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What Is a Stay Interview? (And How to Conduct One)

employer conducting a stay interview with employee.

When an employee is preparing to part ways with their organization, employers typically conduct exit interviews. These interviews are a great way to ensure a successful offboarding experience and to get an understanding of what aspects of the employee experience employers can improve on going forward.  They may even consider incorporating stay interviews into their talent strategy as a proactive measure to avoid losing staff.

Read on to learn what a stay interview is, how they can drive better staff retention rates, and our suggestions for stay interview questions.

What Is a Stay Interview?

Often times, managers may conduct stay interviews to see how satisfied an employee is in their role— homing in on what they’re enjoying most or areas for improvement. A large part of this effort is to identify ways to keep valued staff on the payroll before they become displeased or unfulfilled by their job.

The employer will typically lead these meetings and ask a series of questions, but they can also be quite informal as it’s encouraged to allow the employee to share as much information as they’d like. After all, the feedback is being used to shape the organization’s operations and policies.


Related: Top 5 Reasons Someone Stays at a Job


The Impact of Stay Interviews

Thorough stay interviews can identify toxic work cultures and lack of growth opportunities— all of which can be reasons for resignation (or even quiet quitting).

According to a 2022 Paychex survey, close to 30 percent of HR professionals have used stay interviews to invest more time into their people and improve employee retention. Moreover, a Gallup survey found that over 50 percent of employees who quit said that their managers could have implemented a change that would have stopped them from leaving.

Potential benefits of a stay interview can include:

  • Reduced turnover rates
  • Strengthened company culture
  • Improved employee engagement and satisfaction
  • Increased trust from employees

Related: 16 Crucial Exit Interview Questions You Need to Ask


How to Conduct a Stay Interview

Ensuring your employee is prepared and comfortable will be the key to a successful interview. Here are some things we’d suggest:

Do: Choose the Right Interviewer

Stay interviews are all about gleaning honest insights from employees. To do this, someone the employee trusts (ideally, their manager) should lead the interview. Their manager will better understand the employee’s day-to-day work than, for example, an HR professional who doesn’t work in the same department or interact with them on a regular basis.

Do: Choose the Right Approach

To build trust with the interviewee, the interviewer should explain that they’re looking to understand how things are going, with the goal of supporting and improving their experience with the organization in mind. The context and environment of the interview should also be considered. Try having the conversation over coffee or lunch to ease the interviewee’s nerves.

Don’t: Take Anyone by Surprise

Be transparent. Explain the ‘why’ behind this process and emphasize how the interviewee can benefit from being open and honest. Also, give them a list of questions beforehand! That way they can come prepared with their responses.

Don’t: Interrogate

Someone feeling as though they’re under interrogation might not provide you with genuine feedback. You may want to avoid asking questions like, “Are you looking at other opportunities?” or, “Under what circumstance would you leave?” These questions could result in the interviewee feeling defensive or uncomfortable and leave a bad impression.


Related: Here Are 17 Ways To Give Employee Feedback


Questions to Ask in a Stay Interview

Here are 13 questions that could help elicit valuable insights as you conduct these interviews.

Breaking the Ice

  1. What’s the best part of your workday?
  2. What does this employee perks do you appreciate most?
  3. What motivates you in your work?

Areas of Improvement

  1. What would make your job even better?
  2. What policies would you like to see introduced to the workplace that would help you?
  3. Are there skills you have that you are not using in your current role?
  4. What can I do more of as your manager?
  5. Can you identify one thing that management does that is most helpful to you?
  6. Do you have the tools that you need to do your job? How could that be improved?

What Motivates/Demotivates the Employee

  1. What would you like to learn more about here?
  2. What part of your job motivates you the most?
  3. What part of your job demotivates you?
  4. What learning strategies would benefit you? Mentoring programs? Trainings?

Stay Ahead of the Curve

When conducted effectively, stay interviews can be as useful as employee surveys and one-on-one meetings. By asking the right questions and reviewing the information gathered from the responses, stay interviews have the potential to shed light on the key to employee satisfaction and retention.

If you’re wanting to work beyond stay interviews and in need of a more hands-on approach to creating a physiologically safe work environment, check out our DEIB or Compass services!