There’s a lot of discussion around Stay Interviews. What are stay interviews? Will they help with retention and engagement? Who conducts stay interviews?
A stay interview is a structured discussion a leader conducts with each individual employee to learn the specific actions she/he must take to strengthen that employee’s engagement and retention with the organization. -Dick Finnegan, CEO, and author of The Power of Stay Interviews for Engagement and Retention.
Are exit interviews obsolete? Exit interviews do not tell you why an employee left. They mostly ask about pay, benefits, work environment, etc. Once the employee is gone, there is little to no motivation for the organization to make changes.
Based on surveys of 800 participants at both SHRM’s Annual Conference & Exposition and SHRM’s Talent & Staffing Management Conference, 2010, the number who indicated they had improved their companies in any was zero. -Dick Finnegan, CEO, and author of The Power of Stay Interviews for Engagement and Retention.
Organizations use engagement surveys to survey their employee yearly, every two years, whatever the organization’s cadence. Engagement surveys do not provide real-time information. By the time the engagement survey is tallied and sent to the organization, it could be 3 -6 months later. And we know, a lot can happen in that time frame of receiving the information.
Stay interviews provide real-time information. Whether they are conducted monthly or quarterly. It’s your decision when you conduct them. However, it’s important to stay consistent schedule.
Stay interviews provides the manager an opportunity to gain real-time feedback about their employee. The manager has insight as to what is important to each individual employee (no two employees are the same). It allows the manager to manage each individual employee more effectively.
I’ve seen a lot of back and forth on who should conduct stay interviews. Some say human resources, the manager, human resources, and the manager. Human Resources can recommend and monitor Stay Interview progress but cannot be accountable for retention or engagement except for the Human Resource team. Stay Interviews are between the manager and individual employee. Remember human resources do not hire the manager’s employees. The manager hires their employees and therefore, is responsible for retention and engagement.
5 Reasons Why Stay Interview Are Can’t-Miss Employee Engagement and Retention Solutions.
- Stay Interviews slash turnover costs.
- Stay Interviews improve engagement.
- Stay Interviews improve new-hire turnover and engagement.
- Stay Interviews improve high-performer retention.
- Stay Interviews solve millennial turnover and engagement
-Dick Finnegan, CEO, and author of The Power of Stay Interviews for Engagement and Retention.
I have used stay interviews and they work. Be consistent, follow up, provide solutions, and most importantly continue to build trusting relationships with your employees and team.
Jennifer Criswell
HR Coach & Consultant