Bookmark This! Stay Interview Edition
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I recently had the chance to attend (virtually) the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Talent Conference. It was an informative event, and I can’t wait to share more of the sessions with you.
A big takeaway I got from the event is that organizations are struggling big time with employee retention. I know this isn’t a surprise. We’ve been talking about the “turnover tsunami” for months now. But to offer some perspective, I was listening to a session and one participant commented that they had two employees resign since the session started. I don’t know the size of this organization but to have two employees resign in a window of thirty minutes could be cause for alarm.
One of the tools we must use to help us with employee retention is the stay interview. The idea is if we spend time understanding why employees stay with the company, we can use that information to improve employee retention. If you’re looking for some information about stay interviews, here are a few articles to get you started.
Employee Retention is Everyone’s Responsibility
Organizations are very focused on employee retention right now. As they should be. Turnover is expensive both in terms of hard costs as well as the drain on morale and productivity. There are some things that organizations can do to help everyone understand their role in employee retention.
Prevent Exit Interviews with Stay Interviews
We haven’t thought about them for a while but stay interviews might be making a comeback. They’re defined as structured interviews designed to learn the reasons that employees stay with a company or the conditions that might cause them to leave. As the talent wars continue, stay interviews can be a valuable way to engage and retain employees.
Flight Risk? Stay Interviews Can Alert Managers
Figuring out who the flight risks are in your organization doesn’t have to be hard. It does take regular, open communication. Stay interviews can help. Employees need to feel that they trust the organization enough to share what they’re thinking about when it comes to their job.
Employee Turnover: Solve It Using 4 Levels of Analytics
Organizations can use the principles of analytics to help them identify problems and brainstorm solutions using data as the driving factor. This is one of those moments when we can put the power of technology to excellent use.
Stay interviews don’t have to be a huge administrative burden. Managers can ask one stay interview question during a one-on-one or performance review. Or maybe HR can send out a one-question anonymous survey. Organizations might be surprised at the results.
Every organization must start taking proactive steps to improve employee retention. But what kept employees with the company two years ago might not be the reason they stay today. Find out the answer by asking employees for feedback.
Oh, and P.S. Once the organization understands why employees stay, this information could be helpful in recruitment. Let candidates know what employees love about working for your company!
Image capture by Sharlyn Lauby after speaking at the SHRM Annual Conference in Las Vegas, NV
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