The Stay Interview: 12 Questions That Prevent Turnover

Nov 7

Exit interviews come too late. By the time you’re asking what would have made someone stay, they’ve already made the decision to leave.

Stay interviews shift that conversation earlier—while there’s still time to listen, adjust, and rebuild trust. They’re not about retention tactics. They’re about understanding what keeps people connected, what makes them hesitate, and what support they actually need to stay engaged.

A stay interview isn’t a survey. It’s a structured conversation that helps you hear the truth before it becomes an exit interview. When done regularly, it gives you real data about how your people are experiencing work—what’s motivating them, what’s draining them, and what might cause them to go quiet before they go elsewhere.

What a Stay Interview Is

A structured conversation with current employees about what keeps them and what might make them leave.
Proactive retention—a chance to act before someone disengages.
A repair tool disguised as a check-in, not a performance review.
Data that leads to change, not a one-time conversation.

In short, it’s how you understand what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to shift before your best people start interviewing elsewhere.

Why Stay Interviews Work

They catch disengagement early

Most people don’t leave because of one big thing. They leave because of small issues that pile up quietly: unclear expectations, unsustainable workloads, or the sense that no one’s listening. Stay interviews surface those signals months before they show up as turnover.

They signal care before crisis

When you wait until someone quits to ask how they’re doing, the message is: “You had to leave for me to care.”
Stay interviews communicate something different: “Your experience matters while you’re still here.”

They give you actionable data

Exit interviews are historical. Stay interviews are predictive.
They tell you what’s starting to slip—and where to intervene before trust erodes further.

When and How Often to Conduct Them

Quarterly for high-stress or high-turnover teams.
Twice a year for most teams.
At least annually as a baseline practice.

Frequency matters less than consistency. When stay interviews become part of the rhythm of management, people stop waiting until they’re burned out to speak up.

Who Should Conduct the Interview

Best practice: Direct manager.
Alternative: Skip-level manager or HR—if trust with the direct manager is low.
Not recommended: Peers, since they can’t act on feedback.

Whoever leads the conversation needs both proximity and authority—the ability to listen well and follow through.

The 12 Stay Interview Questions

You don’t have to use all twelve at once. Choose five to seven that fit your context. Rotate questions each cycle to keep learning fresh.

1–3: What’s Working

“What do you look forward to when you come to work each day?”
Reveals what energizes them and what you should protect.
“What’s the best part of working here that you’d want to keep if anything changed?”
Identifies non-negotiables—the pieces that give them belonging.
“When have you felt most proud of your work here?”
Surfaces what success feels like from their perspective.

4–6: What’s Not Working

“What’s frustrating you right now that we haven’t talked about?”
Opens the door to unspoken concerns.
“What would make your job more sustainable?”
Helps name workload and capacity issues without the burnout label.
“If you could change one thing about how we work as a team, what would it be?”
Reveals patterns and friction in collaboration.

7–9: Growth and Development

“What skills do you want to develop in the next year?”
Highlights growth goals that might not fit in annual reviews.
“What are you learning in your role right now?”
Checks whether they still feel challenged or stagnant.
“Where do you see yourself in two years—and do you see a path to that here?”
Brings future vision into the present conversation.

10–12: Relationship and Culture

“Do you feel your work is valued here? What makes you feel that way—or not?”
Explores recognition and connection to impact.
“Is there anything about our team culture that doesn’t align with your values?”
Surfaces quiet misalignments before they become deal-breakers.
“What would make you start looking elsewhere—and what would make you stay?”
Direct, honest, and often the most revealing question of all.

How to Hold the Conversation

Before the Meeting

Schedule 45–60 minutes with notice—never as a surprise.
Frame it clearly: “This isn’t a review; it’s a listening session.”
Choose questions ahead of time and prepare to hear hard things.

During the Meeting

Set the tone: gratitude, curiosity, and confidentiality.
Ask one question at a time. Then pause. Silence means they’re thinking.
Listen without defending or explaining. Reflect back what you hear.
Close by summarizing themes and clarifying next steps.

After the Meeting

Act quickly on what’s within your control.
Escalate systemic issues with clear examples.
Follow up within two weeks to show what changed—or why it can’t yet.

Listening builds trust. Following through sustains it.

What to Do With What You Hear

Quick fixes: Resolve small frustrations immediately and communicate that you did.
Medium-term changes: Create a plan, involve collaborators, and update progress.
Systemic issues: Track themes across multiple stay interviews and bring them to leadership with data.
Outside your control: Be honest. People trust clarity more than empty promises.

Patterns across multiple stay interviews are where your real organizational insights live. When five people mention the same issue, that’s not coincidence—it’s a signal.

Common Challenges

“People won’t be honest.”

Start small. Act on the first piece of feedback you receive and tell them you did. Visible follow-through builds psychological safety faster than any script.

“I don’t have authority to fix what they raise.”

Be transparent about what’s within your control—and commit to advocating for what isn’t.

“What if they say they’re already looking?”

Stay calm. Thank them for the honesty. Ask what might make them stay and whether change is still possible. If it’s not, treat their departure with integrity. The relationship still matters.

Final Thoughts

Exit interviews are autopsies.
Stay interviews are check-ups.

They help you notice what’s working, what’s straining, and what’s quietly breaking before people walk away. Each one is an act of prevention, but also of care—a moment that says: “You don’t have to leave for me to listen.”

Twelve questions. Forty-five minutes. A habit of listening that keeps your best people where they want to be—still here.

Need Help Implementing Stay Interviews?

Some organizations need support making stay interviews part of their rhythm—especially when trust is low or leaders aren’t sure how to respond without defensiveness.

The Human Repair Workshop helps organizations design sustainable practices for listening, retention, and repair. We train leaders to ask better questions, receive feedback with clarity, and act on what they hear.

Monica Rodriguez