Stay Interview Guide

Hold short, planned conversations that find out why your best people stay and what might make them leave, while there is still time to act.

Who it is for

• Managers and supervisors who want to keep strong performers.

• People who run a small business and cannot afford to lose a key employee.

• Practice, office and store managers with long-serving staff.

• HR professionals who want managers to hold retention conversations well.

The problem it solves

Exit interviews tell you why someone left after it is too late to change anything. People rarely leave for one reason on one day: small frustrations build until a resignation arrives without warning, often from the reliable person who never complained. A stay interview asks the right questions early. This guide gives you a five-step process, a question bank with follow-up questions, how to respond to the answers you are most likely to hear, and the templates to turn the conversation into action.

What is inside

• How to use this guide (page 1; 1 page)

• Copyright and License (page 2; 1 page)

• Part 1: What a stay interview is and how it works (pages 3 to 4; 2 pages)

• Part 2: Question bank (pages 5 to 6; 2 pages)

• Part 3: Listening and responding well (pages 7 to 8; 2 pages)

• Part 4: Templates and filled-in example (pages 9 to 12; 4 pages)

• Editable Word version of everything above (14 pages)

Examples and setting notes cover restaurants, retail, clinics, offices, trades, warehouses and remote staff.

How to use it

1. Read Part 1 to understand the purpose and the five steps.

2. Choose eight to ten questions from the question bank.

3. Send the invitation, hold the conversation, and keep notes on the record template.

4. Agree on one or two actions, send the follow-up note within a day, and track the whole team on the tracker.

Formats and file types

• Printable PDF (12 pages), US Letter.

• Editable Word file (.docx, 14 pages), with the invitation, record, action plan and tracker as editable templates.

Frequently asked questions