The Retention Interview

Many organizations do exit interviews, but that’s a lot like closing the barn door after the horse has left.  Below we discuss retention interviews.  Specifically, we discuss:

• Why Bother Doing a Retention Interview
• The Basics of a Retention Interview
• Sample Questions for a Retention Interview
• Taking Action
• Three Things to Remember About Retention Interviews

Why Bother Doing a Retention Interview?

The costs of employee turnover are well documented.  By regularly conducting Retention Interviews, unwanted turnover can be reduced.

• Unlike an exit interview, the Retention Interview allows the opportunity to still do something to make them stay.  There are several advantages to this, for a leader:
  • Finding new people is both time-consuming and costly.
  • Your life as a leader is much easier without constantly replacing people.
  • Your results will be better if you aren’t constantly replacing people.
• Retention interviews can help you keep a finger on the pulse of your organization, and give your information and ideas to address emergent issues as they come up.

The Basics of the Retention Interview

If you’ve decided that Retention Interviews are something you want to consider, then, here’s how to begin:

• Start now.  The sooner you know about a problem, the easier it usually is to fix it.
• Do Retention Interviews regularly.
• This does not have to be extra work.  If you are already doing regular one on one meetings with you people, you can easily adjust those meetings to include elements of a Retention Interview.
• Use broad questions about the company, then narrow down to the work, teamwork, and eventually your leadership.

Sample Questions for a Retention Interview

• With high potential talent:
  • Tell me what you like about your work here in the last few months.
  • Tell me what has been concerning for you in the last few months.
  • What would you really like to be involved in over the next few months.
• If you’re having retention issues:
  • “Why do you think some people are choosing to leave our organization?”
  • “If you owned the company what would you do or change to make more people want to stay?”

Taking Action

• Finding out that you have problems is only a good thing if you’re prepared to do something about it.  If you don’t intend to listen, then you shouldn’t ask.
• Use the information you gathered to sell your ideas for change.
• When you implement organizational change, tell people it’s because of the feedback they provided.

3 Things to Remember About the Retention Interview

1. You need to start now.  Every week that goes by is a missed opportunity
2. Use existing forums.  You should be able to gather retention interview information without creating a bunch of extra work.
3. Take action.  Act on the suggestions that people give you.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about The Retention Interview (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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