Stay Interview Questions for Managers | Liquid HR

Stay Interviews: Questions Worth Asking Before Someone Resigns

An exit interview can tell you why someone is leaving. By then, the opportunity to improve their experience may have passed.

A stay interview is a planned conversation with a current employee about what makes their job worth staying for, what makes it harder and what could improve. It gives a manager the opportunity to listen while there is still time to act.

The questions matter, but the response matters more. Asking for honest feedback and then ignoring it can leave an employee less willing to speak openly next time.

This is closely connected to employee engagement, where regular feedback and meaningful follow-up can help organisations understand what matters to their people.

What is a stay interview?

A stay interview focuses on the employee’s experience of work: the parts they value, the obstacles they encounter and their hopes for the role.

It has a different purpose from a performance review, which examines expectations and contribution. Keeping those purposes separate can make it easier to discuss the work environment without turning every answer into a judgement about the employee.

It is also different from asking someone to promise they will stay. An employee may enjoy the role and still leave for reasons the organisation cannot control. It is also useful to keep stay interviews separate from formal performance management conversations, which have a different purpose and structure.

The conversation is useful because it improves understanding, not because it predicts a resignation.

Stay interviews are also used as a retention and employee engagement tool, giving managers an opportunity to identify concerns before they become reasons to leave. AHRI provides further guidance on conducting stay interviews.

Set up the conversation so people know what to expect

Explain the purpose beforehand and choose a time when you can listen without rushing. A 30- to 45-minute meeting can be a practical starting point, adjusted to the person and conversation.

You might introduce it this way:

“I’d like to understand what is working well for you here and what makes the job harder than it needs to be. This is separate from your performance review. We may not be able to change everything, but I want us to identify what we can improve.”

Explain how notes will be used and who may need to see them. Do not promise absolute confidentiality if a serious concern may require action or involvement from others.

Where the employee’s relationship with their manager makes candour difficult, consider an appropriate alternative interviewer, such as a trusted HR contact. Explain what information will be passed back and how actions will be handled.

Questions that reveal what people value

1. Which parts of your work would you most like to keep doing?

This is more specific than asking whether someone likes their job. It may reveal that they value a type of project, a working relationship or the opportunity to solve a particular problem.

Follow up with: “What is it about that work that you enjoy?” Do not assume the answer is recognition or promotion; it may be independence, usefulness or the chance to become more skilled.

2. When have you felt most satisfied with your work recently?

A recent example helps turn an abstract conversation into something you can understand. Ask what made that situation possible and whether those conditions occur often enough.

The aim is not to promise that every day will look like their favourite project. It is to understand what good work feels like to them.

3. What about this team or organisation would you miss if you left?

This can identify things worth protecting during change. A supportive colleague, flexibility or access to meaningful work may matter more than a benefit the organisation promotes heavily.

Let the employee define what is valuable. Resist turning their answer into a speech about why they should appreciate the business.

Questions that uncover friction

4. What regularly makes your job harder than it needs to be?

Ask for a recent example. You may hear about unclear approvals, unreliable systems, conflicting priorities or repeated interruptions.

Then ask: “What happens as a result?” Understanding the effect helps distinguish an occasional irritation from a recurring obstacle that deserves attention.

5. Which part of your workload is hardest to manage?

This allows a more useful discussion than “Are you coping?” Explore volume, timing, complexity and competing demands.

Avoid assuming that time-management advice is the answer. The issue may require a decision about priorities or resources that only management can make.

6. What could I do differently to help you do your job?

Ask this only if you are prepared to hear criticism of your own approach.

If the answer is uncomfortable, clarify it before responding. “Can you describe a recent example?” is more productive than immediately explaining why you acted that way.

Questions about the future

7. What would you like more opportunity to learn or take responsibility for?

Do not assume development always means managing people. The employee may want deeper technical expertise, broader experience or the chance to improve an existing process.

Discuss possibilities without implying that a promotion or particular opportunity is already approved.

8. Does the role still match what you expected it to be?

Roles change gradually. This question can reveal that someone now spends most of their time on work they did not expect, or that an important part of the original role has disappeared.

Explore whether the change was deliberate, communicated and supported. An expectation gap may need clarification as much as a new opportunity.

9. Is there anything that could make it difficult for you to see a future here?

Offer space to answer without pressing for private details or a declaration of loyalty. Some employees will be candid; others will not feel ready.

Treat the answer as information to understand, not evidence that someone is disloyal. If a concern requires a formal response, move it into the appropriate process rather than trying to resolve it casually within the interview.

10. What is one change we should seriously consider after this conversation?

This helps identify what matters most. Ask why that change would be useful and what improvement the employee would expect to notice.

You do not have to accept the proposed solution immediately. You do need to take the underlying concern seriously.

Choose questions rather than delivering a questionnaire

You may only need five or six questions for a useful conversation. Follow the employee’s answers and leave room for something you did not anticipate.

When you hear a concern, try this sequence: ask for an example, check your understanding, then discuss possibilities. Avoid defending the organisation after every answer or promising a solution before you have assessed it.

Near the end, summarise what you heard and invite corrections. It is easy to leave a conversation remembering the part you can fix while overlooking the issue the employee cared about most.

Turn the conversation into a short action plan

Agree what you will do, what needs investigation and what cannot currently change. The following is an illustrative example, not an account of a particular employee.

Keep notes proportionate and securely held. Avoid recording unnecessary personal detail. The useful record is what was understood, what was agreed and who will act.

Follow up even when the answer is no

An honest explanation is more useful than an indefinite “we’ll look into it”. If a change is not possible, explain why and discuss alternatives where they exist.

At the next check-in, ask whether an agreed action has improved the experience. Completing a task does not necessarily resolve the original problem.

Offer these conversations fairly across the team, rather than only to people thought likely to leave. There is no universal schedule: build them into a sensible rhythm and revisit important issues when circumstances change. Everyday problems should not have to wait for the next formal stay interview.

Where managers need additional support with employee engagement, performance or retention initiatives, external HR support can also complement an internal HR function.

Before you invite someone, reserve time for the follow-up as well as the conversation. The most revealing question is only useful if you are prepared to do something with the answer.