Stay Interview Survey

The Stay Interview Survey is a ready-to-launch set of questions for employees who are still with you, designed to understand why they stay and what might make them leave. Unlike an exit survey, it is a proactive check-in. It asks people to rate how engaged and motivated they feel, whether their work makes a meaningful contribution, and whether recognition matches their effort, then opens up with questions about what they find most energising, what feels most draining, what they value most about working here, and the factors most likely to make them consider leaving. Run it with tenured or high-value employees, or across a team, before disengagement turns into a resignation.

The most reliable time to fix a retention problem is before someone has decided to go. A stay interview surfaces the reasons people remain and the early warning signs that they might not, while you can still respond. Knowing what employees find most energising tells you which work to protect and expand; knowing what drains them shows where to remove friction. Questions about recognition and compensation relative to responsibilities flag issues that quietly erode loyalty. The factors people name as likely to make them leave become a practical retention checklist. Used regularly, this survey helps managers hold better one-to-ones and helps HR target retention efforts where they matter most.

The template runs to roughly 23 questions across engagement, meaning, recognition, and retention risk. Rating statements include "I feel engaged and motivated in my current role," "I feel that my work makes a meaningful contribution to the organization's goals," "The recognition I receive for my work matches my contribution," and "I am satisfied with my current level of compensation relative to my responsibilities and the market." Open questions dig deeper: what aspects of the role feel most energising and rewarding, what feels most draining or frustrating, what the person values most about working here, and which factors would most likely cause them to consider leaving. Together these reveal both current satisfaction and future flight risk.

Copy or download the questions and load them into your preferred survey tool, such as Google Forms, Typeform, or your HR platform. You can run it as a self-completed survey or as a discussion guide managers work through in a conversation. Keep individual responses confidential so people speak freely about compensation and frustrations. No signup is required. Adapt the wording to your context, and pair the survey with a genuine intent to act on what you hear.