Stay Interviews That Work

Ask
before
they leave.

Most organisations interview during recruitment and at exit. Career Monitor fills the gap: a structured, quantitative stay interview that tells you who is at risk, why, and what to do about it.

Retention Research Base

10,000

Employees interviewed over 15+ years to build and validate the Career Monitor framework.

<67%
High-risk threshold. Act within 3–6 months.
75%+
Low risk. 12-month opportunity window.
4
Monitor domains scored in every interview.
15+
Years of research behind every risk rating threshold.

What is Career Monitor

A new kind
of conversation.

Career Monitor is a structured retention interview platform built by HR Coach Australasia. It transforms a qualitative conversation into quantitative data, giving managers a clear, colour-coded picture of where each employee sits on the engagement-to-risk spectrum.

📊

Quantitative, not just qualitative

Every interview produces a scored report across four domains. You leave with numbers, risk ratings, and a retention plan, not just notes.

🎯

Individual-level insight

Retention is not one-size-fits-all. Career Monitor captures what matters to each employee specifically, including why they joined versus why they stay today.

Action-ready output

Reports are colour-coded with red, amber, and green risk priorities, time-framed action plans, and a ready-to-discuss retention plan for manager and employee together.

🔒

Cloud-based and secure

The online platform handles the entire process from order to report generation. Interviews are stored on a secure server and accessible any time.

Career Monitor Executive Summary Sample Report — Retention Interview
66%
Total Retention Rating
High Risk — act within 3–6 months
Business
72%
Operations
68%
Own Performance
63%
Workplace Culture
62%
Risk Priority
Manage
Growth

The Four Domains

Four
monitors.
One picture.

Each Career Monitor interview assesses four distinct domains of the employment relationship. Together they produce a composite Retention Rating with a colour-coded traffic light risk level and a prioritised action plan.

01 — Business Monitor

Business

How aligned is the employee with the overall direction, communication, and commercial reality of the organisation? This monitor explores the factors that connect an individual to the business they work within.

02 — Operations Monitor

Operations

Does the employee have what they need to do their job well? This monitor examines whether the day-to-day systems, structures, and processes are working for the individual or against them.

03 — Own Performance Monitor

Own Performance

How does the employee assess their own capability and effectiveness in the role? This monitor captures the employee's self-evaluation across both their knowledge and their day-to-day performance.

04 — Culture Monitor

Culture

What is the employee's experience of the culture around them? This monitor captures both the culture shaped by management and the culture lived by the wider team.

Risk Framework

Know exactly
where you stand.

The Career Monitor rating system has been validated against more than 10,000 employee interviews across 15+ years of research. Every score maps to a clear risk category, a time window for action, and a management priority level.

<67%
High Risk
Review window: 3–6 months

The employee has identified significant alignment issues. Immediate action is required. Priority: treat as a risk management situation and act within 3 months.

67–74%
Medium Risk
Review window: up to 12 months

The employee is generally positive but alignment gaps exist. Follow up internally. Priority: a management improvement program over the next 6 months.

75%+
Low Risk
Review window: over 12 months

The employee has found strong alignment with the organisation and their career path. Use this report as a growth opportunity. Priority: a 12-month improvement plan.

Changing Motivations

Why they joined
is not why
they stay.

Earning Potential
67%100%
The Job Opportunity
100%67%
Opportunity to Learn
100%100%
Brand and Reputation
67%100%
People
33%100%
Why they joined
Why they stay

Motivations shift during the employment relationship.

The reasons an employee accepts a role are rarely the same reasons they choose to remain in it. Career Monitor captures both sides of this picture in every interview, revealing the gaps between initial attraction and ongoing retention factors.

This variance analysis is one of the most powerful outputs of the process. When the "joined" motivation is much higher than the "stay" motivation for a particular factor, it signals unmet expectations that are actively eroding engagement.

Research Finding

Across more than 10,000 interviews, the top reasons employees stay shift significantly toward workplace relationships, flexibility, and growth opportunities: factors that managers can directly influence.

The Process

Simple to run.
Powerful to act on.

1

Conduct the Interview

Work through the structured Career Monitor interview alongside a licensed HR Coach. The process is guided, consistent, and designed to open an honest conversation.

2

Review the Report

Reports are generated instantly, covering all four monitor domains with colour-coded risk ratings and a one-page participant summary emailed directly to the employee.

3

Build an Actionable Plan

Sit down with the employee to review the findings and co-create a Retention Plan, with prioritised actions across 3, 6, and 12-month timeframes.

── When to use it

One tool.
Nine moments.

Career Monitor is designed to slot into your existing people management rhythm. It works as a standalone tool and as part of a broader HR or coaching engagement.

🎓

Probation Reviews

Identify early alignment issues before they become departure risks.

📋

Performance Reviews

Add a retention lens to existing review conversations.

Talent Management

Quantify engagement levels across your key people pipeline.

⚠️

Performance Interventions

Understand whether disengagement is driving underperformance.

🔍

Pre-Exit Analysis

Catch flight-risk employees before they hand in their resignation.

🔑

Key Employee Programs

Proactively retain the people your business depends on most.

📅

Annual HR Survey

Replace generic engagement surveys with individual-level data.

🗺️

Strategic Risk Mapping

Map workforce retention risk across the business as part of planning.

🌱

New Employee Survey

Baseline new starters and build a retention strategy from day one.

The Evidence

Built on
real research.

10k+
Employees interviewed to develop and validate the framework
15+
Years of longitudinal research behind every rating threshold
4
Monitor domains scored in every single interview
3
White papers published on engagement and retention findings

Not a survey. A science-backed conversation.

Career Monitor was developed by the HR Coach Research Institute using data gathered from over 10,000 employees across Australia and New Zealand over more than 15 years. The risk rating thresholds, the four-domain framework, and the retention plan process are all grounded in this research.

The institute identified that while engagement gets most of the attention, it cannot exist without first addressing retention. And retention requires listening at the individual level, not just running organisation-wide surveys that average out the signal.

The result is a tool that gives both the employer and the employee a structured, honest conversation backed by data, not guesswork.

Start a Conversation →

Pricing

An exclusive
tool for
members.

Exclusively for
HR Coach Network Members

Career Monitor is a proprietary tool available only to licensed members of the HR Coach Australasia Network. Access is provided as part of your Network Membership, ensuring every interview is delivered with the professional context and coaching expertise the process requires.

Platinum, Gold, and Standard Network Members receive access to the online platform. To find out more about becoming a member or to discuss access for your practice, contact the HR Coach team directly.

Find an HR Coach → Contact the Team

Every interview includes

  • Full Career Monitor Retention Interview
  • Executive Summary Report
  • Risk Report across all four monitor domains
  • Retention Plan with colour-coded priorities
  • One-page Participant Summary (emailed directly)
  • Changing Motivations analysis
  • Career Self-Evaluation (Career Maker model)
  • Secure cloud storage, accessible any time
  • Background Information capture sheet

Questions? Call 0474 497 720 or email info@hrcoach.com.au

Stop guessing.
Start listening.

Log in and run your first stay interview today. Or contact the HR Coach team to find out more.

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