We’ve all heard of no doubt experienced exit interviews and at one time or another in our careers.

They’re an important tool for HR and managers to use to understand why their staff are leaving, what the issues are and what they can do as a business to improve going forward.

While exit interviews are good in theory, they often come too late in the day and any changes are reactive or perhaps not implemented at all.

With finance and accounting talent in high demand, companies hoping to keep hold of their employees should turn to ‘stay interviews’ to gauge what they need to do to get ahead of any issues and keep their best people within in their business.

What is a stay interview?

Stay interviews are designed to identify employee motivations and career aspirations, as well as areas the business can improve.

They’re about gathering feedback on a variety of issues that can impact retention rates and help provide guidance to introduce new measures.

What questions should you ask?

Questions such as the below are a great way of finding out how engaged your teams are in their roles:

• What motivates you to log on/turn up every day?
• How are you feeling in your role?
• Are you able to find a positive work/life balance? If not, how can we help?
• What are your long-term career goals?
• What are the challenges you face preventing you from reaching your potential? How can the business help alleviate these challenges?
• Do you feel your efforts are properly recognised?
• What would make you want to leave?

When should you conduct stay interviews?

Stay interviews can be conducted at any time during an employee’s tenure, however it’s suggested you consider the factors likely to contribute to staff turnover and plan accordingly.

For example, during periods of change or transition when disruption occurs to routines, this can add to additional stress and increased frustrations. It’s at these points, that communication lines need to remain open, and employers need to be aware of the feeling amongst their employees.

Likewise, fluctuations in workload, be it too great or too small, can lead to people feeling unsupported, unmotivated, and undervalued. Therefore, gaining an understanding of how people are coping is important if you’re to help them moving forward.

Conducting interviews at the end of the year is another great way of gaining feedback, with employees already reflecting on their previous 12 months and their future plans.

Finally, if you notice a dip in someone’s morale, or a change in behaviour, stay interviews are a great way to get ahead of the issue before it impacts their engagement or begins to affect others around them.

How to conduct a stay interview?

There are no set rules, and much will depend on the make-up of your business and your culture.

Be clear on the purpose of the interview, ensure they’re informal and conversational and carried out in a way that empowers employees to feel they can speak honestly without fear of repercussions.

Listen more than you speak, be empathetic and responsive to their feedback by sharing your own thoughts where appropriate.

What happens next?

The follow up to the feedback is what makes any stay interview truly effective and with everyone having individual motivators, stresses and values, a one-size-fits-all solution is tough to implement.

Tailor your response accordingly so that your overall employee engagement and retention strategy and individual, personalised plans are both thoroughly addressed.

Doing so will allow you to better support your employees, help them grow their careers and ultimately, stay with you so your business can grow around them.