Stay Interviews as a Tool for Building Trust, Amplifying Employee Voice, and Fostering Professional Growth

There are many questions when an employee quits or otherwise leaves their position in an organization. Traditionally, organizations conduct “exit interviews” or “exit surveys” to address these concerns. However, this reactive approach often falls short by itself, being “too little, too late” to truly address underlying issues that might have contributed to an employee’s decision to leave the organization. A supplemental strategy or tool is known as a “stay interview.” Such interviews can be used to proactively build trust and engagement with employees before decisions to quit are fully formed. Stay interviews are important tools for supervisors who work to improve retention of employees, especially those who (a) have a track record of being a strong performer and/or (b) hold a critical position within the organization (and would be very difficult to replace).

Stay interviews involve structured conversations facilitated by a supervisor, department head, or designated university representative (typically from Human Resources). These conversations are designed to identify and understand specific employees’ perspectives, expectations, and general feelings about their work experiences at UTC. This information is gathered to help retain and more fully engage existing talent within the organization and a specific area or department. Unlike formal performance evaluations and reviews, stay interviews focus on broader work experiences and not specific job tasks. The purpose of a stay interview is to help a supervisor or other leader more fully understand an employee’s broader work-related perspectives and experiences.

Considering these benefits and the importance of stay interviews, the remainder of this document provides a guide for UTC area/departmental leaders to reference as they seek to implement this strategic tool.

Why Conduct Stay Interviews?

• Retention: Stay interviews are powerful tools to support employee retention. They allow organizations to identify and address issues that might lead to turnover before they escalate.
• Engagement: By demonstrating a commitment to employee growth and satisfaction, stay interviews boost employee engagement and job satisfaction.
• Build trust: Stay interviews offer supervisors a chance to listen to their employees and take immediate actions to remove barriers or provide additional resources, which reinforces trust, a pivotal element in a healthy work environment.
• Protect investment: Retaining employees is how any organization can protect its investment in talent and stay interviews help to do this. Related to this, retaining employees is typically more cost-effective than recruiting and training new ones. This also helps to improve the organization’s chance of seeing a strong return on investment in its talent.
• Improve talent management: Conducting stay interviews provides supervisors and other leaders with insights on how to better manage and motivate their employees.

How to Conduct Stay Interviews

1. Prepare: Familiarize yourself with the information in this blog post and the UTC Stay Interview form. Plan to navigate a stay interview as a conversation with a specific employee regarding their current work experiences and future work-related goals and aspirations.
2. Set expectations: Prior to scheduling, inform your employees that these interviews aim to enhance employee engagement by addressing areas within leaders’ influence, distinct from performance appraisals or evaluations. This allows employees to prepare thoughts and ensures a focused, dedicated discussion.
3. One-on-one: Schedule the stay interview to be one-on-one and in-person if possible, creating a safe and comfortable space for the employee to candidly discuss their thoughts and share their experiences.
4. Ask open-ended questions: Use questions such as, “What aspects of your job do you find most satisfying?” and, “Are there any challenges you’re facing that we can work to address together?” These types of questions will encourage employees to respond with constructive and actionable information.
5. Actively listen and take notes: Be attentive to both verbal and non-verbal cues while interviewing an employee. Respond thoughtfully, valuing their ideas and insights, and seek to understand their perspective. Summarize their points to ensure comprehension and capture key interview takeaways, crucial for guiding essential changes.
6. Identify action items: Working together with the employee, identify action items to address any concerns or suggestions raised during the interview. Ensure that these action items are feasible and can be implemented. If feedback gathered through a Stay Interview cannot be converted into a feasible action item, communicate this to the employee with transparency, fairness, and empathy, while guiding the conversation towards exploring alternative solutions.
7. Follow up: Take action on the information collected. Schedule follow-up conversations to track progress on action items.
8. Review aggregated data: Over time, analyze the data from stay interviews to identify common themes and patterns. Use this information to implement area, department, and/or organization-wide improvements.

Remember, stay interviews should be a positive experience, focusing on employee growth and satisfaction. Regularly conducting these interviews fosters a culture of open communication and demonstrates a commitment to employee well-being and development. Also, consider taking advantage of many other resources available through UTC’s Human Resources office and the TOH@UTC initiative to facilitate open communication and engagement among your employees.

Recommended Reading and Additional Resources

The Power of Stay Interviews (Richard P. Finnegan)

This book is full of helpful guidance for managers and supervisors who may be interested in conducting more effective stay interviews.

Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: the ultimate stay interview guide (Forbes.com)

Provides a summary of findings and practical guidance from a study of 17,000 employees to learn what conditions will keep an employee with an organization. Emphasizes a set of “stay factors” that overlap very strongly with the core dimensions of the TOH @ UTC Initiative:

1. Exciting work and challenge
2. Career growth, learning, and development
3. Working with great people
4. Fair pay
5. Supportive management/good boss
6. Being recognized, valued, and respected
7. Benefits
8. Meaningful work and making a difference
9. Pride in the organization, its mission, and its product
10. Great work environment and culture