When Recruitment Slows, Give Your Existing Staff a Reason to Stay

When an employee hands in their notice, managers often make time for a conversation about what might persuade them to stay. By then, the person may have spent months weighing up their options, applied elsewhere and accepted another job.

That conversation is worth having earlier, while there is still an opportunity to understand their experience and act on what they tell you.

The importance of retention has been underlined by this week’s social care workforce commentary. Responding to the latest Skills for Care report on 14 October, the Health Foundation highlighted a 40% fall in internationally recruited social care workers between 2024 and 2025, alongside continuing pressures on workforce growth.

For care leaders, it is a timely reason to consider how much attention existing employees receive alongside the effort invested in finding new ones.

Make time before there is a problem

A stay conversation is an opportunity to understand what makes someone want to continue working for your organisation and what could cause them to leave. It should feel like an honest discussion, with enough privacy and time for the employee to speak freely.

Explain why you are having it. Let them know you want to understand what is working, what is becoming difficult and where improvements might help. Keep the conversation separate from a performance review so that concerns about workload or management do not become confused with an assessment of their own work.

Ask everyone, including reliable employees who rarely complain. Being capable and committed does not tell you how someone is feeling about their future.

Ask what makes the job harder than it needs to be

A useful starting question is: “What is one thing we could change that would make your working day easier?”

Give the person time to answer. They might describe unclear instructions, repeated paperwork, missing information before visits or difficulty getting a decision from a manager. Follow up with questions about when the problem happens and how it affects their work.

Specific examples give you something to investigate. If several employees describe the same obstacle, consider whether a process needs to change across the service.

Avoid immediately explaining why things are done that way. You may have good reasons, but listening first helps you understand the effect those arrangements have on the people using them.

Talk honestly about the rota

Ask whether working arrangements feel fair and how much notice employees receive when things change. Explore whether the same people are regularly asked to cover gaps and whether staff feel comfortable declining additional shifts.

A rota can look workable on a spreadsheet while creating difficulties for someone managing childcare, transport or caring responsibilities. Managers need to understand those pressures when considering what flexibility is possible.

Fairness does not mean everyone will receive their preferred shifts. It does mean having clear principles, applying them consistently and explaining decisions. If a request cannot be accommodated, discuss the reasons and whether another arrangement could help.

Find out what progress means to them

Ask what the employee would like to learn and how they would like their role to develop. Avoid assuming that everyone wants to become a manager.

Someone may want a qualification, experience supporting people with different needs, an opportunity to mentor colleagues or greater confidence in their current role. Another employee may want stability while they manage responsibilities outside work.

Discuss realistic next steps. If development has been promised previously, ask whether it happened and what got in the way. A modest opportunity with a clear date is more useful than a vague assurance that something will become available.

Be prepared to hear about pay

Pay belongs in the conversation. Employees should be able to raise financial concerns without being made to feel that caring about their income undermines their commitment to care.

Be clear about what you can decide, what needs further discussion and when you can provide an answer. If an increase is not currently possible, say so honestly rather than creating an expectation you cannot meet.

You can still explore other concerns, but recognition, flexibility and wellbeing support should not be presented as substitutes for addressing pay.

Ask about the management experience

Give employees space to discuss the support they receive. Do they know who to contact when something goes wrong? Can they ask questions without feeling they are causing trouble? Do concerns receive a response?

These questions require managers to be willing to hear uncomfortable answers. If someone describes a time they felt unsupported, ask what happened and what would have helped.

Where the concern involves their direct manager, offer an appropriate alternative person to speak with. Employees need a credible route for raising issues that they do not feel able to discuss within the usual reporting relationship.

Finish with an action and a date

Before ending the conversation, summarise what you have heard and agree what happens next. Identify what you can change, what you need to investigate and what may not be possible.

Keep an appropriate record of agreed actions and set a date to follow up. If you promise to review travel arrangements, explore training or discuss a rota concern, return with an answer even if the outcome is disappointing.

The follow-up gives the conversation its value. Asking for feedback creates an expectation that someone will consider it. Repeatedly collecting concerns without responding can make the next conversation harder.

Give support a place in everyday working life

Stay conversations work best alongside regular contact, fair decisions and accessible support. They should help managers notice issues early and understand what employees value about working for the organisation.

For further practical ideas, explore Ten Low-Cost Ways to Improve Retention. Employers can also find out about The Daily Round’s free wellbeing programme for care employers as an additional resource to share with their teams.

You will not be able to resolve every concern or prevent every departure. You can make sure employees have opportunities to be heard while there is still time to improve their experience.

Start with a conversation, listen carefully and keep the promises you make afterwards.