High industry turnover and quiet quitting are further compounding existing talent challenges, making it more important than ever to keep employees engaged and fulfilled. However, while most leaders understand the importance of building employee loyalty – especially among top performers and high potential individuals – few have formal retention plans in place.
Stay interviews are a valuable starting point for guiding individualized retention plan development. Unlike job interviews or exit interviews, these conversations help identify what employees value about their roles and address areas they feel are lacking. This provides a chance for managers to proactively make changes before individuals become disengaged or seek out other opportunities. Below is a checklist to help guide these conversations and ensure you’re uncovering the right information to effectively retain your top talent.
Set the stage for open and honest dialogue.
One of the key success factors for stay interviews is fostering clear and transparent communication. Enter these conversations with an open mind and a goal of better understanding your employees’ motivators, any shifts that may have occurred since you last spoke, and ways that you as a manager can help them feel more valued and fulfilled at work. Consider providing the questions you’d like to cover in advance, giving employees time to reflect and prepare thoughtful responses.
Determine (or reaffirm) the employee’s “why.”
A retention plan’s success is dependent on identifying and supporting the areas that make an employee feel fulfilled at work – their “why.” Use the stay interview to ensure you’re aligned on what motivates them and makes them feel most satisfied with their role and the company. This will vary based on an individual’s personal and professional values, and may change over time.
Potential questions to ask: 
What gives you fulfillment within your work? What do you look forward to each day? What gives you a sense of accomplishment? What motivates you?Identify what keeps them at your organization.
Asking employees what they like about their position and the company can help you better understand how their “why" plays out in the day-to-day. It also provides tangible guidance for providing more exposure to the areas they enjoy and projects that match their interests.
Potential questions to ask: What keeps you here? What do you like best about your job? Are you getting what you need from the organization? Do you feel valued? If given the opportunity, what would you like to do more of? Less of? When do you feel most rewarded and recognized?
Understand what would make them take a new role.
Conversely, inviting open conversation around why an individual would potentially leave can help avoid surprises down the road. This is also valuable in recognizing any needs that are not currently being met and enabling you to identify similar opportunities and areas of development within your organization.
Potential questions to ask: What would tempt you to leave?Is there anything you feel is missing in your role?Are you challenged?What are your long-term and short-term aspirations?Are you able to find your desired work/life balance?Welcome feedback.
Provide individuals with a chance to share how they feel about these discussions and ask if they have any ideas for making them more effective moving forward. This may include insight on frequency, location or even topics they think would be valuable to cover. Encourage them to bring ideas or concerns to you at any time, even if it’s not within a scheduled stay interview or one-on-one. Follow up.
After completing your discussion, capture your notes and take time to reflect on what you learned. It’s likely there are some things – even if they’re small – you can immediately change to impact an employee’s job satisfaction. Other areas may involve additional stakeholder buy in, and it’s likely there are some things you are unable to change. Communicate with individuals about steps you are taking as a result of what they shared, letting them know they are heard and supported. Revisit these conversations every quarter or six months to check in, gauge progress or shifts, and realign.
The information gained in stay interviews is invaluable for aligning with employee expectations and creating a desirable work environment. Keep in mind this is not a comprehensive list of questions (and not every question must be asked in each conversation), and it is meant to be adapted to be most relevant to your specific team and situation. For more information on building loyalty among your employees, view our recent whitepaper, “Retaining Top Talent in Today’s Competitive Labor Market.”