I may be showing my age, but when I was climbing the corporate ladder, I never had a Stay Interview. So, I’d like to say that conducting Stay Interviews is a new concept, but it shouldn’t be. We should have learned a long time ago that talking to employees about their work experience on their way out or when they were leaving the company was obviously way too late.
Recruitment
Recruiting new employees is a very time-consuming and very expensive process. This can cause an enormous amount of stress on the company’s bottom line. We sometimes take the value of retaining current employees for granted. While retention can be a difficult task, it is much more cost-effective and efficient than hiring new.
We still should conduct “exit interviews” to best understand why an employee is leaving or if there is anything that we can learn from this employee’s experience to improve the workplace. Exit interviews are certainly important, but I would put these conversations secondary to the “Stay Interview.”
Stay interviews is a discussion between an employee and his/her manager or HR representative to learn about this employee’s experience in the organization. It provides an opportunity to learn about what is working and perhaps what may not be working. Stay interviews allow the employee to feel heard and to share their dreams and aspirations. Stay interviews can stop people leaving before it’s too late.
Here are some questions to ask in a stay interview:
On a scale of 1 – 10, how happy are you with your job? Why do you say that?
This question is a good icebreaker to start the discussion. It doesn’t seem too personal or too difficult to answer. Beyond the given number, the real value is the follow up question? Finding out why that number was given will span deeper understanding and lead to other future questions.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Ask the employee to say something positive. Invite them to think of what good is working. Too often we focus on what isn’t working, instead of putting reinforcement and energy to that which is working. Again, this is typically an easy question to answer. This question helps to set the tone for the rest of the stay interview. Sometimes, people are skeptical of these discussions --- waiting for the boom to drop and be told bad news. If you ask questions like this, the employee will better understand the purpose of the discussion.
What is your least favorite part of your job?
This question is the natural next step in the stay interview. After you have created a safe space for employees to express themselves for what IS working, proceed to find out what isn’t and to learn about their pain points are. Continue on with follow up and clarifying questions to better understand, such as “What can I do to help support you in this part of your job?” What do you need to change this around? What can I do to help make your job better? “
Do you feel recognized for your achievements?
People share one common motivator. At the end of the day, they want to feel valued and recognized for their achievements. It is part of human nature. This question helps you to find out if your employee feels that their hard work is appreciated. This is also an opportunity to learn how they feel valued or recognized. People do not all feel appreciated in the same way. Sometimes a simple thank you is enough, other times, getting a little creative can go a long way.
How would you describe your current work-life balance?
Ask this open-ended question to have the employee describe how they see their Work-life balance. While these three words may seem like a “cliché” – it helps to describe the level to which someone has a good balance between their time at work, and the quality of their time at home. When someone can say that they have a good balance between work and home it increases happiness and productivity. They are better able to be focused while they are at work or at home. Today’s generation values good balance more than any previous generation.
Other stay interview questions include:
What part of your job do you look forward to the most?
In the past, describe a day at work that has caused you frustration.
How would you describe your relationship with your team members? Your supervisor?
Do you feel like a valuable member of the team?
Do you feel heard?
What are your professional goals?
Is the career pathing or learning and development programs helping you to achieve your goals? Why or why not?
How would you describe the organizational culture? What do we value?
What would you change about the organizational culture, if you could?
Is there anything that you want to be doing that you are not?
What, if anything, is missing from your job or workplace?
Is there anything that you would like to be doing that you are not currently doing?
The time to begin conducting stay interviews is now!
Now that you understand the value of stay interviews and have a starting list of questions to ask…. Get started! Identify the employees that you want to interview and make a plan. Keep in mind… it is not enough to simply ask the question; you need to act and follow up. If anything surfaces because of the discussion, you need to act and do what you say you will do. Keep your promises and use this information to gain the insight you need to make changes where necessary. Afterall, you are having these conversations with the intention of building stronger retention and happier employees.
Let's chat some more! Contact Barbara Ann Sharon at basharon@trainingedge.com or 610.454.1557.
Comments