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Optometric Management

Article

BUSINESS: Optical

Use the power of stay interviews

By: Jessilin M. Quint, OD, MBA, MS, FAAO
Optometric Management September 1, 2023 Vol 58, Issue September 2023 Page(s): 48, 51

Improve your practice with employee feedback

Like businesses across America, many of our opticals have struggled with turnover. At my office, we have used information gained from stay interviews in order to identify areas where staff were unhappy and how to improve these areas before they felt the need to quit. Below, we discuss what a stay interview is, the advantages of these interviews, and questions to help get the most information out of them.

What is a stay interview?

In contrast to an exit interview (see “Exit Interview Questions,” P. 51), a stay interview is done between an employer and a current employee with the organization; they are usually performed every 6 months. The purpose of a stay interview is to gather information about what employees like about their role, what they want to see improved, or identify areas they would change.

A stay interview can be done in person, one-on-one, or in the form of an anonymous questionnaire to encourage honest feedback. Having this information is helpful to identify areas that may need improvement. Employers can then “fix” the areas of improvement before an employee chooses to leave the organization. These fixes can include things like adjusting wages and altering office flow in order to decrease burnout.

 

The image shows a sample of employee interview questions used by Dr. Quint’s practice to decrease staff turnover.Image courtesy of Dr. Jessilin Quint
The image shows a sample of employee interview questions used by Dr. Quint’s practice to decrease staff turnover.Image courtesy of Dr. Jessilin Quint

 

What to ask in a stay interview

Here are some examples of interview questions:

  1. What do you look forward to most when you come to work every day? Benefit: This question highlights what is going well at the office so that you can keep doing it. This also features something an employee finds value in that isn’t monetary based.
  2. What do you dread about work every day?Benefit: This question brings perspective to an area that might need to be adjusted or improved.
  3. What situation has made you think of leaving?Benefit: This question is direct and gives intel on what an employee is thinking. Maybe it’s a financial reason, maybe it’s less of a commute, maybe it’s a 4-day work schedule.
  4. Would you recommend our company to job-seeking friends? Why or why not?Benefit: These questions allow insight into the current office culture, morale, and employee engagement within the office.
  5. What is the best part of your job?Benefit: This also highlights what is going well in the organization. Asking questions of a similar theme in different ways ensures responses are consistent.
  6. What part of your job would you cut out straight away if you could?Benefit: This brings light to efficiency and office flow. If a certain task is bringing an employee grief, perhaps see if that task could be changed or reassigned to encourage job satisfaction.
  7. Which of your talents are you not using in your current role?Benefit: This question allows an employer to learn about new talents of an employee that might not be apparent. Sometimes employees don’t advocate for themselves and a question like this can create a line of communication for an employee to be open about their strengths, talents, and skillsets that are not currently being used.

EXIT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Some turnover is unavoidable, and thus so are exit interviews. People will leave our opticals because of new opportunities or life changes but tracking why employees leave is helpful in identifying areas to improve. Learning from mistakes can help decrease turnover and more effectively hire the right people. An exit interview is also beneficial in some scenarios because it allows a disgruntled employee to be heard and may lessen the likelihood of a poor employer review.

Thankfully, you can still gain useful employee feedback out of exit interviews, just like with stay interviews. Here are a few examples of exit interview questions:

  • What is the main reason for leaving this company?Benefit: This questions documents why an employee is leaving. Documenting a specific reason allows an employer to monitor for turnover trends.
  • What was the team atmosphere like?Benefit: This open-ended question allows honest feedback to learn what the real morale in the office is like.
  • In what ways did you feel or not feel supported?Benefit: Many times, when an employee leaves, they don’t want to give honest feedback for fear of hurting feelings or burning a bridge. Questions like this allow an employee to give honest insight into what might or might not be working well within an organization.
  • What did you like most about working at this company?Benefit: This question allows an employer to identify and document the strengths of the organization.
  • What did you like least about working at this company?Benefit: This question allows an employer to identify and document the weaknesses of the organization.

The power of interviews

By fine-tuning our office protocols to incorporate information from stay interviews, many of our practices can grow and decrease unnecessary staffing turnover. It’s really quite simple — never underestimate the power of a great interview! OM

DR. QUINT is a co-owner of Smart Eye Care in Maine. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and optometric practice management. She was the 2019 Theia Young O.D. Award winner and consults for Allergan.

DR. QUINT is a co-owner of Smart Eye Care in Maine. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and optometric practice management. She was the 2019 Theia Young O.D. Award winner and consults for Allergan.

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