Stay Interviews is a new concept catching up in Human Resource Departments of many organizations.
Don’t wait for exit interviews to find out why people are leaving. Quiz your top performers in stay interviews to pre-empt their leaving.
Rather than conducting exit interviews with departing stars, stop guessing what keeps your star performers happy and use "stay interviews" to prevent them from leaving in the first place. Don’t assume they all want the same things, such as more pay or promotions
This involves, putting up questions like,
- What one thing that if changed in your current role would make you consider moving on?
- What would keep you here?
- What makes for a great day at work?
- Is there anything you would like to change about your job?
- Do you feel supported in your career goals?
- Do you feel we recognize you?
- What kind of recognition do you like? etc.
Stay interviews are becoming a trend and they are now used to reinforce good HR practices within the company. The concept is based on the ‘Hawthorne Effect’, which states that people who are given attention are a motivated lot. The employee needs to be heard since they feel good about being heard. When job-hopping is the rule rather than an exception and when employee retention has become a critical issue, every company wants to know about those factors that can keep an employee engaged and committed, and stay interviews help the organizations in gathering these hard facts.
HR in a company should not wait for a formal career discussion rather they should try some innovation as taking their treasured employees to lunch or coffee, try to know them better, for the express purpose of asking these important questions.
Asking about employee's concerns, has many positive effects as they feel valued and important, which often engenders stronger loyalty and commitment to the organization.
In other words, just asking the question is a retention strategy.
Don’t be afraid of what your employee might say. Sure, you can’t always meet your employee’s requests. But you can know their feelings, express your support and assure them you’ll do what you can to help them. Sometimes, just listening and working to discover solutions are what your employee really needs.
From India
3Don’t wait for exit interviews to find out why people are leaving. Quiz your top performers in stay interviews to pre-empt their leaving.
Rather than conducting exit interviews with departing stars, stop guessing what keeps your star performers happy and use "stay interviews" to prevent them from leaving in the first place. Don’t assume they all want the same things, such as more pay or promotions
This involves, putting up questions like,
- What one thing that if changed in your current role would make you consider moving on?
- What would keep you here?
- What makes for a great day at work?
- Is there anything you would like to change about your job?
- Do you feel supported in your career goals?
- Do you feel we recognize you?
- What kind of recognition do you like? etc.
Stay interviews are becoming a trend and they are now used to reinforce good HR practices within the company. The concept is based on the ‘Hawthorne Effect’, which states that people who are given attention are a motivated lot. The employee needs to be heard since they feel good about being heard. When job-hopping is the rule rather than an exception and when employee retention has become a critical issue, every company wants to know about those factors that can keep an employee engaged and committed, and stay interviews help the organizations in gathering these hard facts.
HR in a company should not wait for a formal career discussion rather they should try some innovation as taking their treasured employees to lunch or coffee, try to know them better, for the express purpose of asking these important questions.
Asking about employee's concerns, has many positive effects as they feel valued and important, which often engenders stronger loyalty and commitment to the organization.
In other words, just asking the question is a retention strategy.
Don’t be afraid of what your employee might say. Sure, you can’t always meet your employee’s requests. But you can know their feelings, express your support and assure them you’ll do what you can to help them. Sometimes, just listening and working to discover solutions are what your employee really needs.
From India
Hi Swati
Stay Interviews???WOW!!! I wonder what they'll come up with next? Suprised at my reaction ? well let me elaborate....
Being in HR, is'n that one of your job responsibilities, anyways, to understand what motivates your employees and how you should be constantly working on improving the loopholes? Is'n that the basic fundamentals of proative HR and above all can this be a discrete activity or should it be a continuous activity?
Any talent retention initiative cannot be a discrete activity if the objective is to create an effective initiative. If you want an effective result oriented initiative then it has to be a continuous activity and interviewing is not a good way of getting that information. A lot of time, informal activity ensures that information that would not have come out in a formal activity comes to the fore and you get more information to act on.
Stay interview is good... especially in organizations that have a docile HR, but stay interviews can also create "monsters" - employees who think they are indispensable.
My suggestion would be that if you are doing a stay interview, please understand the person who would be interviewed completely, think of the impact of such interviews on the person and then proceed. Such interviews require huge amount of maturity both at the process and individual levels.
This ofcourse is my honest opinion based on my experience.
Cheers
Navneet
From India, Delhi
Stay Interviews???WOW!!! I wonder what they'll come up with next? Suprised at my reaction ? well let me elaborate....
Being in HR, is'n that one of your job responsibilities, anyways, to understand what motivates your employees and how you should be constantly working on improving the loopholes? Is'n that the basic fundamentals of proative HR and above all can this be a discrete activity or should it be a continuous activity?
Any talent retention initiative cannot be a discrete activity if the objective is to create an effective initiative. If you want an effective result oriented initiative then it has to be a continuous activity and interviewing is not a good way of getting that information. A lot of time, informal activity ensures that information that would not have come out in a formal activity comes to the fore and you get more information to act on.
Stay interview is good... especially in organizations that have a docile HR, but stay interviews can also create "monsters" - employees who think they are indispensable.
My suggestion would be that if you are doing a stay interview, please understand the person who would be interviewed completely, think of the impact of such interviews on the person and then proceed. Such interviews require huge amount of maturity both at the process and individual levels.
This ofcourse is my honest opinion based on my experience.
Cheers
Navneet
From India, Delhi
Thanks for your feedback Navneet.
I definitely agree that Stay Interviews are to be conducted with lot of preparation and tact.
People should not feel that they have become indispensable for the company and that the company cannot imagine their business running without them.
Also, as an HR professional, it should be our continuous efforts to know about our employees, what motivates them, what makes them feel important in the organization, etc., one way of which is having a "Stay Interview".
