Stay Interview Questions Form
A stay interview questions form for HR to capture what keeps an employee engaged, what could drive turnover, and what follow-up actions to take. Use it to turn one-on-one conversations into clear retention notes and action items.
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Overview
This Stay Interview Questions Form template gives HR and managers a structured way to ask why an employee stays, what could make them leave, and what support would improve retention. It includes fields for interview context, current motivators, risk factors, growth needs, accommodation needs, and follow-up actions so the conversation produces usable notes instead of scattered talking points.
Use it when you want a repeatable retention check-in for employees in critical roles, high-turnover teams, or after a change that could affect engagement, such as a new manager, promotion, or workload shift. The form is especially useful when you need a consistent record across multiple interviews and a clear owner for next steps.
Do not use this as a generic performance review or an anonymous pulse survey. It is meant for a named, one-on-one stay interview with enough structure to support action, but not so much structure that it turns into a long questionnaire. Keep the questions focused and use progressive disclosure for sensitive topics like accommodation details. Avoid collecting unnecessary PII, and only ask for information you will actually use to support the employee or route a follow-up. The best version of this form ends with a concrete action plan and a date for review.
Standards & compliance context
- If the form collects any PII, include a clear notice about how the information will be used, who can access it, and how long it will be retained.
- For accommodation-related fields, use a separate, limited-disclosure path that supports ADA reasonable-accommodation handling without collecting unrelated medical details.
- Apply GDPR data minimization by collecting only the fields needed to support the stay interview and follow-up actions.
- Use access controls and an audit trail so only authorized HR and management users can view sensitive retention notes.
General regulatory context for orientation only — verify current requirements with counsel or the relevant agency before relying on this template for compliance.
What's inside this template
Interview Context
This section anchors the conversation to the right employee, interviewer, and date so the notes are traceable and easy to follow up on.
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Employee name
Enter the employee’s name for follow-up and recordkeeping.
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Job title
Optional. Use only if needed to understand role-specific feedback.
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Department
Optional. Helps route feedback to the right leader or HR partner.
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Interview date
Select the date the stay interview was completed.
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Interviewer name
Name of the manager, HR partner, or leader conducting the interview.
What Keeps You Here
This section captures the positive retention drivers that should be protected or reinforced before they disappear.
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What keeps you working here?
Describe the main reasons you choose to stay with the organization.
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What do you value most about your role or team?
Examples may include the work itself, team relationships, flexibility, learning, or mission.
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What recent work or accomplishment are you most proud of?
This helps identify meaningful work and sources of engagement.
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Which of the following matter most to you right now?
Select all that apply. Use this to identify the strongest retention factors.
What Might Cause You to Leave
This section surfaces risk factors early so managers can address barriers before they become resignation reasons.
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What might cause you to consider leaving?
Please share any concerns, frustrations, or conditions that could make you look elsewhere.
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What barriers or obstacles are making your work harder than it should be?
Examples may include unclear priorities, workload, tools, processes, or communication gaps.
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How likely are you to look for another job in the next 6 months?
Use this to gauge retention risk without collecting unnecessary sensitive details.
Growth, Support, and Accommodation
This section identifies development needs and any workplace adjustments, using progressive disclosure for sensitive information.
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What growth, learning, or career development would help you stay?
Include training, stretch assignments, mentoring, promotion clarity, or new responsibilities.
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What support from your manager or the organization would help most right now?
Focus on practical support that would improve your day-to-day experience.
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Do you need a reasonable accommodation or workplace adjustment?
ADA reasonable-accommodation prompt. Select Yes only if you want to discuss a workplace adjustment.
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If yes, describe the accommodation or adjustment needed
Provide only the minimum necessary detail needed to route the request.
Follow-Up and Action Items
This section turns the interview into an accountable plan by naming actions, owners, and a review date.
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Top actions to take after this interview
Summarize the most important follow-up actions, owners, and timelines.
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Follow-up owner
Who will own the follow-up actions?
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Follow-up date
Optional date for the next check-in.
How to use this template
- 1. Enter the interview context fields first, including employee name, job title, department, interview date, and interviewer name, so the record is tied to the right person and conversation.
- 2. Ask the stay questions in order and capture short, specific answers about what keeps the employee here, what they value most, and what recent work they feel proud of.
- 3. Use the leave-risk section to document barriers, concerns, and the employee’s perceived risk level, keeping the wording factual rather than speculative.
- 4. Open the growth, support, and accommodation section only when relevant, and record only the minimum details needed to understand the request and route it correctly.
- 5. Assign top actions, name a follow-up owner, and set a follow-up date before closing the form so every interview ends with a clear next step.
Best practices
- Keep the questions conversational, but record answers in short, concrete phrases that can be reviewed later.
- Use conditional logic so accommodation details appear only when the employee indicates a need, reducing unnecessary disclosure.
- Mark required fields clearly and leave optional fields optional to avoid forcing employees to share information they do not want to provide.
- Capture the employee’s own words when possible, especially for motivators and barriers, because paraphrasing can hide important nuance.
- Set the follow-up date before the meeting ends so the action item does not get lost after the conversation.
- Limit the accommodation section to minimum-necessary information and route sensitive details through the proper HR process.
- Review repeated themes across interviews by department or role to identify patterns in workload, manager support, or growth opportunities.
What this template typically catches
Issues teams running this template most often surface in practice:
Common use cases
Frequently asked questions
What is this stay interview form used for?
This form guides a structured conversation with an employee about why they stay, what might make them leave, and what support would help them remain engaged. It turns an informal check-in into a consistent record with clear fields for retention themes and next steps. HR and managers can use it to spot patterns before a resignation happens.
How often should stay interviews be conducted?
Most organizations use them on a recurring cadence such as annually, semi-annually, or after key milestones like promotion, team changes, or a manager transition. The right frequency depends on turnover risk and role criticality. The form works best when it is used consistently enough to compare responses over time.
Who should run the stay interview?
A direct manager usually runs the conversation, while HR may facilitate for sensitive roles or when neutrality matters. The form includes interviewer details so the organization can track who collected the feedback and follow up appropriately. If the discussion includes accommodation needs, HR should be involved to handle it carefully and consistently.
Can this form be used for anonymous feedback?
No, this template is designed for named stay interviews because the goal is to support a specific employee and assign follow-up actions. If you need anonymous feedback, use a separate anonymous submission form instead. Keeping the two use cases separate avoids confusion about confidentiality and action ownership.
What should we do with accommodation requests captured here?
Treat accommodation-related fields as sensitive HR information and route them through your normal reasonable-accommodation process. The form includes a dedicated section so the employee can indicate a need without over-collecting unrelated PII. Keep the details limited to what is necessary to evaluate and respond to the request.
What are the most common mistakes when using this form?
Common mistakes include making every field required, asking vague questions that do not lead to action, and failing to assign a follow-up owner. Another pitfall is collecting too much detail in the accommodation section instead of using progressive disclosure and minimum-necessary data. The form should end with a clear next step so the conversation does not stop at notes.
How can we customize this template for our team?
You can tailor the questions to specific roles, departments, or turnover risks by adding conditional logic for different employee groups. For example, frontline teams may need questions about scheduling, while knowledge workers may need questions about growth and workload. Keep the core structure intact so you can compare answers across employees.
Can this connect to our HR tools or workflow?
Yes, the form can be connected to HRIS, task management, or ticketing workflows so follow-up actions are assigned automatically. Many teams route the submission to HR, the manager, and the action owner, then track completion in an audit trail. Integrations are most useful when they preserve confidentiality and only share the fields each recipient needs.
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