𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 “𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞”

We invest time and money in recruiting, onboarding, and exit interviews—post-mortems on relationships that have already been lost. Meanwhile, the simplest, most human move sits ignored: asking the people who are still here why they stay, what might push them out, and what would make them proud to build the next chapter with you. That’s the stay interview. No gimmicks. No buzzwords. Just leadership is doing the old-fashioned work of listening before it’s too late.

What a Stay Interview Is (and Isn’t)

• It’s not an annual performance review. You’re not evaluating them; you’re assessing the experience you provide.

• It’s not an exit interview with a pulse. You’re not interrogating or trying to fix someone. You’re learning.

• It’s not a one-off HR initiative. It’s a leadership habit, a muscle you build.

• It is a structured, recurring, one-on-one conversation where a leader asks a team member:Why do you stay? What might tempt you to leave? How can we make it better, right now?

Why Stay Interviews Matter—Now

Turnover is a tax you pay for neglect. It drains culture, momentum, and institutional memory. The real cost isn’t just recruiting fees—it’s the lost relationships, the stalled projects, the knowledge that walks out quietly with the badge. Stay interviews attack the cost at the root:

1. They surface issues early—before resignation letters are drafted.

2. They build trust—because nothing says “you matter” like asking someone what they need and acting on it.

3. They sharpen leaders—forcing managers to do the unglamorous, necessary work of listening deeply and following through.

4. They expose systemic friction—policies, workloads, inequities—so you can fix the machine, not just patch the parts.

5. They create shared ownership of culture, retention, and performance.

   
   

The Payoff (Yes, You Can Measure It)

You can’t deposit warm feelings into a balance sheet—but you can track the impact:

• Voluntary turnover rate drops in teams where stay interviews are routine.

• Regretted loss rate (the folks you never wanted to lose) declines as flight risks are managed proactively.

• Internal mobility increases—people move within their organization instead of leaving.

• Engagement scores rise, but more importantly, the commentary in those surveys gets richer and more actionable.

• Time-to-fill and recruiting costs shrink over time.

  
  

How to Run One (Without Making It Awkward)

Cadence: Twice a year is a solid baseline. New hires? Do one at 90 days. High-performers or critical roles? Quarterly.

Who leads: The direct manager. HR can coach, template, and trend the data, but the relationship sits with the leader.

Setting: Private, unhurried, distraction-free. Cameras on if remote. Phones down.

Tone: Curious. Humble. No defensiveness. No promises you can’t keep.Length: 30–45 minutes. Long enough to go deep, short enough to respect time.

Questions That Work

Use these as a backbone, not a script:

1. “What keeps you here?”(Probe for purpose, people, autonomy, growth.)

2. “What would make you start taking recruiter calls?”(Title? Pay? Flexibility? Toxicity? Ambiguity?)

3. “What part of your job energizes you most? What drains you?”

4. “How supported do you feel by me—and by the organization?”

5. “What skill do you want to build this year? How can we make room for it?”

6. “If you were managing this team, what’s the first change you’d make?”

7. “What’s one small thing we could fix this month that would make your workday better?”

8. “When was the last time you thought about leaving? What triggered it?” (If trust is strong, ask it. If not, build trust first.)

9. “How are you?” (Because people are not machines.)

Close with: “What do you need from me that you’re not getting?” Then say thank you. Mean it.

Turn Talk Into Action (or Don’t Bother Doing It)

A stay interview without follow-through is a performance of care, not the practice of it. Your playbook:

1. Capture themes immediately. Not transcripts—themes.

2. Sort requests into three buckets:

   • Can do now (quick wins, policy clarifications, minor resources)

   • Need to escalate (comp, role redesign, headcount)

   • Can’t do (be honest and explain why)

3. Communicate back within two weeks. “Here’s what I heard. Here’s what I can do by when. Here’s what I can’t do and why.”

4. Track commitments. Use a simple dashboard or shared doc. Visibility builds trust.

5. Report themes upward. Executives should see the signal in the noise—especially where systemic fixes are needed.

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Pitfalls to Dodge

• Treating it like a check-the-box HR ritual. People can smell performative leadership a mile away.

• Overpromising. You can’t fix comp bands overnight. Speak the truth and provide timelines.

• Defensiveness. If you argue with the lived experience of your team, you’ve already lost them.

• One-size-fits-all solutions. Equity ≠ identical. People need different things.

• Silence after the conversation. Fastest way to kill trust? Ask, nod, disappear.

  
  

What to Measure (Lightweight, Real)

For each cycle, track:

• % of employees who received a stay interview

• Avg time from interview to follow-up

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  Quick wins delivered per team

• Top 3 org-wide themes (e.g., workload, career paths, pay transparency)

• Voluntary and regretted turnover before/after

• Manager-level retention differentials (who’s keeping people, who aren’t—and why)

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Special Contexts: Unionized, Public Sector, Mission-Driven

• Unionized environments: Use the stay interview to understand morale, workload, and safety—not to sidestep collective bargaining. Respect the contract.

• Public sector/nonprofits: You may not always win on pay. You can win on purpose, growth, flexibility, clarity of role, and dignity.

• High-mission orgs: Don’t weaponize purpose to excuse burnout. Passion without protection is exploitation.

A Simple Template You Can Steal

Subject: Your perspective matters—let’s talk.

Hi [Name], Twice a year, I set aside time to understand what’s working for you, what’s not, and what would make this a place you want to keep building. This isn’t a performance review—this is me listening. I’ll bring questions; you bring candor. I’ll follow up with what I can commit to.

Let’s book 45 minutes. Here’s a link to my calendar: [link].

Thanks for everything you do,[Manager Name]

Post-Interview Follow-Up (within 10 business days):

• What I heard: [3–5 bullet points]

• What I’ll do now: [Specific actions + dates]

• What I’m escalating: [Items + where they’re going]

• What I can’t change (and why): [Be transparent]

• When we’ll check back: [Date]

Bottom Line

Retention isn’t magic. It’s stewardship—of people, trust, and truth. Stay interviews are the old-school craft of leadership, practiced with modern urgency: ask, listen, act, repeat. Do that consistently, and you won’t have to wonder why people are leaving. You’ll know why they’re staying—and how to keep it that way.

Now, are you ready to put it on the calendar? I can sketch a rollout plan by team and quarter for you if you'd like to start tomorrow.

Stay Interview Script.pdf

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