WHEN RUNNING A DECORATED APPAREL BUSINESS — especially one that relies on a skilled production team — it’s crucial to understand what keeps your employees around. That’s where stay interviews come in.
Unlike an exit interview that you conduct when an employee already is heading out the door, stay interview is a proactive approach to getting insight into why they choose to stay and what could make them consider leaving. It’s a chance to connect, gather valuable feedback, and strengthen your team from within.
Let’s dive into why stay interviews are worth the effort, how to prepare, and ways to use the feedback to build a more resilient and dedicated team.
Why Bother?
Stay interviews are casual conversations that allow employees to share what they like, what could be better, and what they hope for in their role. It’s about learning what’s going right and what needs improvement before any small issues become big. In a screen-printing shop — where experienced press operators, color experts, and finishers are vital — keeping these folks engaged and satisfied isn’t just a good idea; it’s a lifeline for your business.
Imagine you’ve got an experienced press operator named John. He’s great at his job, but he’s expressed a bit of frustration with equipment downtime. In addition, screens and ink never seem to be ready for him when he needs to begin printing orders.
During a stay interview, he discusses how this affects his workflow and leads to bottlenecks in production. Because you listened, you can invest some time working out workflow problems from the sales to art to the screen room process. This improves John’s productivity and overall job satisfaction. Now, John feels valued, his workflow is smoother, and he’s more invested in sticking with your team. All because you took the time to listen.
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The bottom line? Stay interviews are an investment in your people, especially in a production-heavy industry like screen printing, where specialized skills are hard to replace. They help you anticipate potential issues, understand employee needs, and take action to ensure your team stays.
Setting Clear Objectives for Your Stay Interviews
When conducting stay interviews, it helps to have clear goals. Think of it like preparing for a print job: you wouldn’t start without knowing the design, colors, or specs. For stay interviews, aim to uncover:
- EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION: Why do they like working here? What makes their job enjoyable (or not)? Understanding satisfaction helps you keep morale high and identify what makes your workplace unique to employees.
- COMPANY CULTURE: How well does the environment align with the firm’s values and needs? Culture is essential in small-to-medium businesses, where close team interactions can be a make-or-break factor for retention.
- CAREER ASPIRATIONS: Are employees looking to grow in their roles? Are they interested in learning more skills or taking on new responsibilities? This can reveal who’s ready to take on new challenges and who might be eyeing career growth elsewhere.
- BENCH-STRENGTH POTENTIAL: Who on your team might be interested in developing key skills for future advancement? You strengthen your team’s foundation for the future by identifying employees interested in leadership or cross-training. Someone on your team is your next great press operator. You just haven’t trained that person yet.
Why These Objectives Matter
The decorated apparel industry requires specialized skills. Many roles, from screen printing to receiving, are difficult to automate and require hands-on expertise. Knowing why your team is loyal helps retain that expertise. By supporting career goals, you build a flexible, engaged team ready to step up when needed.
Preparation is the key to making stay interviews productive. Start by identifying the right people to lead these conversations, often managers or supervisors who know the team well. Creating a relaxed environment where employees feel comfortable speaking honestly is essential.
Preparation Tips
1. Set a Friendly, Non-Judgmental Tone: Ensure employees know it’s a safe space to share. Avoid the rigid formality of typical evaluations.
2. Choose Your Questions Carefully: Open-ended questions work best. Some good ones are:
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- “What do you enjoy most about working here?”
- “If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?”
- “What is the biggest complaint you share with your friends and family about the shop?”
- “What skills or experiences would you like to gain?”
- “If we could give you some advanced training, what would that be?”
- “How could we make things more enjoyable for you here?”
3. Make It Relevant to Your Company: In a screen-printing shop, ask about specific skills your staff might want to develop, like cross-training on new equipment or learning basic skills in a different department.
Conducting the Interview
When it’s time to sit down, remember the goal is to build trust and learn more about your crew. Here’s how to make it go smoothly:
- Listen Actively: Give your full attention, and don’t interrupt. Even if the employee mentions something critical, let him finish. Take notes. Writing down what he says signals you are listening intently.
- Ask Follow-Up Questions: If the employee says, “I really enjoy working in production,” ask, “What makes the daily work pleasing for you?” Get to the bottom line of the good or bad things people have feelings about.
