In a time when most organizations are struggling to attract and retain talent, one simple intervention can help reduce turnover dramatically. Despite their infrequent use, stay interviews are a powerful tool for helping managers keep top talent on their team and keep everyone engaged. In one study, conducting stay interviews in the burnout filled halls of a hospital was found to reduce turnover by 40 percent.

Stay interviews are modeled after exit interviews—a common practice in large organizations where departing employees are interviewed about their experience by someone from Human Resources (or occasionally their manager). But exit interviews have it backwards. If you want people to stay on the team, or in the company, then why wait until they’re leaving to discover how to make their job better?

In this article, we’ll cover how to conduct stay interviews including how to get ready for one, and five powerful questions you can ask.

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When the stay interview is over, thank them for being a part of it. Then take some time to reflect on their answers. But make sure to reconnect with them a week or so later and reiterate your appreciation and share your ideas for what changes you can make. Every interview conducted should uncover a few changes, and those few changes will add up and help them and the team do its best work ever.

//DO YOUR BEST WORK EVER

//ABOUT DAVID

He is the best-selling author of four books about business and leadership. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into dozens of languages. His insights on leadership and teamwork have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, USAToday, Fast Company, the Financial Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, CNN, the BBC, NPR, and CBS This Morning. Since 2017, Burkus has been ranked as one of the world’s top business thought leaders by Thinkers50. As a sought-after international speaker, his TED Talk has been viewed over 2 million times. He’s worked with leaders from organizations across all industries including Google, Stryker, Fidelity, Viacom, and even the US Naval Academy.

A former business school professor, Burkus holds a master’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University.

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