The datapoint that impacts retention that you're not currently tracking

Together With

Good morning.

Let’s be honest with ourselves—your best people don’t just walk out the door one day. They drift. One missed “thank you” at a time. One overlooked idea. One growth opportunity passed over. And before you know it, they’re updating their resume on their lunch break and your team’s performance is circling the drain.

So where do we begin? Implement stay interviews—a wildly underused, incredibly powerful tool that’s less about saving your staff from leaving and more about unlocking their potential while they’re still here. It shows them you care and provides unparalleled insight into how you can improve your operation and their experience as part of the organization.

Elevate your Workforce

Why Stay Interviews Are Your Secret Weapon

Unlike exit interviews (which are basically autopsies on what went wrong), stay interviews are proactive. They’re your chance to ask, listen, and act—before disengagement sets in. When done right, they boost retention, morale, and yes—performance.

According to Gallup, 52% of exiting employees say their manager could have done something to prevent them from leaving. The stay interview is your chance to be that manager.

9 Questions That Help Peal Back the Layers

Let’s break down the seven questions from the visual above—because this isn’t just a feel-good chat over coffee. This is how you unlock what makes your top performers tick:

What do you look forward to every day?
Start positive. Find their spark and throw gasoline on it.
What’s most meaningful in your role? Us this and figure out a way for their day to be filled with more of this.
What would you like to change about your role or duties? Don’t get defensive here. This is about making the job work better for them, not keeping the status quo comfortable for you.
What challenges are impacting your performance? This is where real leadership shows up. Remove roadblocks and suddenly, you’re not just a boss—you’re a partner in success.
What skills do you want to develop next to help with your career goals and how can I help? This question comes directly from the insights in Viventium's workforce management report. Check it out here .
What would you like to learn? Development isn’t a perk—it’s a strategy. Align growth opportunities with individual aspirations and watch them rise.
What makes you feel valued? Not everyone wants a trophy. Some just want to be heard, trusted, or told they’re doing great work. Know what matters to each person.
If you could change one thing about how we use technology, what would it be? You may not be able to change this right away, but it will point your focus in the right direction.
Do you feel like your paycheck is consistently accurate and transparent? Especially for hourly employees, there is nothing that erodes trust more and sends people looking for another job like payroll mistakes. Most community and organizational leaders I know have little insight into how many payroll mistakes are made every two weeks. It's a data point you should start tracking as part of QAPI and your benchmark should be zero. This question comes directly from the insights in Viventium's workforce management report. Check it out here.

Tips for Making It Stick

Listen like you mean it. No phones. No distractions. Just you, them, and real conversation.
Keep it open-ended. You’re not mining for status updates. You’re hunting for insights.
Follow through. A stay interview without action is just noise—and trust me, your team can tell the difference. Take notes and follow through.

Your top performers are your culture carriers, your fire starters, your quiet heavy lifters. A stay interview shows them they matter before they start wondering if they do.

And here’s the kicker: it’s not the interview that keeps them—it’s what you do with it. So ask. Listen. Act. And repeat.

Partners We Love

Viventium is providing our readers a goldmine of insights driven by over 600 interviews with Administrators and frontline caregivers.

The 2025 Healthcare Workforce Management Report is a must-read for any skilled nursing leader who’s serious about retention, engagement, and operational excellence.

This isn’t fluff. It’s 28 pages of data-driven clarity about what’s really driving burnout, turnover, and performance gaps—and what to do about it.

Inside, you’ll find:

Eye-opening stats on pay, trust, and burnout
The disconnects between administrators and care staff that sabotage retention
Practical steps to improve scheduling, communication, and payroll accuracy
Strategies to support career growth and restore joy in caregiving

Whether you’re a regional operator or running a single building, this report will challenge assumptions, highlight blind spots, and arm you with the insights to lead smarter.

Ready to lead with data instead of guesswork? Download the report here and take your next step toward a stronger, more resilient workforce.

Whenever you're ready, I can help you in a few ways.

Leverage our partnership with CEUSrEZ and purchase NAB-approved, online, self-paced, continuing education courses at a 20% discount here.
Use our free AI-powered Chatbot trained on all 900 pages of CMS Nursing Home Regulations, proprietary processes, and information from decades of skilled nursing leadership experience. Click here.
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Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful day.

Kevin Goedeke, Publisher and Founder