Huddle library → The stay interview
Retention · 15 minutes
The stay interview
Everyone does an exit interview. Almost nobody asks the people who didn't leave why they stayed — until it's the only question that still matters.
The questions
- What makes you want to come back for the next shift?
- What's come closest to making you look for something else?
- If you could change one thing about how this unit runs, what would it be?
Why now, not at the exit
An exit interview gets you the truth from someone who has already mentally left — useful for the record, useless for keeping them. A stay interview gets you the same truth from someone who might still be persuaded, while there's still something to do about it.
How to run it
- One person, fifteen minutes, not during a shift review and not tied to a performance conversation. Different room, different reason.
- You listen. You do not defend the schedule, the staffing, or the policy in the moment. Write it down and come back to it.
- Do it with people who are doing fine, not just the ones who seem shaky. The steady ones are the ones you can least afford to lose quietly.
What not to do with the answers
Don't promise what you can't deliver, and don't let the conversation become a complaint box with no follow-up. If nothing visible changes after three of these, the fourth one will be shorter and less honest.