This article is part-four of a six-part series that includes what we are advising small and medium-sized employers to do right now to create a superior workplace. In previous post’s, we discussed the importance of Onboarding New Hire Effectively and Providing Opportunities for Growth. Click here for the post on Onboarding New Hires Effectively. Click here for the post on Providing Growth Opportunities. Click here for the post on Foster a Culture of Appreciate and Recognition.
In today’s article, we explore the actions entrepreneurial business leaders can do to retain their best and most productive employees.
STAY INTERVIEWS
Looking for a method that will help you retain your best and most productive employees? Ask them what they love about your organization—and why they stay with you. Their responses will tell you a lot about what you’re doing well as an employer—and unfortunately, they will also identify what you’re not doing, and what those employees want or need.
With the Great Resignation of 2021, many businesses are on a hiring spree and retention efforts are on the rise. As a result, you will likely hear more about the “stay interview”.
WHAT ARE STAY INTERVIEWS?
A stay interview or a retention interview is an informal one-on-one structured discussion between an employer and an employee. It is a conversation meant to identify the factors that drive an individual employee’s retention and engagement.
Think of a stay interview as the opposite of an exit interview. Instead of asking why an employee is quitting, a stay interview focuses on what motivates the employee to stick around, what could be better about their work experience and how they envision the next stage of their career within the organization.
Stay interviews are not new but they are coming up more often as employers dial up retention efforts during record turnover.
WHY ARE STAY INTERVIEWS IMPORTANT
Stay interviews show that you recognize and appreciate the loyalty and contributions of valued employees and that you care about their job satisfaction. These types of interviews help you to understand specifically what will influence the retention of key employees—those employees in which you have invested the most time and resources—and identify low-cost changes that could increase their commitment and engagement.
By the time you receive a resignation letter from one of your valued employees and you conduct an exit interview, it is too late to effect any meaningful changes to retain that individual.
WHO SHOULD CONDUCT THE STAY INTERVIEW
The key to a successful stay interview is trust. If you have invested in your relationships with employees, and if there is mutual trust and respect, people will feel more comfortable answering honestly.
In companies where managers have strong relationships with their staff, they may be the most logical choice to conduct stay interviews. If time is a major concern, informal stay interviews could even be part of ongoing one-on-one meetings or check-ins.
That said, at some companies, asking managers to conduct stay interviews for their team may not be the best option. After all, if you are seeking feedback on workplace culture and management style, will an employee be honest with their own manager? Consider assigning someone other than the employee’s direct manager or supervisor—someone with no oversight of the employee—to conduct the stay interview.
HOW TO EFFECTIVELY CONDUCT A STAY INTERVIEW
Conducting stay interviews is a lot easier than you may think. It is like any other type of one-on-one interview, with a few key differences. Start by figuring out how you will review and evaluate the feedback you get. Is there a committee? Are the results confidential? How will you act on the information you receive?
Be sure to explain that you are doing the stay interview with this individual specifically because you value their contribution and want to ensure that they are happy working at the company. Additionally, assure your employee that there are no wrong answers and that your goal is to hear honest, constructive feedback that will make the company better.
To help you get started, use the tips below, along with some questions to ask during a stay interview.
TIPS FOR CONDUCTING STAY INTERVIEWS
- Schedule the interview in advance so that employees know they are important and have some time to prepare their thoughts.
- Tell the employee why you are having the meeting and what you are going to be talking about. Share the questions in advance.
- Listen carefully and monitor your responses. Keep an open mind; explore the employee’s underlying interests that lead to his or her specific requests.
- Don’t hesitate to conduct stay interviews for fear that you won’t be able to deliver on the employee’s suggestions. It is an exploratory conversation; it is important to set that tone up front to manage expectations. For example, if you already know that compensation is a significant issue for the employee, but you have limited ability to influence this, have an open conversation about other possibilities that may increase their job satisfaction, or discuss opportunities for advancement in the longer term.
- Stay interviews are different than performance reviews: you do not need to conduct them with all employees. The focus should be on retaining key members of your team.
WHAT TO ASK IN A STAY INTERVIEW
Stay interviews should focus on how your employee feels about the work they do every day, the value of their contributions and how they feel within the organization. It’s not a time to share status updates about to-dos and projects.
The most important question, that you need to ask in every stay interview is: What would make you start a search for a new job.
General Stay Interview Questions
- What excites you to come into work?
- Do you feel good about the impact of your work?
- What do you want to do more of at work? What do you want to less of at work?
- If you were a manager for a day, what would you do differently?
- What do you like most about your job and work in our organization?
- What do you like least about your job and work in our organization?
- How happy are you working here on a scale of 1-10 with 10 representing the happiest?
- What would have to happen for that number to become a 10?
- When you think about employers, how does this organization rate overall on a scale of 1-10 with 10 representing the best possible employer?
- What would it take for the company to earn a 10 in your mind?
- How well does the organization focus on producing a quality product/service for customers?
- Overall, how well do we walk the talk when we say that engaging and satisfying our customers is our highest priority?
- Have you ever thought about leaving the company? If so, what caused you to consider leaving? Why did you decide to stay?
- Have you actively job searched in the past year? Why were you leaving?
Final Stay Interview Questions
- Is there anything else that is important to you that we did not cover during this meeting?
- Do you have suggestions about how we can improve as an organization?
WHAT TO DO AFTER A STAY INTERVIEW
At the end of the stay interview, thank your employee for their time and let them know you will give their answers serious consideration. Then be sure to do just that! Initially, look for easy, inexpensive suggestions that you can quickly implement. Beyond that, address glaring issues and look for patterns among employees.
Again, the goal is to make your employees feel heard. They want to know they didn’t just waste an hour of their day telling you about things they would change. That means taking their feedback seriously but also not making promises that you can’t keep. Giving your employee false hope that something they want is going to be changed right away is likely to do more harm than good.
Your HR Solution
Between recruiting and retaining employees to managing employee performance, there are many challenges small and medium-sized businesses face when it comes to the responsibilities of HR management. Outsourcing your HR through First Avenue Consulting can help businesses save time and money and allow you to focus on growing your business.
Get affordable and complete HR support that’s right for your business needs. Contact us for a free consultation info@firstavehr.ca or by phone at 647-406-4476.
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