Free · printable · for supervisors and command
Ask why they stay before they tell you why they left.
An exit interview tells you what already went wrong. A stay interview is a 20-minute conversation with someone you want to keep, asked while there's still time to act. Focus on years two through five, the group most likely to leave.
Watch Command · stay interview
Ten questions, twenty minutes
Set it up right: "I'm not evaluating you. I want to keep you, and I'd rather ask now than find out in a resignation letter." Then listen more than you talk. Don't defend anything. Write down their words.
- What do you look forward to on a good shift?
- What's the worst part of the job that isn't the calls?
- When was the last time you thought about leaving? What was going on?
- What would a recruiter from another agency have to offer to get you to go?
- What's one thing I do as your supervisor that makes this harder?
- What's one thing I could start doing that would make it better?
- Do you feel like you're getting better at this job? Who's helping you?
- Where do you want to be in three years? Does anyone here know that?
- How's the job treating things at home?
- What should I have asked that I didn't?
Within one week: follow up on one thing they said, even if the answer is "I can't fix that, and here's why." The follow-up is what makes the next stay interview honest.