Stay Interviews: what they are, why they work, and how to run them

Why wait until your talented employees have decided to hand in their notice and leave your business to ask them why? To take the time to listen to what did and didn’t work for them in their role, their team, with their manager, to understand what could have been improved in order for them to stay with your business? We are all, or most of us are, familiar with Exit Interviews which take place at the end of an employee’s time with a company once they have decided to leave the organisation - to gain an insight into their reasons for leaving.

This can be really valuable information to gain and assess where change may be needed to improve process and/or conditions it does not, 99% of the time, change the mind of the employee and retain the knowledge, experience, and time and money spent on training and developing that individual over their tenure with the company. Nor does an exit interview reduce spend on rehiring into the now vacant position! It’s too late once they have decided to leave, the stable door is being shut after the horse has bolted…

However, it is possible to make those improvements and retain employees, and so reduce recruitment costs, by implementing Stay Interviews.

What are they?

A Stay Interview is very similar to an exit interview in format and process, but it asks positive questions about what the employee enjoys, what works well and where improvements could be made.

Ideally a Stay Interview is done after the first 3 months of a new starter joining the company whilst they still have an external perspective and ideas. They should than be repeated at intervals throughout the employment cycle. Equally as important they should also be completed with employees who have longer tenure and established teams to gain useful insights and help retention.

What are the benefits?

Stay Interviews have been shown to boost retention and engagement rates. There are many benefits to conducting stay interviews:

·       Employees feel valued and heard.

·       Feedback can help improve efficiencies.

·       Retention rates increase and recruitment spend decreases.

·       Improve Employer Brand and Talent Attraction

How do you complete a Stay Interview?

If possible, dependent on the size and structure of your organisation, stay interviews should be conducted by HR or another independent third party not the individual’s line manager.

This is to ensure that the employee feels comfortable and able to share their genuine thoughts and feelings. Also, it could be the manager who is causing an issue in high turnover teams and an opportunity to understand this through the Stay Interview is paramount. It is important to establish a confidential and secure environment, as with exit interviews and any other process where you are gaining an employee’s feedback and opinion. You will not receive the valuable feedback that Stay Interviews can produce if employees do feel they have a safe environment to share this information.

Complete the stay interview using HRSS Ltd. free Stay Interview Template, available by contacting karen.leigh@peopling.co.uk. Once completed ensure that the answers are collated and entered into a tracking system (this can be as simple as a spreadsheet) and review for patterns and trends in themes, teams and/or departments. This will form the basis of your action plan and strategy for changes. There must be outcomes and actions from stay interviews to ensure employees can see change happens from their feedback and that the organisation does value this, not that it not a fruitless exercise. Even the smallest changes from feedback will have an impact on the attitude of employees and gain buy in. All of which helps with retention and motivation.

The implementation of Stay Interviews should be tracked against turnover rates to show improvement and ROI.

Stay Interviews are a proactive way of engaging with your employees to gain valuable insights into how they feel the organisation is performing and being run, to make improvement for all employees before the point where they are ready to leave and you are losing talent and investment. Done well they can be a tool for positive change that aligns with the strategic direction of the organisation and help to improve motivation and productivity which all impact profit and brand.

Don’t wait until your employee hands in their resignation letter to understand what is and isn’t working in your business. Take steps now to proactively understand how individuals and teams feel about their roles, how they are managed (directly and wider organisational management), what they enjoy about working with your business, why they would want to stay and most importantly why they wouldn’t.

For more information and support on Stay Interviews contact karen.leigh@peopling.co.uk or visit the Peopling website

FAQ - Quick view

• What is a stay interview? A structured conversation that explores why someone stays and what would make their experience better.

• When should we run them? After 3 months, then at regular intervals; also with long-tenured staff.

• Who should run them? Ideally HR or a neutral facilitator (not the line manager) to encourage open feedback.

• What should we do with the feedback? Theme it, share outcomes, act on quick wins, and track retention.