HR Insights · Working aid

The Stay Conversation

A manager's quarterly guide. Eight questions that surface what keeps someone, or what’s starting to push them out, months before it reaches an exit interview.

Tick through it below, or talk to us about building this into how your managers work.

This is the conversation most companies only have on the way out, at the exit interview, when nothing can be done about it. Having it once a quarter, instead, turns it into an early warning system. It works best as a real conversation, not a form to fill in silently.

Explain the purpose before you start, listen without arguing, and be clear about how any concerns raised will be handled. These prompts support a conversation; they are not a scored assessment.

Eight questions for the quarter

0 of 8 reviewed

1. What part of your work gives you the most energy?
2. What repeatedly makes good work difficult?
3. Are your responsibilities and priorities clear?
4. Do you have the resources and support you need?
5. What would you like to learn or take on next?
6. What has changed in your experience since our last discussion?
7. What is one practical change that would make a difference?
8. What have we agreed to do, who owns it, and when will we review it?

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Follow through

Summarise the agreed actions. Explain limits honestly, and return with an update. Escalate sensitive concerns through the appropriate internal process.

Why this works

Most of what drives a resignation is visible months in advance, if someone is asking. A manager who holds this conversation every quarter, in good times and not only when something seems wrong, finds out what’s actually going on before it hardens into a decision to leave.

The questions are deliberately open. They are not a performance review, and they should not feel like one. The point is to listen, agree on something concrete, and come back to it next quarter, which is exactly what the checklist above is for.

This tool comes out of Why Good People Leave, and What Actually Keeps Them, where we set out the evidence behind it.

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The Stay Conversation

Eight questions for the quarter

Why this works

Want help building this into how your managers work?

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