From India
I definitely agree that Stay Interviews are to be conducted with lot of preparation and tact.
People should not feel that they have become indispensable for the company and that the company cannot imagine their business running without them.
Also, as an HR professional, it should be our continuous efforts to know about our employees, what motivates them, what makes them feel important in the organization, etc., one way of which is having a "Stay Interview".
From India
Stay interviews are the order of the day
It’s three months since you joined the organization and one fine Friday you're called by the management and asked what is it that you like best about the job, whether it excites you and whether you've achieved what you set out to when you joined them? Elated! Stay on.
Companies these days understand the need for constant engagement with employees. Stay interviews for them have become an indispensable tool to retain their workforce by making employees feel appreciated and motivated.
Good HR practices
Contrary to exit interviews, stay interviews are conducted to understand the reasons why employees wish to continue working for the organization. It's all about their work, the environment, the practices and the people that appeal to them and motivate them to stay on.
As an HR expert rightly pointed out "Asking employees at the time of quitting why they are leaving is like asking your spouse how to improve a marriage on the day before the divorce is final. By that time it's just too late.
Food for thought
Stay interviews are held to understand the issues an employee may be facing, get his feedback from time to time while he's still at the job. It helps give food for thought to an HR Manager as to what may possibly be wrong and the scope of improvement.
These interviews could prove to be crucial as they may actually bring forth an issue that the manager may have hitherto ignored. They can be used to judge if the expectations of the employee have been met and the promises fulfilled. In short, stay interviews help a company correct certain things before an employee decides not to work with it anymore.
Preventive healthcare
Stay interviews have been used all along but under different nomenclature - in the form of appraisal and consulting sessions. "These are an employee sensing exercise, to detect early warning signals, to know about compensatory expectations so that the company can make a proactive correction at the right time before the employee announces that he's leaving. So, it's almost like preventive health care.
Empowering tool
The concept of stay interviews is a positive and empowering approach. "Stay interviews focus on what is going right, rather than what went wrong. This is highly relevant in the Indian context where every industry is making a hue and cry about the challenge they face in attracting and retaining the right talent".
Stay interviews can be conducted periodically by the immediate supervisor The HRD professionals of the organization are involved as key partners and facilitators in the process. Organizations and teams can conduct stay interviews periodically and also while undergoing critical phases of a change process. The information is used to work on further developing strengths and building strategies based on the strengths.
There is appreciation from employees for the recognition of their successes, skills and competencies. They feel empowered as contributors to the organization's strengths and successes and feel a part of the process of actively involving themselves.
This approach is very positive and empowering for teams too. Team members learn and grow together based on understanding the positive influences they have on each other and how they support each other in their respective growths and the growth of the organization.
Stay interviews should be conducted once in six months. However, this depends on the size of the organization. For a small organization, it could be within three months and for a huge set-up it could be six months.
Besides, firms can use stay interviews for those in key positions, for targeted "at risk" individuals or do a random sample.
Thus, if keeping your good people for a longer time is your goal, try the stay strategy.
From United States
It’s three months since you joined the organization and one fine Friday you're called by the management and asked what is it that you like best about the job, whether it excites you and whether you've achieved what you set out to when you joined them? Elated! Stay on.
Companies these days understand the need for constant engagement with employees. Stay interviews for them have become an indispensable tool to retain their workforce by making employees feel appreciated and motivated.
Good HR practices
Contrary to exit interviews, stay interviews are conducted to understand the reasons why employees wish to continue working for the organization. It's all about their work, the environment, the practices and the people that appeal to them and motivate them to stay on.
As an HR expert rightly pointed out "Asking employees at the time of quitting why they are leaving is like asking your spouse how to improve a marriage on the day before the divorce is final. By that time it's just too late.
Food for thought
Stay interviews are held to understand the issues an employee may be facing, get his feedback from time to time while he's still at the job. It helps give food for thought to an HR Manager as to what may possibly be wrong and the scope of improvement.
These interviews could prove to be crucial as they may actually bring forth an issue that the manager may have hitherto ignored. They can be used to judge if the expectations of the employee have been met and the promises fulfilled. In short, stay interviews help a company correct certain things before an employee decides not to work with it anymore.
Preventive healthcare
Stay interviews have been used all along but under different nomenclature - in the form of appraisal and consulting sessions. "These are an employee sensing exercise, to detect early warning signals, to know about compensatory expectations so that the company can make a proactive correction at the right time before the employee announces that he's leaving. So, it's almost like preventive health care.
Empowering tool
The concept of stay interviews is a positive and empowering approach. "Stay interviews focus on what is going right, rather than what went wrong. This is highly relevant in the Indian context where every industry is making a hue and cry about the challenge they face in attracting and retaining the right talent".
Stay interviews can be conducted periodically by the immediate supervisor The HRD professionals of the organization are involved as key partners and facilitators in the process. Organizations and teams can conduct stay interviews periodically and also while undergoing critical phases of a change process. The information is used to work on further developing strengths and building strategies based on the strengths.
There is appreciation from employees for the recognition of their successes, skills and competencies. They feel empowered as contributors to the organization's strengths and successes and feel a part of the process of actively involving themselves.
This approach is very positive and empowering for teams too. Team members learn and grow together based on understanding the positive influences they have on each other and how they support each other in their respective growths and the growth of the organization.
Stay interviews should be conducted once in six months. However, this depends on the size of the organization. For a small organization, it could be within three months and for a huge set-up it could be six months.
Besides, firms can use stay interviews for those in key positions, for targeted "at risk" individuals or do a random sample.
Thus, if keeping your good people for a longer time is your goal, try the stay strategy.
From United States
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EXIT INTERVIEWS.doc
Stay Interviews.ppt