already on your team is the most crucial place to focus. One effective tool that can help in this endeavor is the “stay interview.” We recommend completing a talent assessment (the focus of last month’s blog post) and then completing stay interviews with your highest potential and highest performance team members.
What Are “Stay Interviews”?
Stay interviews are proactive conversations held with valued employees to gain insights into their engagement levels, job satisfaction, and future plans within the organization. These interviews serve multiple purposes:
- Retaining Top Talent: By proactively addressing any concerns or dissatisfaction, stay interviews allow managers to identify and resolve issues that may prompt talented employees to consider leaving the organization.
- Increasing Employee Engagement: Stay interviews demonstrate a genuine interest in employees’ opinions, fostering a sense of belonging and loyalty. When employees feel heard and valued, their engagement and productivity levels rise.
- Strategic Workforce Planning: Stay interviews provide managers with valuable information about employees’ career aspirations, skill development needs, and desired growth opportunities. This data can inform succession planning and talent development initiatives.
Preparing for a Stay Interview:
To conduct a successful stay interview, managers should follow these key steps:
- Set the Right Tone: Emphasize that the purpose of the interview is to foster open communication and address any concerns. Assure employees of confidentiality and your wish for honest feedback.
- Develop a Structured Interview Framework: Prepare a set of open-ended questions that cover key areas such as job satisfaction, career development, work-life balance, and organizational culture. Tailor the questions to suit individual employees’ roles and circumstances. To assist, we’ve compiled a list of our own suggested Stay Interview questions – you can download it for free here.
- Choose an Appropriate Setting: Create a comfortable and private environment conducive to open conversation. This could be a quiet meeting room or a casual setting.
Conducting the Stay Interview:
During the stay interview, managers should adopt the following best practices:
- Active Listening: Be fully present and attentive, allowing employees to express their thoughts without interruption. Listen actively and seek clarification when necessary to ensure a thorough understanding of their perspectives.
- Encourage Honesty: Make it clear that honest feedback is welcome, even if it includes criticisms or concerns. Assure employees that their input is valuable and will be used to improve their work environment.
- Identify Opportunities for Improvement: Probe deeper into any issues raised, aiming to understand the underlying causes. Collaborate with employees to identify actionable solutions or changes that can address their concerns. You may not feel prepared to do this during the interview itself – that’s okay too! Rather than make false promises, let the employee know you’re glad they’ve shared their feedback. You can follow up later after you’ve had time to consider which feedback you can realistically act on.
- Set Clear Expectations: Establish realistic timelines for addressing identified issues or implementing changes. Communicate the steps that will be taken and provide regular updates to demonstrate commitment to employee satisfaction.
Leveraging Insights from Stay Interviews:
To receive maximum benefit from stay interviews, managers should:
- Act on Feedback: Address concerns and implement changes wherever possible. Regularly communicate progress and demonstrate a commitment to creating a positive work environment. In the case of feedback you can’t act on, be straightforward and honest. For example, if an employee is hoping to be promoted within the year, and you won’t have a role open for her in the next year, be clear about that. Honesty is an excellent way to build trust, even if it results in short term disappointment. These sorts of honest conversations can also promote creativity in how to satisfy an employee’s goals within the constraints of what the organization can offer: perhaps there is another way outside of a promotion that can help that employee build new skills, gain new responsibility, or earn higher pay.
- Recognize and Reward: Acknowledge employees’ contributions and celebrate their achievements. Recognition and rewards reinforce the sense of value and appreciation, contributing to higher employee satisfaction.
- Monitor Progress: Continuously check in with employees about the impact of changes made based on stay interview insights. Collect feedback from employees to gauge their perception of improvements and identify any additional areas requiring attention.
