Run it with less chaos · Every business
Stay Interviews: Questions That Show Who Is About to Leave
A stay interview is a short, scheduled conversation with a current employee about what keeps them and what might pull them away, held while there is still time to act on the answers.
The best stay interview questions ask what an employee looks forward to, what frustrates them, what would make them leave and what the owner could change, and they work best in a 20-minute one-on-one held every six months, away from the front desk or job site. Write down the answers, agree on one change you can make and tell the employee when you will follow up, since the point is to fix something before it turns into a resignation.
The questions to copy
| # | Question | What to listen for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What do you look forward to when you come in to work? | The parts of the job worth protecting |
| 2 | What is the most frustrating part of your week here? | A fixable process, schedule or tool problem |
| 3 | When was the last time you thought about leaving, and what prompted it? | The specific trigger, such as a shift, a customer or pay |
| 4 | If you could change one thing about your job tomorrow, what would it be? | The single change with the most weight |
| 5 | What would you like to be learning or doing a year from now? | Growth the business can offer |
| 6 | Do you feel you get enough feedback and recognition from me? | Whether the owner's intentions are reaching the person |
| 7 | What could I do to make you more likely to stay? | A direct, answerable request |
How to run one
- Schedule it in advance, call it a check-in about their job and keep it separate from any performance review or pay conversation.
- Ask the questions in order, listen more than you talk and take notes.
- Do not defend or explain during the conversation; thank them for each answer.
- Choose one thing you can change and say when you will report back, usually within two weeks.
- Follow up on that date, even if the answer is that the change will take longer.
- Repeat every six months, and within the first 90 days for new hires.
Why it works
Many people leave without ever being asked what would keep them. In a 2019 Gallup analysis, 52% of voluntarily exiting employees said their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving, and 51% said that in the three months before they left, no manager or other leader had talked with them about their job satisfaction or future with the organization. A stay interview is a scheduled version of that missing conversation.
| Team size (Assumption) | 10 |
|---|---|
| Average monthly quits rate, other services, 2025 (Cited benchmark (BLS JOLTS)) | 2.2% |
| Expected departures per year (Calculated (10 × 2.2% × 12)) | 2.6 |
| Share who say leaving was preventable (Cited benchmark (Gallup)) | 52% |
| Preventable departures per year (Calculated (2.6 × 52%)) | 1.4 |
| Cost to replace one employee at $38,010 pay (Calculated (20% of BLS median receptionist pay; Center for American Progress)) | $7,602 |
| Cost of preventable departures per year (Calculated (2.64 × 52% × $7,602)) | $10,436 |
Illustrative example; replace every assumption with your own numbers.
Not every answer in a stay interview can be acted on, and some people will leave for reasons no owner controls, such as a move or a career change, so treat the figure as a rough size of what is at stake rather than a promise.
Sources
- McFeely, S. and Wigert, B. This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion. Gallup, 2019.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Annual Average Quits Rates by Industry, JOLTS Table 22. 2025.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Receptionists, Occupational Outlook Handbook. May 2025 wage data.
- Boushey, H. and Glynn, S. J. There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees. Center for American Progress, 2012.
Related reading: How to Give Staff Feedback in Five Minutes · How Employee Experience Shows Up in Customer Satisfaction · Turnover Rates by Industry, and What Each Departure Costs · The First Two Weeks: Onboarding That Keeps New Hires · What a Bad Hire Costs a Small Business
Email hello@osnovaops.com about keeping your team
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