Hardwiring Accountability

Laura Lorber over at the The Wall Street Journal wrote an article recently focusing on the importance of “stay interviews.” Most organizations conduct exit interviews routinely, it is rare for those same employers to conduct stay interviews though. While it’s important to know why people leave organizations, it’s even more important to learn why people stay and how to keep it that way.

Employees leave organizations much more often these days than ever before. So, it is imperative that employers start researching why they are able to retain their high performing employees that help to move their organization forward. This way they can ensure they continue to provide the things that keep their employees on board.

Often times during exit interviews employees are not brutally honest about their experiences within the organization because they do not want to burn any bridges. Exit interviews are intended to focus more on the negative elements of an organization while not looking at what positive elements exist and could be improved upon. Any positive comment could just as easily be an attempt to off set the negatives.

If employers reach out and conduct stay interviews with their high performing employees, they are more likely to learn exactly what makes them stay and what they feel sets the organization apart from others. While information gleaned from an exit interview may fix the weaknesses, acting on information from stay interviews can grow the strengths of the organization.

When conducting stay interviews with employees, it is essential that employers focus on why the employees stay and what made them choose the organization in the first place. I’d recommended conducting stay interviews with employees that have been with the organization for at least two years. This is a great time to find out if their expectations were met and to determine what areas they feel the organization needs improvement in as well. Hardworking, long-term employees are a valuable resource and it is extremely important that employers learn more about what keeps their employees than focusing on just what makes them leave.