Many companies have a
standard practice of having exit interviews with departing employees. Too many
companies don’t have a standard practice of having stay interviews with the
employees they want to retain.
A stay interview isn’t a 1:1 meeting or a check-in meeting. Its
purpose isn’t to talk about current projects. These are meetings focused on
retention. There are several parts to a successful stay interview:
1.
The best way to find
out what your employees want and how to retain them is to ask them.Ask questions to gauge how
you’re meeting your employees’ expectations. Not just “How’s it going?”, but specific questions to get specific answers. Some questions to ask: How are things going? What makes you stay? What would make you stay longer? How can I help you with your professional goals? Are there new things you’d like to try? Are there things I can do better, as your manager? Are there things you aren’t getting out of this job that you’d like to get out of the job? What do you love doing? What would you like to be doing more of?By the way, the only way this works is if you’re committed not only to asking the questions but also to listening to the answers and responding to them with more than words. If you can’t do that, it’s probably better to skip the stay interviews.
you’re meeting your employees’ expectations. Not just “How’s it going?”, but specific questions to get specific answers. Some questions to ask: How are things going? What makes you stay? What would make you stay longer? How can I help you with your professional goals? Are there new things you’d like to try? Are there things I can do better, as your manager? Are there things you aren’t getting out of this job that you’d like to get out of the job? What do you love doing? What would you like to be doing more of?By the way, the only way this works is if you’re committed not only to asking the questions but also to listening to the answers and responding to them with more than words. If you can’t do that, it’s probably better to skip the stay interviews.
2.
Provide feedback on
their goals. Let employees
know what’s realistic, and think about the next steps together. Appropriate
expectation setting is critical to retention. Develop a plan, which should be
more than a discussion. You don’t need to create the plan, but you should
participate in shaping it.
3.
Understand their
personal goals and what’s going on outside work. If an employee is getting married, having a baby, or
sending a kid to college, you should know about it. I’m not advocating becoming friends with the people you manage. But you should be interested in their lives and know what’s
going on. I loved managers who were interested in me. Also, what better way to
appreciate your top performers than by knowing about their lives and finding
opportunities (if you’re lucky) to contribute to them?
4.
This is an ongoing
conversation. I think it’s
worth having a stay interview quarterly or twice a year if you can. Why not see
if you can substitute stay interviews today for an exit interview down the
line.
Note: Please share your Views/Thoughts and leave a message with your comments/suggestions as they are always welcomed. This will keep me motivated and will encourage me to write and post more useful articles based on various topics mostly related to Technology and HRM.
Note: Please share your Views/Thoughts and leave a message with your comments/suggestions as they are always welcomed. This will keep me motivated and will encourage me to write and post more useful articles based on various topics mostly related to Technology and HRM.
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