Draft a Stay-Interview Question Set Tailored to a Team's Retention Risk with Gemini in Docs

What This Does

A generic stay-interview question list ("what do you like about your job?") gets generic answers. Gemini in Docs drafts a question set built around what's actually driving risk on a specific team (a recent reorg, a workload spike, a compensation concern that's been surfacing in exit interviews), so the conversation produces something a manager can act on.

Before You Start

• You have a Business Standard plan with Gemini enabled ($14/user/month). Ask IT if you're not sure whether your org has it
• You've named the team's risk factors in your own head first (reorg, workload, comp, leadership change). Gemini writes better questions when you hand it a specific situation instead of "help this team feel more engaged"

Steps

1. Find the AI feature

Open a new or existing Google Doc. In an empty doc, a "Help me write" prompt appears directly in the body. In an existing doc, click the sparkle icon in the toolbar or upper-right corner to open the Gemini side panel instead.

2. Tell it what you need

Describe the team and the risk factors in plain language. For example: "Draft 6 stay-interview questions for a team that went through a reorg three months ago and raised workload concerns in the last pulse survey. Avoid generic questions like 'what do you like about your job.' Focus on what would surface an early flight risk."

3. Review and use the result

Gemini drops a full draft into the doc. Use the refinement controls (Formalize, Shorten, Elaborate, Rephrase) or type a custom instruction to adjust tone or length without starting over. A useful second pass: "make these open-ended, not yes or no questions." Read the final list against what the manager can actually act on. A question that surfaces a real concern is only useful if there's a plausible next step behind it.

Real Example

Scenario: A team absorbed two headcount cuts during a reorg in June, and the July pulse survey shows workload sentiment dropping. Their manager has stay interviews scheduled for next week and no idea where to start.

What you type: "Draft 6 stay-interview questions for a team of 8 that went through a reorg with headcount reduction three months ago and has flagged rising workload in the last pulse survey. Keep it open-ended and conversational, not a checklist."

What you get: A set of six questions that ask directly about workload distribution since the reorg and what would make the next three months feel sustainable, instead of a one-size-fits-all list that could apply to any team in the company.

Tips

• Name the specific risk factor, not just "retention." "Workload since the reorg" produces sharper questions than "engagement"
• Ask for a follow-up prompt bank too, a short list of natural next questions if the manager gets a one-word answer
• Reuse a strong question set as a starting template for the next team with a similar risk profile, then adjust the specifics rather than starting from a blank prompt every time

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