Staffing has been and continues to be an issue within the healthcare and eyecare industries. However, even entry-level turnover can cost up to 40% of the position’s annual salary. In an article for Review of Optometric Business, Nikie Walker, Ed.D., shared one suggestion on how to keep staff members before they consider leaving. It’s called the “stay interview.”

What’s a Stay Interview and Why Conduct One?

A stay interview is a formal conversation documenting what it will take to make an employee feel they’re valued and fulfilled and, ultimately, want to stay. Typically conducted quarterly or biannually, these should be one-on-one meetings to allow for comfortable and open sharing. Stay interviews can have one of several purposes, including:

• Retention of staff
• Staff engagement
• Overall employee satisfaction and morale

Stay interviews are also a great outlet for giving staff a free space to air grievances and share what is working and not working candidly as well as letting your staff know you’re interested in what they can offer your practice beyond their current role/responsibilities. Additionally, they can show employees recognition and appreciation of their loyalty, that working at your practice is about more than just performance, and that you’re open to suggestions and change.

Where to Start

First things first, you’ll need to get leadership on board with this initiative. Stay interviews lose their meaning if you don’t have managerial support and can’t deliver on the promises made to your staff. From there, you’ll need to talk to your staff in-person and explain why you’re conducting stay interviews (hint: it’s likely one of the purposes mentioned above!). Being transparent about the intentions behind the initiative can make employees feel more comfortable being honest.

Other steps include:

• Set expectations. As mentioned above, staff members are more likely to speak up if they know why it matters. It also helps with their expectations after the meeting. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your solutions won’t be either!
• Schedule plenty of time with each employee. You can always end early!
• Don’t bring up the employee’s performance. This is not about how well he/she is doing, but how well your practice is working out for them.
• No advanced pre-reads. Asking questions live ensures you’re getting that employee’s true opinion.
• Stay on-topic as best you can. Keeping the focus on the purpose helps to eliminate noise.

Questions to Ask

Walker suggests starting with the following questions and adding some practice-specific ones where applicable:

1. What’s the most exciting part of your job?
2. What aspect of your job do you wish you could change?
3. What factors contribute to you doing your best work?
4. How could your work-life balance be improved?
5. What additional resources or professional development would be useful to you?
6. What situations have made you consider resigning?
7. Are there talents you have that you don’t get to use in your current position?
8. How could employee recognition be improved?
9. Are there additional benefits you would like to see?

Potential Impact

During a stay interview, you can discover different aspects of the day-to-day process that may be succeeding or failing for one reason or another. Your employees are much closer to those processes, so they will have a more realistic perspective on how to improve any issues or accelerate any success. Additionally, you can uncover any interpersonal issues between staff members that may have otherwise been kept secret. Walker’s example is below:

“During one session with an employee, we discovered that another employee was making inappropriate comments about race in the office. I was able to address this immediately with that employee. Had we not started the stay-interview process, it might have been days or weeks before this problem was brought to my attention. I was able to have a candid conversation with the employee about her comments and reassure the other employees that this issue had been resolved.”

By listening to your employees through a more formal process like stay interviews, you can increase efficiency, productivity, and morale and improve practice culture overall, making it a better place for current and future employees. Giving your staff members a voice and a platform to share can help them feel like a larger part of the practice and, therefore, increase their desire to see it (and themselves)become successful.