Stay interviews are conducted to help managers understand why employees stay and what might cause them to leave. In an effective stay interview, managers ask standard, structured questions in a casual and conversational manner. Most stay interviews take less than half an hour.

Opening the Interview
To open the stay interview, a manager may use the following (or similar) statements:

• I would like to talk with you about the reasons you stay with [Company Name] so I understand what I might be able to do to make this a great place to work for you.
• I’d like to have an informal talk with you to find out how the job is going so I can do my best to support you as your manager, particularly with issues within my control.

Questions

The following are questions you may ask during a stay interview. You should have several open-ended questions on hand. It’s important to listen and gather ideas from the employee about how you and your organization can retain him or her.

• What do you look forward to when you come to work each day?
• What do you like most or least about working here?
• What keeps you working here?
• If you could change something about your job, what would that be?
• What would make your job more satisfying?
• How do you like to be recognized?
• What talents are not being used in your current role?
• What would you like to learn here?
• What motivates (or demotivates) you?
• What can I do to best support you?
• What can I do more of or less of as your manager?
• What might tempt you to leave?

Stay Interviews help you discover:

• Warning signs that indicate a key player needs more support or direction
• Ways to keep the employees in which you’ve invested the most time and resources
• Low-cost changes that could reaffirm your employees’ commitment and engagement

Give our HR Department a call at (210) 344-2088 for more assistance.

• Please take a moment to read our New Salary Rules for January 1st and Interviewing Skills articles, these blog articles are a great source of information.
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