Expect more from your employee pulse surveys

Because each organization is different, there’s no perfect universal answer to this question. Some organizations launch quarterly pulse surveys, some prefer monthly or weekly pulse checks, and some even use a daily employee pulse survey – generally in a very slimmed-down format. At the basic level, it’s important to set a clear interval and consistently follow through. Automated pulse survey software makes this easy. If you need to make changes, adjust and communicate! For example, some organizations kicked off weekly pulse surveys during the pandemic to maintain employee engagement, then shifted to monthly pulse surveys when employees returned to the workplace. Another aspect to consider is how frequently you’ll be able to review results and act on what you learn. Real-time alerts are helpful, but taking follow-up action on feedback received is one of the most important keys to a successful employee pulse survey program. Pulse survey companies can help you figure out where to take action, but only your company can put those insights into practice!

To start with, pulse surveys for employees should include a core metric question that uses a rating format. A simple question like “How’s it going?” can be a great way to gauge employee sentiment and a five-point scale (Terrible to Amazing!) makes it easy for employees to answer quickly. Some pulse surveys stop at one question, and that’s okay! If you want to learn more, though, your employee pulse survey tool should offer skip logic flows to display relevant follow-up questions. Open-ended questions are a strong choice, prompting employees to explain their rating. While it’s very helpful to see metric trends over time, responses to these open-ended questions help to deliver insights in employees’ own words. If you want to dive a little deeper, you may choose to include a key driver question to learn more about which variables are impacting employee sentiment. Still, keep it tight! An employee pulse survey should take just a few minutes to complete, especially since you’ll be asking for feedback regularly.

If you want to track trends, it makes sense to ask the same question or questions each time. Otherwise, you’ll be comparing apples to oranges and your pulse survey software dashboard will be useless. If you’ve decided to ask “How’s it going?” each time, for example, keep it up! However, if you’d like to add in a little fun variety or learn more about a specific topic each time, it’s fine to add a few additional variable questions. Employee pulse check surveys should be steady measures (just like your pulse!) but can also serve as a vehicle for collecting quick insights on other topics throughout the year.

It’s simple: Do something with the results! If your team sees your employee pulse survey program as a pointless exercise in which responses are never read, they’ll disregard it as a waste of time. The more employees see you sharing results and doing something about what you’ve learned, the more motivated they will be to continue sharing feedback. You might include trends or selected results in internal employee newsletters, highlight employee-inspired changes in all-hands meetings, and even showcase your team pulse survey learning successes in your external blogs and marketing. Some pulse survey companies will tell you to offer cash incentives for participation, but keep in mind: When folks have feedback, they want someone to listen! After all, who doesn’t want to work with a company that listens and learns? 😊