Best Employee Stay Interview Questions (+ Which Ones to Avoid)

A stay interview is a conversation between managers and employees that aims to determine what motivates the employee to stay with the company and what might motivate them to leave.

We curated the best open-ended questions to conduct effective stay interviews. By asking these thoughtful questions, you can gain deeper insights into your employees’ motivations, challenges, and aspirations, leading to a more engaged and productive workforce. You will also find a set of themes and questions to avoid during the interview.

1. What would be an ideal day at work for you?

Understanding what makes an employee’s day ideal can help you identify what drives their motivation and job satisfaction.

• What drives your workers?
• What makes them want to work hard?
• Would they rather coast along with a more manageable project load?
• What do they want from coming to work (other than a paycheck)?

Follow-up question: What aspects of your job do you find most fulfilling? Are there particular tasks or projects that you look forward to?

2. What about your job makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?

This question delves into the employee’s intrinsic motivation and enthusiasm for their work. You gain valuable insights about employee performance, engagement, and overall satisfaction.

Follow-up question: Are there specific factors contributing to your emotional state before starting your workday? How can we enhance these positive factors?

Tip: The answers will help you to make informed decisions and develop strategies to enhance employee well-being and productivity.

3. What do you think about during your commute?

This question provides a creative yet honest assessment of employees’ thoughts and feelings about their work.

Follow-up question: If you find yourself dreading work, what changes could make your daily routine more enjoyable?

4. Do you think our organization appropriately recognizes your achievements?

Recognition significantly impacts an employee’s job satisfaction. Workers want to feel their employers notice their work and celebrate their achievements.

Follow-up question: Can you share an instance where you felt particularly appreciated? What kind of recognition is most meaningful to you?

5. To what extent are you able to achieve work-life balance here?

Everyone has a different definition of work-life balance. But letting the employee tell you how they feel about it will help you understand whether you’re pushing them too far.

Some are happy to work long hours and put most of their energy into work. Others have busy family lives or want a clear line between work and leisure. Whichever they prefer, you must match what works for them.

Follow-up question: How can we better support your work-life balance? Are there specific adjustments or resources that would help?

6. What’s caused you stress or anxiety recently?

Identifying sources of stress is essential to prevent burnout and improve retention.

Follow-up question: Are these stressors work-related or personal? How can we help alleviate some of this stress?

Tip: If an employee struggles with work-related stress, provide appropriate assistance.

7. Is there something new you want to learn this year?

Continuous learning and development are essential for employee engagement and satisfaction.

Follow-up questions:

1. What skill would you like to develop that will enable you to achieve better results?
2. How do you learn best – through hands-on experience, observation (job shadowing), or formal training?

Tip: Knowing how employees learn best makes learning more effective with higher knowledge retention.

8. When was the last time you thought about leaving the company?

This question helps gauge the employee’s commitment and identify potential retention issues. If they’ve considered leaving the company in the last few months, it’s something to take seriously.

Follow-up questions:

1. What prompted these thoughts?
2. What changes would make you more inclined to stay?

9. What would you like to be doing if you were here in five years?

This question aligns individual career progression expectations with organizational goals and identifies long-term goals.

• Are they expecting more than you can offer?
• Do they have a clear path to achieving a new role?
• Do their ambitions not lie within your company?

Follow-up questions:

1. Do you see a clear path to achieving this role within our company?
2. How can we support your career aspirations?

10. If you could change something about working here, what would it be?

Even though you might think you know what needs changing, you don’t hold the only perspective. Some of the most valuable suggestions can come from workers who aren’t in charge.

Follow-up question: Can you provide specific examples of changes that would benefit the team or the organization?

11. What do you think is the worst thing about working here?

Identifying and addressing negative aspects of the workplace can lead to significant improvements. Whether it’s the office facilities, corporate culture, lack of opportunity, or something else, hearing the same answer from multiple employees will highlight some addressable problems.

Follow-up questions:

1. How do you think we can address or mitigate these issues?
2. Have you discussed these concerns with anyone else?

Tip: Create a trust-based environment to ensure that employees feel comfortable sharing their genuine concerns with you.

12. Which other companies in this industry do you admire?

If the employee has friends in the industry, they will probably be well informed on work policies from other organizations. For example, suppose the employee knows a competitor has an attractive well-being policy. In that case, they might tell you they’d like the same in your company.

Follow-up question: What specific policies or practices from these companies should we consider implementing? Why?

13. Do you feel supported to do your best work?

Understanding the support needs of employees can enhance their performance and job satisfaction.

Many elements enable employees to be their best selves at work:

• Having access to the right tools
• Being in a cooperative work environment
• Getting constructive feedback
• Having career growth opportunities.

The workload may be too high, or the tasks aren’t briefed in enough detail. It could be their equipment or desk setup is restricting their abilities, or you might not be investing enough in their growth.

Follow-up question: Are there any tools, resources, or changes that would help you perform better?

Tip: Understand what they are missing and provide a solution to their challenges.

14. Have you ever thought about leaving the team? If so, when and what prompted it?

This question will help you learn whether specific concerns, such as leadership or conflicts between coworkers, might prompt the employee to seek employment in another organization.

Try to understand the underlying issues and develop solutions to improve team cohesion and collaboration. For example, you can organize team-building workshops, leadership training courses, and collaboration skill development.

Follow-up question: What can we do to address any issues that have made you consider leaving?

15. Do you ever think, “I love my job”? If so, when was the last time you said it? What were the circumstances surrounding that?

Identifying what employees love about their jobs can help reinforce positive aspects of the work environment.

Follow-up question: How can we ensure these positive experiences are more frequent? What can we do to enhance your job satisfaction?

Questions to avoid in a stay interview

While it does depend on the employment laws in your country, in most Western nations, there are certain things you shouldn’t ask about, such as:

• Religion
• Financial status
• Health or disability status
• Pregnancy or marital status and family plans

You should also avoid irrelevant or intrusive questions that make the employee uncomfortable or make them suspect you’ve got an ulterior motive.

Some examples include:

By steering clear of these types of questions, you can ensure that you conduct a stay interview focused on relevant work-related topics, fostering a positive and respectful environment for open dialogue.

Elevate employee retention with Deel Engage

Making your company a great place to work isn’t an overnight project. You need to embed it throughout each stage of the employee life cycle.

At Deel, we know that all your people processes across the employee life cycle can impact retention. We have the tools to help you create a stellar experience for your people throughout their entire time with your organization—from recruitment to onboarding to employee growth.

Deel will support your managers and employees with:

• Development plans to motivate and inspire growth
• Career paths to foster transparency: employees will know where they stand and what development paths lay ahead
• Learning management system to offer more growth opportunities to your people
• Meaningful feedback and performance review cycles to build accountability, trust, and performance
• Deel HR, our truly global HRIS solution, is always included for free

Request a demo to experience these powerful features.