- Read Between the Lines: Pay attention to body language and tone. Sometimes, what’s not said is as important as what is. Arms crossed could signal they are distrustful of the interview.
One of the biggest mistakes is turning these interviews into one-sided feedback sessions. Instead, stay curious and open, letting employees feel valued and respected. You want to listen more than you talk.
Pitfall to Avoid: Rushing
Take the time to engage and don’t make the interview feel rushed. Employees will know if you’re just checking off a box rather than valuing their time and feedback. Rescheduling may be better than cutting it short if you’re rushed because of a time crunch.
Stay interviews give you valuable insight, but what you do with that information is where the magic happens. This especially is important for creating bench strength, which is developing a solid team with the skills to step into critical roles when needed.
When someone quits his job suddenly or a key player needs some time off, who is ready to step up and take over? This is where bench strength comes into play. A sign of good management is the team has a solid bench to rely on for all core tasks in the building.
Using Stay Interviews Effectively
- Identify Potential Leaders: Who shows an interest in learning and taking on more responsibility? These folks are your future managers and trainers.
- Pinpoint Skills Gaps: If your employees express interest in learning new skills, consider setting up cross-training or skill development sessions.
- Create Individual Growth Plans: Use what you’ve learned with the conversations to help team members work toward their goals. This is good for their morale and helps you create a more versatile team.
Building Bench Strength
Let’s say an employee expresses interest in leadership but has little management experience. Start small. Give him responsibility for organizing what it takes to get a big order out the door or manage the Saturday shift that comes in for a few hours.
Over time, this builds confidence and a succession plan that you can count on when promotions or new positions arise. It is your responsibility to train your people.
Once the interviews are done, it’s time to sort through the insights and take action. Here’s how to get started:
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- Look for Trends: If several employees mention something in particular, such as wanting more flexible hours or more microwaves in the break room, it’s worth addressing. Pattern recognition can reveal underlying issues or opportunities.
- Prioritize and Plan: Based on the feedback, develop a plan to determine what can be acted on quickly and what will require more planning. For example, a desire for more training could lead to setting up a quarterly workshop or bringing in an industry expert.
- Celebrate Wins: Recognize employees for their contributions. Small acknowledgments go a long way, especially when employees see their thoughts and opinions turning into tangible results.
Taking action on feedback — and celebrating when things improve — reinforces a positive company culture and boosts employee morale. You don’t have to implement every idea, but you do have to take things expressed seriously. It’s OK to say, “We can’t do this, but what if we do this idea instead?”
Stay interviews aren’t a one-and-done deal. Following up with employees and showing them their feedback has been heard and valued is crucial to developing a fantastic company culture.
Follow-Up Tips
Schedule Regular Check-Ins: Let employees know you’re serious about improvements by scheduling follow-up meetings. This doesn’t have to be super detailed. You can have on-the-fly conversations to let them know where things stand.
Track Metrics: Keep tabs on your retention rate, job satisfaction levels, and any other metrics tied to stay interview outcomes. Improved metrics will validate your stay interview efforts. Yes, this means you must document and measure. Use a simple survey with a few ideas rated on a scale of 0 to 10. Where do you score?
Build a Pipeline of Core Workers: Encourage employees with potential to take on projects, attend workshops, and get training. Your next press operator, ink mixer, or screen room tech already works for you. They simply need to acquire the skill. That’s your job.
When you consistently have meaningful conversations with your staff it reinforces you are serious about building a better company. Ignore your team at your peril.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
To make stay interviews effective, here are a few things to watch out for:
- Not Following Up: Stay interviews lose value if you don’t act on your learning.
- Making It Too Formal: Create a relaxed, open environment, not a high-stakes interview.
- Getting Defensive: Listen openly without judgment. Address concerns instead of reacting defensively, showing maturity and trust. You may not like what you hear. That doesn’t mean it is not valid.
Stay interviews could be the next great tool in your management toolbox. But like any tool, they only work when you take them out and use them. Your goal is to help you retain your top talent. We all know how hard it is to find people in the skilled positions in a shop. The best way to keep your shop humming along is to retain your team, upgrade their skills, and keep everyone happy.
Actively listening to their concerns, opinions, and thoughts on why they work for you is a great place to start that process. Your team can work anywhere they want. Why do they work for you? What keeps them coming back? How could you make their job more interesting, enjoyable, and exciting?
You won’t know the answer to those questions until you ask.