Stay Interviews and Retention Rates

High turnover not only hurts a company’s bottom line, but it also lowers the morale of the employees who remain at a job as their colleagues leave. It’s important that businesses do everything they can to increase levels of retention; one tactic that is increasingly popular is the “stay interview.” Similar to an exit interview, the stay interview’s goal is to build strategies for retention by uncovering areas where employees may be dissatisfied. So what’s the difference between a stay interview and an exit interview? The answer is timing. One problem with exit interviews is that they ask the right questions at the wrong time.The stay interview solves that problem. "In both exit and stay interviews, the point is to go deeper into workers' motivations. What's important to them in a job? Why would you stay? Why would you leave? What were you excited about when you first started? How has that changed over time?” says Erin Pappo, client services director for Camden Consulting. “The difference is to find out this information at the very beginning of employees' tenure so that their needs are addressed, and hopefully they'll stay longer."