To keep great employees, talk to them

It’s hard when a great employee leaves an organization. You miss their talent, enthusiasm, and the way they drive your mission forward. It takes time to replace an employee, and other team members usually need to fill the gap. 

People leave for many reasons: they might want different career opportunities, decide to move, or go back to school. Exit interviews are a common way for organizations to learn from departing employees. They are great for understanding why someone leaves and what they think of their time at your organization.

But what if you want someone to stay? What if you want to understand why people are here now, and what it takes to keep them (or people like them)? 

People enjoy fair pay, good managers, and work worth doing. You can invest in salaries and benefits, training, and mentoring. But it might not be enough to focus on the basics, the general stuff that makes any job decent. 

If you want to make your workplace special, you can – and should – talk to your employees. 

Try the “stay interview”

A stay interview is the opposite of an exit interview. In addition to talking to out-going employees, talk to current employees. Find out what they like about their jobs, where they see themselves in the future, and what it will take to keep them at your organization. 

When you talk to employees (or board members) about staying with an organization, you learn a lot about their current experience. You’ll learn what they value and whether or not they feel appreciated. You’ll find out if they have the resources to do the work expected of them. You also create an opportunity for them to help design their own future. 

These are key behaviours that help to reduce stress and burnout: making sure people are seen, connecting them to a team, respecting their values, understanding the resources they need to perform, and giving them power to shape their own path.

A vision, not a negotiation 

When you plan a stay interview, make sure you are very clear that this is about creating a management vision and not a negotiation. You aren’t asking someone to pitch a new salary or different job title. The point of the conversation is to understand what an exciting, rewarding work experience would look like in 1, 5, or 10 years so that your organization can do the work it needs to be a place where people want to be. 

It’s hard for an employee to be frank or creative if they are afraid of the consequences of their words. “Would you be interested in discussing ….” is a better way to start than demanding an employee tell you “What do I need to give you to keep you around?” To get the best advice, make sure the stay interview is voluntary and relaxed.

If you’re new to this kind of conversation, you could approach it as a visioning exercise. Ask one or more employees to spend an hour helping to paint a picture of what a great work experience looks like. The conversation doesn’t have to focus on them personally, if

Seek constructive ideas

The point of a stay interview is to figure out how to build and maintain a place where people want to stay. If there are problems or risks that could drive people away, you want to know about it. 

Learning what not to do is helpful, but hearing constructive ideas for what you should do can be transformative. What actions or decisions can be taken to make your work a place where talent thrives and good work gets done? 

People who work at nonprofits are often told they ought to be happy to have the jobs they hold. If they love the work enough, the theory goes, it won’t feel like work anymore. The job won’t really be a “job”. A workplace won’t really be a place of employment, it will be a family or a community. 

The truth is, “passion” isn’t a retention strategy. It doesn’t protect great workers from stress and burnout. Waiting for passion to show up is a risky way to attract new talent, too. 

If you want to manage an organization full of great employees, talk to the employees. Let them help. Let their greatness lead.