stay interview

Definition

A proactive conversation with current employees to understand what keeps them at the company, conducted before they're tempted to leave. Like an exit interview, but you still have time to actually fix things.

Example Usage

During my stay interview, I told them I stay for the free coffee, but they wrote down 'career growth opportunities.'

Origin

Developed as a retention strategy in the early 2000s by HR consultant Beverly Kaye

Fun Fact

Companies that conduct regular stay interviews report 30% lower turnover rates than those that only do exit interviews.

Source: Employee retention and engagement practices

Related Terms

Beginner

organizational culture

The shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that characterize how work gets done in a company. It's supposedly defined by leadership's vision statements but actually determined by what behavior gets rewarded and what gets ignored.

👥 Human Resources

Advanced

cliff vesting

A vesting schedule where retirement or equity benefits become fully available all at once after a specific period, rather than gradually. You get nothing, nothing, nothing, then suddenly everything.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

desk rejection

Immediately disqualifying a candidate without serious consideration, usually based on obvious disqualifying factors or minimum requirements. It's the HR equivalent of swiping left.

👥 Human Resources

Advanced

skills taxonomy

A structured classification system organizing every conceivable workplace skill into hierarchies and categories, because HR loves nothing more than turning human capabilities into sortable databases. It's the Dewey Decimal System, but for your career.

👥 Human Resources

Advanced

Succession Planning

The process of identifying who will take over key roles when current leaders leave, retire, or ascend to a higher plane of executive retreat. In practice, it means everyone secretly knows who the backup is except the backup, who finds out the day their predecessor quits.

👥 Human Resources

Beginner

Open Door Policy

A management claim that anyone can walk into the boss's office anytime to discuss anything, which is technically true if you enjoy career suicide. The door is open but the welcome mat is made of eggshells.

👥 Human Resources

Translate This Term

See “stay interview” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on X Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Beginner

cockblocker

1. A female who accompanies her male friend(s) out and then prevents them from getting any attention from other females...