What Is a Stay Interview? 10 Questions to Ask Before Your Best Employees Leave

Most employers ask why an employee is leaving.

What if we started asking while they were still here?

Exit interviews can provide valuable information about an employee’s experience. But there’s an obvious problem: by the time you’re conducting one, the employee has already decided to leave.

That’s where stay interviews come in.

During MP’s recent webinar, Why Employees Stay: Building Loyalty Through Leadership, Development & Culture, Senior HR Partner Melissa Brown summed up the opportunity perfectly:

“I don’t want to collect the exit data. I want to collect the stay data.”

Instead of waiting until your best employees are halfway out the door, stay interviews give managers an opportunity to understand what employees value, where frustrations are building, what they want next, and what could eventually cause them to leave.

And you don’t need another complicated HR program to get started.

Sometimes, you just need to ask better questions.

What Is a Stay Interview?

A stay interview is a structured conversation between a manager and an employee designed to understand what makes the employee want to stay, what could improve their experience, and what might eventually cause them to leave.

Unlike an exit interview, a stay interview happens while the employee is still with your organization.

That distinction matters.

When an employee shares something during an exit interview, you may be able to use that information to improve the experience for other employees.

When they share it during a stay interview, you may still have an opportunity to improve their experience.

Stay interviews can help employers better understand:

• What employees value about their jobs
• What keeps employees engaged
• Where employees are experiencing frustration
• How employees feel about their managers
• Whether employees see opportunities to grow
• What workplace issues may be affecting morale
• What could make an employee consider another opportunity
• What changes could improve the employee experience

The goal isn’t to convince employees they should stay.

It’s to understand what would make them want to.

Why Stay Interviews Matter for Employee Retention

Employees rarely go from completely engaged to resignation overnight.

There are often signs along the way.

During our webinar, Melissa talked about high-performing employees who continue doing their jobs well but gradually stop participating in the same way.

They stop offering ideas.

They stop volunteering for projects.

They stop asking questions.

They may still meet every deadline and hit every performance goal.

But, as Melissa explained:

“They have quietly stopped investing emotionally.”

That’s exactly the type of change that can be difficult to spot if managers are only looking at performance.

A stay interview creates space to ask what’s happening underneath the surface.

It shifts the retention strategy from:

Why did they leave?

to:

What do they need to keep building their future here?

Don’t Wait Until Someone Looks Like a Flight Risk

Stay interviews shouldn’t be reserved for the employee you think might resign.

If a manager suddenly schedules a special retention conversation only after noticing that an employee updated their LinkedIn profile, the organization is already being reactive.

The greater value comes from having these conversations before there’s an obvious problem.

Chief Inspiration Officer Nicholas Mirabello shared an important idea during the webinar:

“People don’t just stay for what they receive… they stay for the experience they receive.”

A stay interview helps managers understand that experience.

What does the employee enjoy?

What frustrates them?

Do they trust their manager?

Do they feel recognized?

Do they feel challenged?

Do they see a future?

Do they have the resources they need?

You may think you know the answers.

Ask anyway.

10 Stay Interview Questions Managers Should Ask

There isn’t a magic script that guarantees an employee will stay.

But the right questions can create conversations managers might not otherwise have.

Here are 10 stay interview questions from MP’s Stay Interview Guide to help you get started.

1. What makes you want to stay here?

Start with the positive.

What does this employee genuinely value about their experience?

It could be their coworkers, flexibility, leadership, meaningful work, benefits, autonomy, customers, culture, or something you haven’t considered.

Understanding what’s working helps you protect it.

2. What do you enjoy most about your role?

Don’t assume you know which parts of someone’s job they enjoy most.

Ask.

Then follow up with:

Is there anything you wish you could spend more time doing?

Their answer may reveal opportunities to improve engagement or develop the employee in ways that benefit both the individual and the organization.

3. Is there anything about your job that makes you think about leaving?

This is a direct question.

That’s intentional.

Employees may be reluctant to raise frustrations if nobody creates an opportunity for them to do so.

You’re not asking whether they’re actively job hunting.

You’re giving them permission to talk about issues that could eventually become reasons to leave.

And that’s information you want before you’re responding to a resignation.

4. Do you feel like you have opportunities to learn and grow here?

Your best employees don’t necessarily need a promotion tomorrow.

But they may need to see what’s next.

During the webinar, Melissa encouraged managers to ask:

“What could this employee be ready for six months or a year from now?”

Development could mean a promotion, but it could also mean learning a skill, joining a project, receiving mentorship, taking on new responsibilities, cross-training, or gaining greater autonomy.

Ask employees where they want to go.

Then determine whether there are opportunities to help them get there.

5. What could we be doing better as a company or team?

This question requires managers to get comfortable hearing something they may not like.

An employee may identify an inefficient process.

A communication problem.

Inconsistent accountability.

A cultural issue.

A leadership concern.

Listen before you explain.

The goal isn’t to defend the organization.

It’s to understand the employee’s experience of it.

6. What could I be doing better as your manager?

This may be the hardest question on the list.

It may also be one of the most valuable.

Employees experience much of the organization through their direct manager.

As Senior HR Partner MaryJane Steward explained during our webinar:

“Their day-to-day experience is largely shaped by the manager.”

That makes manager effectiveness a critical part of employee retention.

If an employee provides feedback, resist the urge to immediately explain your intentions.

Ask:

What would better support from me look like?

Then listen.

7. Do you feel your work is recognized and valued?

Recognition doesn’t look the same for everyone.

One employee might appreciate public acknowledgment.

