Avoiding the Great Resignation: Questions to Ask Your Team Members
For the last podcast of the year, Vonda and Lori tackle the conversation they've had more than any other with shop owners in 2021: the employee problem. Hiring is brutal — new hires ghost before day one, and some shops now hire two people for one opening, assuming one won't work out. And the Great Resignation predictions for 2022 call for more of the same. So the hosts dig into a retention tool most flower shops have never tried: the stay interview — because you already do a hiring interview and (if you're lucky) an exit interview, but the in-between interview might be the one that keeps you from ever needing the exit.
What a stay interview actually is
A stay interview is a one-on-one where an employee gets to talk about their experience under your watch: what's working, what could be better, and what plan of action you'll build together going forward. The point isn't the answers alone — the fact that you want the conversation at all shows you care, and makes people feel heard. But there are conditions: you have to come in open and flexible, not defensive, watching your nonverbal cues, creating a genuinely safe space. Come in with an "I have to do this" attitude and you'll get the fake back-and-forth — "I'm fine, you're good" — and then one day that person is just gone.
The questions to ask
The hosts walk through a set of questions worth borrowing (email lori@flowerclique.com for a copy of the document):
- What about your job makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning? There are no wrong answers — and if a part-timer says "checking social media," you may have just found your social media person.
- What have you accomplished this year that you feel good about? Not "I'm proud of you" — as a therapist once told Lori, flip it: help them feel proud of themselves.
- How do you like to be recognized, and how does that compare to what you're getting? Some people love public praise; others (Lori included) would rather have a private thumbs-up text and will hot-potato a public compliment to whoever's standing nearest.
- What feedback would be more helpful? Some employees need transparency and will call BS on praise that's too glowing; others shrink if corrected mid-design in front of four coworkers. Learn which is which.
- What frustrations keep you up at night or ride with you on the way to work — and what could reduce them? It doesn't have to be job-related. Childcare trouble, bills — if they're brave enough to share and you can help solve it, that's huge for retention and productivity.
- If I could wave a magic wand and change your role, what would it be? The right-person-right-seat question.
- What have I not asked about that could make a difference to you going forward?
Execution is everything
The hosts are emphatic: how you roll this out matters as much as the questions. Send the questions a few days ahead so nobody's put on the spot. Hold a short staff meeting first (with snacks — always snacks) to share your vision for the new year and, as the article Lori found puts it, invite everyone's crayon to the picture: you've drawn the outline of 2022, and you want every employee coloring in the part they'll own. Then announce the one-on-ones as something you're asking as a favor to you: "I want to make sure I'm doing well as a boss — leadership, management, communication — and there are no wrong answers." Say you'd like to discuss the questions, not ask them. Frame it clearly as not-a-review, because some employees will still walk into the office braced to cry. And schedule your first interview with the person most comfortable with you — they're going straight back to the team to report how it went. A little gift bag at the end doesn't hurt either.
The cold hard truth about why people leave
When owners are shocked that someone left "for more money," Lori offers the mindset flip: if an employee doesn't feel part of the team, cared for, and respected, the math becomes "I can make more money over there and be treated the exact same way — so I might as well go." They didn't leave for the money. They would have stayed if you'd been building into them. That's why appreciation can't be a Thanksgiving-only event — it's the post-it note on a time card in the middle of a 150-degree July wedding week that says "couldn't have done yesterday without you." Little deposits that fill up the cup, all year long.
Key takeaways
- Add a "stay interview" between the hiring interview and the exit interview — it may prevent the exit entirely.
- Send questions ahead, frame the meeting as feedback on your leadership, and start with your most comfortable employee.
- Learn how each person wants recognition and feedback — public versus private is pure personality, and guessing wrong backfires.
- Ask what's keeping them up at night, even outside work; solving it tells them you care and often it's figure-outable.
- Appreciate people in the hard moments, not just the holidays — employees rarely leave bosses who are actively building into them.