How Stay Interviews Cut Voluntary Turnover Rates

Recent studies and data reveal soaring voluntary employee turnover rates. A company’s ability to implement effective employee turnover solutions is more important than ever.

Imagine cutting employee turnover rates by half or more. Stay Interviews are the effective employee turnover solution that makes it possible.

Employee Turnover: Where to Start?

Voluntary employee turnover can be a good thing…

… if a company has landed a talented employee from another company. Bolstered with new, talented employee, the company has the opportunity to build trust from day one. How exactly does a company go about building trust?

Stagnant Engagement 

Everyone in management has heard this: “Employee recognition drives employee workplace engagement and retention.”

Most companies operate by this mantra. But if it were true, how could engagement rates be so low? The most recent data (from 2017) shows that only 33% of employees are trying their hardest.

There is only one possible explanation for such low engagement: The prevailing wisdom ignores the absolutely critical factor for driving engagement and retention– trust. 

How Stay Interviews Help Build Trust

Unlike HR-run surveys and focus groups, Stay Interviews are structured discussions conducted one-to-one between manager and employee. Managers ask employees open-ended questions such as “Why do you stay here?,” which allows employees to voice their individual needs and concerns. 

This promotes an atmosphere of accountability, as employees realize their relationships with their supervisors can extend far beyond the realm of reward and rebuke. Stay Interviews make the employee-supervisor relationship three-dimensional. Managers have the chance to exert authority and show care, which builds trust. This bolsters productivity and the bottom line. This is the effective, voluntary-turnover-reducing formula for driving engagement and retention. 

Stay Interviews Are Not Performance Reviews

Organizations have employees answer scripted questions for manager-conducted annual performance reviews. But these questions and answers do not address employee engagement and retention problems like Stay Interviews. They are part of development plans, which only encompass training and promotion. Stay Interviews help managers solve a myriad of employee concerns including retirement issues, schedule and logistical conflicts, process adjustments, equipment overhauls.

Think of Stay Interviews as upside down Performance Reviews. Rather than managers telling employees what to correct and listening to their performance defenses, they listen to and note down all their work-related concerns. From here, managers can determine what productive changes can be implemented to ensure employees stay with the company and remain highly engaged.

Time to Fire Voluntary Turnover

Cutting voluntary turnover by half or more is possible with business-driven employee turnover solutions. Implement Stay Interviews and start benefiting from the fruits of high engagement and retention.