21 Best Stay Interview Questions to Ask | AIHR

I began to track return to office dates and vaccine mandate decisions in August 2021 to help those in my network understand how 150+ firms were handling these decisions. However, as organizations repeatedly changed their return dates over a 10-week period (a few changed their dates 5x), I stopped tracking this information on October 21, 2021. Said differently, the return dates were changing so frequently that the dates themselves became less useful. But as we approach February 2022, many firms seem to have greater confidence in their return dates—with many announcing plans to return their workforce to the office over the next few weeks. This observation places a spotlight on a question that has been lurking for the past year: what impact will return-to-office have on employee retention? Firms paying attention to this question are likely to have already developed and implemented talent strategies to address this concern. However, those firms and managers that have yet to answer this question and proactively plan are more likely to face heightened turnover risk as workers return. This risk is more significant given that workers considering leaving have had time to plan their exit strategy. And with many firms planning to payout bonuses this time of the year—a trigger for when employees might time their exit—the near-term risk is compounded. While it may be too late for managers to retain their best talent, the next few weeks could present one last opportunity to do so. This document includes questions to uncover what’s most important to individual workers. Managers can incorporate a few of these questions into their next 1×1 conversation with direct reports and develop a plan for keeping those workers they want to retain.