Wondering How to Reduce Employee Turnover Rates? Focus on “Stay” Interviews instead of Exit Interviews * Incedo Group

Wondering How to Reduce Employee Turnover Rates? Focus on “Stay” Interviews instead of Exit Interviews

Let’s get realistic here for a second. Do exit interviews really work? Yes, you can gather information about an employee’s decision to leave during an exit interview, and that gives you a chance to prevent other employees from resigning due to the same reasons. But isn’t there a better way to understand how to reduce employee turnover rates?

Most exit interviews are designed to collect information from employees about to leave the company, so it shouldn’t be surprising if the feedback is generally negative. However, in some cases, the feedback provided isn’t entirely accurate. The person resigning doesn’t want to burn bridges, so he will probably give the easiest excuse, when asked why he resigned.

In other cases, it could be exaggerated, especially if the employee interviewed is keeping a grudge.

The potential problems aren’t limited to the person being interviewed. The person conducting the interview might not be the best person for the job. Why? Well, for one, does he actually care what the exiting employee has to say? Does he have the power to make necessary changes? More importantly, does he know how to reduce employee turnover rates using the information collected from the interview?

Wouldn’t it be better to find out why an employee might resign before he submits a notice of resignation?

Enter “Stay” Interviews—The Better Interview

Stay interviews gather the work experience and feedback of employees- whether they are about to resign or not- so it could be used to improve the company. The interview setting isn’t usually formal, or stiff like exit interviews are. In fact, early adopters of this process make it as casual as possible to get the trust of the employee being interviewed. You really don’t want to make the person feel as if he could get fired if he says something wrong.

These interviews are better in helping reduce employee turnover rates, precisely because it connects with its employees. And it doesn’t need a pre-cursor event, i.e. a resignation. Your team will see that the company is trying to make changes for the better, and that their feedback is heard.

What to Expect in “Stay” Interviews

Here are some questions you can ask employees during a “Stay” Interview

What makes you stay in the company?
What do you enjoy most about your job?
If the business could improve on anything, what do you think it should be?
If you get an offer from another company or headhunter, what could they offer to get your attention?
What challenges do you have with your job?
What is your most favorite thing about your job?
What career goals do you have?

How to Reduce Employee Turnover Rates with Stay Interviews

Stay interviews play a big role in building relationships with existing employees. Exit interviews, on the other hand, only focus on employees about to leave. It’s not that productive, really. Stay interviews allows companies to have a two-way conversation with its employees, whereas exit interviews only listen to what its leaving employees have to say.

Stay Interview Challenges

Stay interviews always pose challenges for managers and leaders. There may be a lot of feedback that is unpleasant for the management. It could ignite conflicts between existing employees and the management. However, such information can always be used to further improve a company’s management.

Challenges should be looked at as an opportunity to improve current command chains and working relations. In the end, this process might be agonizing, but it’s one of the best ways to address the question of “How to reduce employee turnover rates?”