The power of the Stay interviews!

Let me share a story from my time working in HR. A while back, we had a high performer—let’s call her Sarah—who was a core part of our team. She was always engaged, led projects with excellence, and seemed like she was in it for the long run. Then one day, out of the blue, Sarah handed in her resignation.

We were all shocked. How could someone so invested and driven just leave? We held an exit interview, hoping to find out where things went wrong. Sarah was polite, shared some frustrations, and gave constructive feedback. But the damage was done. We couldn’t change anything now that she had one foot out the door.

It made me wonder: Why do we wait until employees are leaving to ask what’s wrong?

That’s when I discovered the power of stay interviews.

Instead of waiting for that exit interview, why not talk to employees while they’re still happy? What keeps them engaged? What could be better? Stay interviews are all about creating a safe space to ask these questions before it’s too late.

After we implemented stay interviews, our retention rates improved. We learned about small, fixable frustrations that were bothering top performers. We discovered what truly motivated them to stay and what we could do to make sure they wanted to stay longer.

It’s such a simple practice, but it made a world of difference.

So if you’re in HR or management, my advice is this: Don’t wait until your best people are halfway out the door. Have the conversation now. Trust me, they’ll appreciate it.

#HRManagement #Leadership #EmployeeRetention #StayInterviews #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeEngagement