How to Use Stay Interviews to Retain Your MedTech Team

By the time a valued employee hands in their notice, it may be too late to change their mind.

They may have been thinking about leaving for months. Perhaps their development has stalled, their workload has changed, they have concerns about their territory or they no longer see a clear future with the company.

A stay interview gives managers an opportunity to have that conversation earlier.

Rather than waiting until somebody leaves and asking why, a stay interview explores what is working, what isn't and what could influence an employee's decision to stay or leave in the future.

Done well, it can give managers useful insight into the day-to-day experience of their team. But simply asking the questions isn't enough. What happens afterwards matters just as much.

What Is a Stay Interview?

A stay interview is a structured but informal conversation between an employee and their manager about their experience of working for the company.

It isn't a performance review.

A performance review primarily looks at how somebody is performing, their objectives, development and what they need to achieve next.

It isn't an exit interview either.

An exit interview takes place once somebody has already decided to leave.

A stay interview asks a different set of questions:

• What makes you want to stay?
• What makes your job harder than it needs to be?
• What could make you consider leaving?
• What would make your experience here better?
• What do you want from the next stage of your career?

The aim isn't to persuade somebody that they should be happy. It's to understand their experience before a resignation forces the conversation.

Why Have Stay Interviews?

Managers don't always know what their employees are thinking.

Someone can continue hitting target, supporting customers and appearing engaged while privately questioning whether they want to remain with the company.

Others may have frustrations that are relatively easy to address but have never raised them because nobody has asked.

A stay interview can help uncover issues around:

• Territory size or structure
• Workload and travel
• Targets and expectations
• Management support
• Training and development
• Career progression
• Recognition
• Team dynamics
• Resources and internal support
• Changes to the role or company

It can also tell you what is working well.

That's equally important. If people particularly value their autonomy, relationship with their manager, clinical support or opportunities to develop, you need to know that before inadvertently changing the things that help them stay.

Don't Limit Stay Interviews to Your Top Salespeople

It can be tempting to focus retention efforts on the people at the top of the sales leaderboard.

But performance isn't the only measure of somebody's value to a MedTech business.

An employee may hold important customer relationships, have significant clinical or product knowledge, support less experienced colleagues or have the potential to take on greater responsibility in the future.

Stay conversations can therefore be useful across your team rather than reserved for a handful of people you consider your biggest flight risks.

When Should You Hold a Stay Interview?

There is no single timetable that works for every business.

The important thing is not to wait until you suspect somebody is about to resign.

Stay conversations can be held periodically or at useful points in an employee's time with the company.

They may also be particularly valuable following significant changes such as:

• A restructure
• A change of manager
• A change to territory or responsibilities
• A product launch or withdrawal
• A period of rapid business growth
• A change to targets or commission
• Changes within the wider team

They shouldn't replace normal one-to-ones either.

If an employee has to wait for their annual stay interview before they can tell their manager something isn't working, communication within the team probably needs attention more generally.

Who Should Conduct the Conversation?

In many cases, the employee's direct manager is the most appropriate person to hold the stay interview.

After all, the manager is often the person best placed to understand the employee's day-to-day experience and act on what they learn.

However, there may be situations where HR or another appropriate person needs to be involved, particularly if the employee raises something that sits outside the manager's responsibility.

The important thing is that the employee understands why the conversation is happening and what will happen with the information they provide.

Create the Right Environment

A stay interview should feel like a conversation, not an interrogation.

Choose somewhere private and allow enough time that neither person feels rushed.

Explain at the beginning that the purpose is to understand what is working well and whether there are things that could improve their experience of the role.

Then listen.

Don't immediately defend the company, explain why something can't change or turn every concern into feedback about what the employee should be doing differently.

If somebody says their territory has become unmanageable, for example, the first response shouldn't be to explain why everybody is busy.

Ask what has changed. Understand where the pressure is coming from. Establish what effect it is having.

You may eventually conclude that the territory can't be changed, but you need to understand the issue before deciding what to do about it.

Questions to Ask in a Stay Interview

You don't need an enormous questionnaire. A small number of open questions can create a much better conversation.

What's Working?

• What do you enjoy most about your role?
• What parts of your job give you the most satisfaction?
• What do you particularly value about working here?
• What should we make sure we don't change?

What's Making the Job Harder?

• What frustrates you or makes your job harder than it needs to be?
• Is there anything about your workload, territory or responsibilities that concerns you?
• Do you have the resources and support you need to do your job effectively?
• Is there anything you spend time doing that you think could be handled differently?

Management and Support

• Do you feel you get the right level of support from me?
• Is there anything I could do differently as your manager?
• Do you have enough autonomy to do your job effectively?
• Is the feedback you receive useful?

Development and Career

• Are there skills you'd like more opportunity to develop?
• Is there anything you'd like to become more involved in?
• What would you like your next step here to look like?
• Can you see a realistic route towards that?

Retention

• What keeps you here?
• Is there anything that could make you consider leaving?
• Has there been a point when you seriously thought about leaving?
• If so, what was happening at the time?
• Is there anything we could realistically change that would make you more likely to stay?

You don't need to ask every question in every conversation.

Use them as prompts and follow the areas that appear most important to the individual.

Don't Promise What You Can't Deliver

A stay interview doesn't mean agreeing to everything an employee asks for.

They may want a promotion that isn't available, a territory change that isn't practical or a salary increase that sits outside the company's current structure.

Don't make promises simply because you want the conversation to end positively.

Instead, be clear about what you can change, what you need to investigate and what may not be possible.

An honest explanation is better than an enthusiastic promise that quietly disappears afterwards.

Look for Patterns Across the Team

Individual conversations can also reveal wider issues.

If one person says they need more product training, that may be an individual development need.

If five people independently say they don't feel sufficiently prepared to handle a particular customer conversation, you may have identified a wider training gap.

The same applies to workload, communication, targets, internal processes, clinical support and career development.

Look for repeated themes without losing sight of individual circumstances.

The Most Important Part Comes Afterwards

This is where stay interviews either become useful or turn into a box-ticking exercise.

If an employee raises something important and never hears about it again, asking the question may actually reduce trust rather than build it.

After the conversation, agree what happens next.

That could be:

• Something the manager will change immediately
• An issue that needs discussing with somebody else
• A development opportunity to investigate
• A follow-up conversation about career progression
• A practical change to workload or responsibilities
• Something that cannot currently be changed, with an explanation of why

Then follow up when you said you would.

You won't be able to solve every issue. Employees don't expect every request to result in a yes.

But they should be able to see that speaking honestly was worthwhile.

Don't Wait for the Resignation

Exit interviews can provide useful information, but they come after the employee has made their decision.

A stay interview gives you the opportunity to understand what people value, what is frustrating them and what they want from their future while there may still be something you can do with that information.

It isn't a magic retention tool, and it won't prevent every resignation.

Sometimes the right next step for an employee genuinely is somewhere else.

But regular, honest conversations give managers a much better chance of understanding what's happening within their team before a resignation comes as a complete surprise.

The question isn't simply, "What would make you stay?"

It's whether you're prepared to listen carefully to the answer and do something useful with what you learn.