A stay interview is a conversation with a current employee about what helps them do their work and what might make remaining in the organisation difficult. Its value comes from listening and following up, rather than persuading someone to promise they will stay.
Keep it separate from a performance assessment, pay decision or formal complaint process. Explain the purpose and limits clearly so the employee understands what the conversation can and cannot decide.
Prepare an invitation that leaves room for honesty
Tell the employee what topics you would like to discuss and how the information will be used. Arrange a suitable private setting and ask whether another feedback method would be more useful.
Do not promise complete confidentiality if concerns may need to be referred or actions require other people’s involvement. Explain those limits before asking sensitive questions. Avoid making participation a loyalty test.
Business Queensland’s staff satisfaction and retention guidance provides broader context for understanding employee experience. The questions below are an original conversation structure, not a diagnostic tool or a promise of improved retention.
Ask about conditions and examples
Useful starting questions include: For a discussion about learning or progression, our career-development planning guide can help turn a broad ambition into a skill or next step to discuss, without promising a promotion.
- Which parts of your work are most worthwhile at present?
- What regularly makes completing the work harder than it needs to be?
- Can you describe a recent example of a process or support problem?
- What development or responsibility would you like to discuss?
- What one change should we investigate first, and why?
Ask follow-up questions to understand the example. Do not immediately rebut it with a manager’s explanation or require the employee to reveal personal plans, health details or another job application.
If the employee raises an immediate safety issue, serious complaint or other concern needing a separate response, explain the appropriate next step. A stay interview is not a reason to delay that response until a later review.
Separate requests from commitments
Record what the employee has asked for, what is within your authority and what needs another decision. Acknowledging that a roster issue is important does not approve a particular roster arrangement.
In a fictional example, an employee says that late changes to an administrative task allocation make planning difficult. The manager agrees to review how changes are communicated, consult the relevant team and report back. They do not promise a fixed arrangement before checking operational needs and applicable obligations.
Label the example as a process question to investigate, not proof that every employee has the same concern.
Use a practical follow-up record
Keep a proportionate record of the theme, supporting example, action proposed, decision owner and feedback date. Distinguish an employee request from an approved action.
Agree what can be shared to progress the issue. Where a small team makes a supposedly anonymous comment easy to identify, do not represent the summary as anonymous simply because a name was removed.
Return with an answer
At the agreed point, explain what has been done, what remains under review and any request that cannot be approved, with an appropriate reason. Ask whether the response addresses the original difficulty.
A useful stay interview leaves a clear next step even when the employer cannot grant a request. Repeatedly asking for feedback without returning to the employee can make later conversations less informative and leaves the original work problem unresolved.
