Stay Interviews
Stay interviews are targeted conversations used to understand what keeps employees committed and what may cause them to consider leaving.
Stay interviews should produce practical retention actions and early warning signals. They should be integrated with performance and development discussions and cross-referenced with turnover metrics, intent-to-stay results, role criticality and workforce planning.
Best use cases
Use stay interviews for:
- critical roles or hard-to-fill roles;
- high-performing employees or high-potential employees;
- teams with elevated turnover or low intent-to-stay results;
- business units undergoing change, workload pressure or leadership transition;
- roles where knowledge loss would create operational risk.
Design principles
| Principle | Practice |
|---|---|
| Retention-focused | The conversation should clarify what retains employees and what might push them away. |
| Practical | Managers should distinguish between actions they can take, issues that require escalation and matters that cannot be changed. |
| Careful with promises | Do not create expectations that cannot be met. Be clear about what will be considered and what cannot be committed. |
| Confidential handling | Treat sensitive comments carefully, especially where the conversation involves manager support, workload, conflict or career risk. |
| Pattern recognition | Aggregate themes over time to inform workforce planning, manager support and talent strategies. |
Related resource: 10 Stay Interview Question Bank.
CAUSE
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