Another would rather receive a thoughtful thank-you privately.

Someone else might feel valued when they’re trusted with a meaningful new responsibility.

Don’t just ask whether employees feel recognized.

Ask what meaningful recognition looks like to them.

8. Is there anything getting in the way of you doing your best work?

Sometimes the problem isn’t motivation.

It’s friction.

Listen for issues like:

• Unsustainable workload
• Unclear expectations
• Inefficient processes
• Lack of resources
• Too many meetings
• Competing priorities
• Communication problems
• Team dynamics
• Outdated technology
• Lack of decision-making authority

Your employees may already know where the biggest barriers are.

Managers need to create opportunities for them to say it.

9. What would make your experience here better over the next six months?

This question brings the conversation into the near future.

Instead of asking employees to redesign the entire workplace, you’re looking for realistic changes that could meaningfully improve their experience.

Their answer may also be much simpler than expected.

More frequent feedback.

An opportunity to work on a new project.

Better communication.

A development opportunity.

More clarity.

The only way to know is to ask.

10. If you received another job offer tomorrow, what would make you seriously consider it?

This question can uncover priorities employees haven’t shared elsewhere.

Would it be compensation?

Flexibility?

A leadership opportunity?

Career growth?

A different workload?

Better management?

Then ask the question that matters even more:

What could make staying here the better choice?

That doesn’t mean your organization can—or should—match everything another employer might offer.

But it helps you understand what your employees are weighing when they think about their future.

What Should a Manager Do During a Stay Interview?

The questions matter.

How managers respond to the answers matters even more.

A stay interview shouldn’t become a performance review, interrogation, or sales pitch for why the company is great.

Managers should:

Give context. Explain why you’re having the conversation and make it clear you’re looking to understand the employee’s experience.

Listen more than you talk. You don’t need to have an immediate response to everything.

Get curious instead of defensive. Try asking, “Can you tell me more about that?”

Don’t make promises you can’t keep. A thoughtful follow-up is better than an unrealistic commitment made in the moment.

Take notes on themes and commitments. Capture what matters instead of trying to remember everything afterward.

Follow through. This may be the most important step of all.

Because asking employees what they need and then doing nothing with their feedback can undermine the trust you’re trying to build.

What Happens After a Stay Interview?

A stay interview isn’t finished when the meeting ends.

Managers should walk away understanding four things:

KEEP

What’s already working that we should protect?

If an employee tells you flexibility, a particular responsibility, their team, or regular coaching is a major reason they stay, don’t overlook that information.

IMPROVE

What’s one thing we could realistically make better?

You don’t need to solve every issue immediately.

Start somewhere meaningful.

DEVELOP

Where does this employee want to grow?

Identify a development opportunity and determine what the next step could look like.

FOLLOW UP

What did I commit to doing?

Assign an owner and a follow-up date.

Employees don’t need every answer immediately.

They do need to know the conversation mattered.

One Stay Interview Gives You Insight. Multiple Interviews Can Reveal a Pattern.

One employee telling you they’re overwhelmed may be an individual workload issue.

Ten employees saying it?

That’s a pattern.

The same applies to concerns about:

• Manager communication
• Burnout
• Lack of career growth
• Recognition
• Compensation
• Inconsistent accountability
• Workplace culture
• Flexibility
• Inefficient processes
• Lack of resources
• Trust in leadership

Stay interviews can provide useful individual insights, but aggregated themes can also help HR and leadership identify broader employee retention risks.

This is where the information becomes especially valuable.

Instead of waiting for turnover data to tell you something is wrong, employee conversations may help you see the issue earlier.

Stay Interviews Aren’t About Promising Employees Everything

There is an important distinction.

Listening to employees doesn’t mean saying yes to every request.

Some changes won’t be feasible.

Some employees will want conflicting things.

Some business decisions simply can’t change.

That’s okay.

What’s important is closing the loop.

We heard you.

Here’s what we can do.

Here’s what we can’t do.

Here’s why.

Here’s what happens next.

That transparency can be more valuable than pretending every problem has an immediate solution.

Start Collecting the “Stay Data”

Employers spend plenty of time analyzing turnover.

Who left?

Why?

Which department?

Which manager?

How long had they been there?

What if we put that same curiosity into the employees who haven’t left?

What makes them stay?

What keeps them engaged?

What would make their experience better?

Where do they want to grow?

What might eventually make them leave?

That’s the value of a stay interview.

As Melissa said during our webinar:

“I don’t want to collect the exit data. I want to collect the stay data.”

You don’t have to wait for a resignation letter to learn something important about your employee experience.

Download the MP Stay Interview Guide

Ready to start the conversation?

Our Stay Interview Guide: 10 Questions to Help You Keep Your Best People gives managers a practical framework they can bring directly into an employee conversation.

The guide includes:

• 10 stay interview questions
• Manager follow-up prompts
• Space to capture employee feedback
• A post-conversation action plan
• A Keep → Improve → Develop → Follow Up framework
• Common retention patterns to watch for

Pair it with MP’s Employee Retention Health Check to take a broader look at leadership, development, recognition, communication, trust, culture, and engagement across your organization.

Don’t Wait for the Exit Interview

If one of your best employees resigned tomorrow, would you know why?

If the answer is no, don’t wait until they’re leaving to start the conversation.

Listen earlier. Ask better questions. Act on what you hear. And give your best people more reasons to stay.

MP HR Advisors can work alongside your organization to strengthen manager effectiveness, employee development, workplace culture, employee relations, retention strategies, and the everyday HR practices that shape your employee experience.

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