It is possible that many companies think early turnover is just “the cost of doing business.” My recent work with the U.S. Census Bureau makes clear that there are fewer new workers coming our way, so I think it is time that we get a lot smarter about who we hire and how we retain them. Here are four ideas that I promise will work because if you don’t address it now, turnover may just cost you your business.
Key Stay Interview Question is 3 – “Why Do You Stay Here?”
Stay Interviews yield useful insights
In an interview with Forbes Magazine detailing why the 5 Stay Interview questions…or what we refer to as the SI 5…yield more useful answers than spontaneous, random questions that come from the gut. The SI 5 are deeply researched, and we know when combined with solid probing can gather an abundance of important information about each employee. And this information leads to far greater employee engagement and retention.
I have a bias, and often express it by calling Stay Interviews Question 3 (Q 3) the “money question”…my slang for this sleepy-sounding short collection of words that ultimately unlocks very important answers. Q 3 is “Why do you stay here?”, and we train managers to ask it and then wait patiently for the employee’s answer. Here’s a common exchange:
Manager: So Veronica, please tell me why you stay with us. You’ve been here for more than a year and you are so talented that you could leave us, and I’m grateful that you don’t. So why do you stay?
Veronica: Well, I have to pay the bills.
Manager: Yea, I know. And I have to pay the bills, too. But I’ve thought about it, and I realize getting paid is not really why I stay. In fact, I could get paid anywhere and so could you. So what are the real reasons that you stay?
Veronica: I guess I’ve never really thought about it.
Manager: That’s OK. Take your time. I’m going to get a cup of coffee. Would you like one?
I’ve inserted the “cup of coffee” line here to make an important point: the manager in our scenario did not make the question easier by making it multiple choice. Some managers would be uncomfortable causing a little stress for the employee and therefore not allow silence…nor the potential for self-discovery. They instead would break the silence with questions like, “Do you stay for our team? Or for our customers?” But savvy Stay Interviewers know to pause, accept silence, and encourage the employee to find their own unique answer.
Stay Interviews Q 3 cause employees to self-search
The reason for doing so is simple. Most employees can immediately tell you why they might leave, but few have actually catalogued in their minds why they stay. Asking why and patiently waiting for their answer causes these employees to self-search, to go to a place where maybe they’ve never been before. And once they announce to you why they stay they also announce it to themselves…and they tend to never forget it.
Let’s continue our role-play exchange, and imagine Veronica says she stays because she likes working with her team. Her manager would then probe for more details, to ask Veronica to dig deeper so Veronica learns and tells more about herself.
- Who do you specifically like working with, Veronica?
- What is there about William and Andrea that makes them such good coworkers?
- Can you identify that specific quality that makes a good colleague for you?
- Who else do you think could be a good coworker, but you haven’t worked with them enough to know?
- And who is not a good coworker and why?
Veronica then listens to her own answers…and leaves her Stay Interview meeting with a new appreciation for this most important aspect of her job which is the coworkers she values most. The result is she is likely to engage with those coworkers further, be on the lookout for others to connect with, and her overall engagement and retention will climb.
Veronica’s answer might have been about other topics…likes working with patients, likes working with numbers, likes getting to work early to prepare for the day. Regardless of each employee’s response, managers can then be on the lookout for additional duties that connect directly back to what makes each employee stay. In other words, the part of work that turns them on the most.
“Why do you stay here?” opens the door to important clues to engage your employees more and also retain them longer. And that’s all based on asking just one of the SI 5 questions.
Stay Interviews in the news
Want to see the real impact Stay Interviews can have on an organization? Our client Quest Diagnostics was featured in an NBC News report on Stay Interviews as an important business tool. The outcome was honest and shows the trajectory of an employee’s skepticism to relief in being heard. It also closes with great advice for how employees can prepare for Stay Interviews to get the most out of it for themselves.
Use Stay Interviews to Improve Employee Retention, Even During The Great Resignation
Schedule a conversation with me at DFinnegan@C-SuiteAnalytics.com to discuss your employee retention roadblocks and I’ll share ideas for how you can move forward and what is working for other companies to cut turnover by 20% and more, even during The Great Resignation that may benefit you.
Related Posts
