Are your team members satisfied and engaged in their job? What does each one like about what they do? What do they avoid whenever possible? Are they overwhelmed with the amount of work they have, or are they bored to death? Are there ways that their job could work better for them? Do they see a future at your company? Do you see a future for them there?

The answers to these and other questions are key to employee retention.

Unfortunately, most employers can’t answer these questions honestly for their team members. Instead, employers often don’t tackle important one-to-one questions like this until it is too late. Instead, they often find themselves asking what went wrong and what could have been better in an exit interview.

Smart employers schedule STAY INTERVIEWS with each employee at least once per year.

This kind of interview is a meeting that allows you to find out how your employee is feeling about his/her job, and learn what you can do to improve the work experience.  This is a chance to understand how engaged each employee is and to develop trust between you.

The idea is that by collaborating with your staff to make their job situations better they will be more satisfied with their job and your company, choose to stay, allowing you to retain them and their experience for your company.

Here are some steps to a successful Stay Interview:

• Allow plenty of time for the meeting. You may want to consider holding it offsite, perhaps at a coffee shop, so you can both relax and speak freely.
• Talk about what you value in your employee, and how they add value to the team and the company.
• Let them know that you appreciate them sharing their skills and expertise with your company.
• Ask the questions above, and carefully listen to their answers.
• Ask them what you can do to make their situation work better for them and better meet their needs.
• Don’t promise them things you can’t deliver, but work out with them what you can deliver.

Then do those things. You must follow through to continue building trust with this person. Lip service doesn’t work here. All that will do is destroy trust, with is the opposite of the goal of this important conversation.

Sometimes in these conversations leaders find out that their people have hidden talents they would like to be utilizing, or they find out they don’t feel comfortable giving presentations but want to learn. You can learn that someone feels discounted because they always feel talked over during meetings.  Who knows? But you will never know unless you ask.

If you truly care about your people and want to make sure you can retain them, Stay Interviews are a key tool in your retention toolbox. Wouldn’t you rather know why your people stay than find out too late why they are leaving?