Stay Interview - What types of questions can be asked?

keerthiraj kotian
Hello.....
I work for Automobile dealership industry. As you people know employee attrition has been a greater challenges for HR and to retain employees we need to implement various retaining practices in the organisation.
I would like to know from HR professionals regarding "Stay Interview".
- What types of questions can be asked ? objective type or other.
- It should mainly focus on job role? what all we can add like regarding work stress, regarding reporting manager.....Etc
- When is the right time to conduct stay interview? During Probation period or After employment confirmation.
Seeking more guidelines from you people.
V.Raghunathan
Dear Kirthi Raj Kotian,

It is difficult to give a standard questionnaire for a STAY INTERVIEW.

Business situations, Management approach, Employee maturity level etc vary from Company to Company.

This practice is however better than exit interviews because the latter

becomes more of a ritual rather than exchange of facts.

The stay interview is conducted with an intention to retain the talented and hard working employees

by knowing their expectations and wants.

The Management must be willing to take it in true spirit with a good follow up action to

live up to the commitments made during the interview. A candidate may still leave and it cannot be helped.

Coming to the topic of sample questions please find some general questions as under.

1.0 What are the five best practices that you find in your company?

2.0 In what ways our competitors are better than ours?

3.0 Do you get enough chances to live up to your potential?

4.0 Does the growth path indicated to you satisfies you?

5.0 Is the work done by you appreciated?

6.0 Are your suggestions recognized?

7.0 Do you learn some thing new every year in this job?

8.0 Will it help you to work better should there be a change of department?

9.0 Are you willing to take up additional responsibilities?

10.0 What are the new skill sets that you can learn with Management support?

Modify and build your own on the above lines

V.Raghunathan
dfinnegan
Hi Keerthiraj,
You can learn much about Stay Interviews at our site, C-Suite Analytics. I've written The Power of Stay Interviews which is the top-selling book in SHRM history...and have now developed an online HR Stay Interview Expert Certification Program. All is represented on our site. Feel free to email me directly if you wish to discuss more...dfinnegan@c-suiteanalytics.com
All readers should feel free to check our site and email me, too. Take care.
Dinesh Divekar
Dear Keerithiraj,

You have asked questions to be asked in the stay interview and Mr Raghunathan has given reply also. In fact it is not just a reply but he has given some questions also. However, I would like to look at the things from the different angle.

What is the percentage of attrition in your company? Is it more or less than the industry standard? Further have you conducted any analysis of the employee attrition? If yes, then on what parameters? What pattern did you observe in your analysis?

Do you work in HR Department? Irrespective of the department that you work in, what is your personal observation on employee attrition? What HR practices, welfare practices or employee-friendly practices are missing in your company? If something is missing then what action have you taken to fill that gap?

Is it that you know the reasons of employee attrition very well but wanted to conduct the stay interview so that you get the shoulders of the employee to shoot?

If you have not done analysis of the employee attrition, then you may do it even now also. Click the following to refer my previous reply on this count:

https://www.citehr.com/519562-employ...ml#post2211229

Employee attrition also depends on employee motivation. However, have you differentiated between satisfiers and motivators? If yes, then on what parameters?

Asking the employees what makes them to stay is fine but then HR can do lot even without asking them also. If the survey is taken anonymously, some odd person may tell a truth and write to you "Hath ke kangan ko aarsi kyon?" The loose meaning of this Hindi proverb is you don't need mirror to see the beauty of a bracelet. Digesting replies of this kind is not easy. Therefore, be cautious!

For further queries, feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar
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