Turnover is costly. Is that an understatement? How many times have we seen a treasured team member give their surprise two-week notice? In each case it is unlikely that the person leaving decided to do so that day.
Now let me ask you a question: Do you change the oil in your car regularly? Why? Your car is probably working fine. Why bother? It is called preventive maintenance. We value our car and want to keep it properly maintained for a long life.
How about our team members? What do we do to stay in step with them so they don’t give us a farewell? Here is a recommendation from Richard Finnegan, a consultant specializing in engagement and retention. In his book, “The Stay Interview”, he recommends we conduct one-on-one “stay interviews” at regular intervals with our staff members. Here are the five questions he recommends:
When you come to work each day, what things do you look forward to?
What are you learning here?
Why do you stay here?
When was the last time you thought about leaving our team? What prompted it?
What can I do to make your experience at work better for you?
If we can do these interviews we can greatly reduce the frequency of those “surprise” resignations. Let’s practice good, regular, preventive maintenance with our team!
