Stay interviews: the 20-minute conversation that prevents the exit interview

By the time someone signs an exit interview, they've been gone for months. Stay interviews catch the same signal before the resignation — but only if you actually do something with what you hear.

Why stay interviews work

1. They normalise honest conversation outside review cycles.
2. They give managers permission to ask what they already wonder.
3. They catch friction at the team level, not the survey-aggregate level where nuance dies.

The 6-question script

• What's the best thing about working here for you right now?
• What's the most frustrating thing — the thing that, if it kept happening, would make you start looking?
• What's something I could do differently as your manager?
• What skills or projects would make next year significantly better than this one?
• Who at the company makes your work better, and who makes it harder?
• If a friend asked you to interview at their company today, what would have to be true for you to take the call?

Acting on the input

• Personal commitment: at least one thing the manager will change.
• Team commitment: one thing escalated to the team or leadership.
• Documented in the 1:1 doc — not in HRIS.
• Reviewed in the next stay interview: 'last quarter you said X — did it change?'