What if you could hit the rewind button during your exit interview? What if, mid-question — Why is it you’re leavi — you step into your time-traveling cubicle and venture to six months earlier. You knock on your manager’s door and say: “Instead of telling human resources what would have made this job better while I’m on the way out the door, I’m going to tell that to you while I’m still here.”
While your boss may be initially shocked by your appearance — who knew hair spray didn’t hold up in time travel? — she’d likely jump on the opportunity to learn what her high-performing employee needs to stick around. That’s exactly the information you’d share in a stay interview. And you don’t even need a time machine.
In stay interviews, a manager talks to an employee one-on-one to learn what workplace benefits are important to him and what would make him more engaged at work. In other words: What can the manager do to make the employee stay in this job, at this company. “In this day and age, when retention of talent means everything to an organization, it’s critical that every company try to keep the talent that they see is critical,” says Beverly Kaye, author of “Hello Stay Interviews, Goodbye Talent Loss” and founder of Career Systems International, a company that helps organizations boost engagement, development and retention of talent.
Stay interviews are becoming increasingly common, according to Kaye and Richard Finnegan, employee retention consultant and author of “The Power of Stay Interviews for Engagement and Retention.” Here’s what you, as an employee, should know if your employer offers them:
1. Before the interview, reflect on what you want from your manager. “Think about: What things can my manager fix about my job that would make me more productive and more happy?” Finnegan says. And, while you’re welcome to ask for a raise, consider other changes that may be less obvious and more likely to get the green light from your manager. “Really dig into the nooks and crannies and the corners of [your] work and mind,” Finnegan says. Here are a few sample requests from Kaye and Finnegan:
— May I send monthly roundups instead of my daily reports that no one reads?
— Can we please replace the printer that works about one out of every 20 times?
— Would it be OK to arrive and leave an hour early on Thursdays, so I can catch my kid’s soccer games?
— Could we get coffee once a month to check in?
— Is there any way I could attend that conference in January?
These are not audacious requests. None of them will trigger a splash-coffee-in-your-face response from your boss. (And if they do, talk to HR.) In fact, these types of changes will be big wins for you and likely require little effort from your boss. You just have to ask. “Don’t expect your manager to be a mind reader,” Kaye says.
Bring more than one request, Kaye adds, so you’re giving options rather than ultimatums. Or, as she puts it: “Give your manager some space to work in.” If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, she suggests brainstorming with friends, family members or colleagues. ( “You may not realize this, dear, but you complain about those 8:30 a.m. check-ins a lot — maybe you could ask to push those back?”)
2. During the interview, be honest. This meeting isn’t a five-minute conversation where you rattle off a list of demands. “There’s a great variety of questions,” Kaye says. “And they all point to: How happy are you, and what can I do to improve on that?”
Like job interviews and exit interviews, there will be some back and forth — and potentially sensitive discussions. For example, your boss may ask for direct feedback on her management style. If the idea of opening up like this triggers a water cooler’s worth of cold sweat, remember this: She invited you to share your thoughts. And that’s because she values you. So, if you’re nervous, Kaye says, keep in mind: “Your manager really wants to know you better; your manager knows you are talented; and your manager’s worst nightmare is that you might go.'”
Kaye also suggests rehearsing with a colleague ahead of time. Ask: How do you think Teresa would feel if I asked for ________ in this way? “Practice, because it’s not easy for some employees to ask,” she says.
Of course, some bosses are easier to talk to than others — and that distinction often comes down to trust. “The more trust you have, the more open you can be,” Finnegan says. “On the other hand, if trust is limited, go in with some emotional intelligence.”
3. After the interview, follow up. Whatever changes you and your manager agree to in your stay interview, hold her accountable to make them, Finnegan says. He points out that, ideally, you won’t need to follow up and remind her to reschedule those 8:30 a.m. check-ins. But if she doesn’t make a move, push her to do so. In Finnegan’s words: “Test the manager and find out if this is real — can I trust you?” If not, hop back into that time-traveling cubicle, and mention that in your exit interview.
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The Employee’s Guide to ‘Stay’ Interviews originally appeared on usnews.com
