Understanding Your Organization with the Employee Pulse Survey

People are the most essential ingredient of a successful organization. You could have the most advanced technology, innovative marketing strategies, and a revolutionary employee café. But, if your employees are not in sync with the direction and goals of your company, it’s a recipe for failure. Engaged and thriving human capital is the difference between success and failure at your company.

Employees want to be heard on issues and feel like their voice matters. Getting employee buy-in creates a positive workplace culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and motivated to strive for excellence. 

This culture also fosters teamwork, encourages creativity, and promotes a sense of commitment among the employees. Empowering them to make decisions is not only beneficial for their morale, but it can also lead to more efficient problem-solving methods in your organization and more employee engagement because you are utilizing diverse opinions and solutions brought forward by the workforce.

But how can you efficiently, effectively, and quickly measure the opinions of your staff? The employee pulse survey is a brief and powerful tool to understand how your employees feel about various topics.

3 Key takeaways you need to know

• Pulse surveys provide immediate feedback on employee sentiments
• Communicate survey purpose clearly, keep surveys short and consistent, ask relevant questions, incentivize participation, and follow up with actionable steps based on feedback to maximize survey effectiveness
• Include questions on workload satisfaction, support from managers, clarity of roles, and communication effectiveness

What is an Employee Pulse Survey?

In a nutshell, an employee pulse survey is a way for your employees to share their opinions about various issues in your company. These surveys can be done several times a year to give a snapshot of your organization’s current state of affairs.

The surveys typically involve a short list of questions to elicit responses about specific areas such as job satisfaction, work environment, safety, company culture, management effectiveness, and more. The objective is to gauge your employees’ pulse or mood at any given time and stay proactive by addressing employee feedback to see if there’s issues that need to be taken care of before they snowball out of control.

Benefits of Employee Pulse Surveys

In addition to gathering valuable data for decision-making, employee pulse surveys have several benefits:

• Real-time feedback: Routine employee pulse surveys give you immediate feedback and improve company culture. You can implement changes quickly to show your staff they matter. 
• Improved communication: There’s often a gap between the management perspective and what’s happening on the front lines. These surveys could serve as an effective channel for honest communication between employees and leaders.
• Increased engagement: Employee pulse surveys allow employees to express their views freely and get involved. Empowering employees to influence decisions engages them more.
• Reduced turnover: Invest in your employees instead of constantly dealing with a revolving door. Turnover is costly for companies, and it’s a red flag for new talent coming to the organization.
• Cost-Effective: The benefits of employee pulse surveys far outweigh their cost and time to deliver.

Employee Pulse Survey Best Practices

Employee pulse surveys are a tool to help your company function better. Here are some best practices to get the most out of them:

Communicate the Purpose

Rolling out a survey without communicating what it’s for is unlikely to serve any purpose. Employees are willing to trust the survey if you clearly communicate its intent. The sole purpose of an employee pulse survey is improvement in some capacity. The survey will become even more powerful if you inform staff you are using their suggestions to make improvements.

Keep Surveys Short

Your employees are already pressed for time and don’t need additional burdens. A brief survey shows your employees that you respect their time and value their input. Aim for a length that does not take longer than 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Shorter surveys are also more likely to be answered accurately and honestly.

Distribute Them Consistently

There’s no value in sending your employees an annual pulse survey, especially if you do nothing about it. Routine employee surveys followed by corrective action from the employer create value and greater response from your employees to participate. Start with a quarterly pulse survey and increase frequency as needed. Consistency plays a pivotal role to your team’s success. 

Use Relevant, Specific, and Simple Questions

You will find little use for your surveys if employees find them a chore to finish. Stay away from complex or two-part questions in your survey. They take more time to answer and may confuse your workforce, leading to inaccurate results. Ambiguity in questioning leads to inaccurate data collection and less employee trust when corrective action occurs.

Incentivize Participation 

This best practice can be tricky, as you want internal motivation from employees to complete surveys. However, you might get the best participation by offering incentives when launching these. Done with thoughtfulness, incentive schemes recognize employees’ efforts while encouraging them to act more actively in shaping their workplace environment. These don’t necessarily mean extravagant bonuses, but encouraging notes from leadership, extra break times, or fun team-building activities could work wonders.

Provide Follow-Up and Take Action 

The worst employee surveys are the ones given by management to check the box. These are surveys that go into a black hole, never to be looked at again until the following year’s institutional effectiveness day. If employees take the time to share their thoughts and suggestions, they need to see that their input has had an impact. This could involve implementing some of the proposed changes or communicating why specific suggestions may not be feasible.

FAQs on Employee Pulse Surveys

You can assess your staff on virtually anything, and it can be challenging to know where to begin. Here are some commonly asked questions with answers to help guide you in creating, implementing, and analyzing employee pulse surveys:

Should Employee Pulse Surveys Be Anonymous? 

It’s your decision whether you want them to be anonymous or not, but you can expect more accurate and honest answers using confidentiality. Some employees may fear retaliation for providing negative feedback or negative attention from their coworkers. However, a downside to answering anonymously is the inability to track results. Explain to your staff the reasons for taking the survey and the value of doing so, and assure them of their safety regardless of how they answer.

How Often Should Pulse Surveys be Conducted?

The frequency of conducting pulse surveys can vary depending on your organization’s needs. Some companies find quarterly pulses work best, while others may opt for monthly or weekly checks. The key is finding a balance between gathering feedback regularly without burdening employees with constant requests for input. Create a schedule where employees enjoy and willingly participate in the survey.

What Questions Should Be Included in the Survey?

Choosing what questions to include in your pulse survey depends entirely on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you want feedback on workplace culture, ask about teamwork, leadership effectiveness, and job satisfaction. For performance-related insights, ask about productivity levels, areas of improvement needed, or daily challenges. Create these questions with your leadership team, and consider a small test group to provide feedback on the user experience.

What Should I Do After the First Pulse Survey?

The first few surveys are about creating a baseline of data. You’ll be able to identify the areas of opportunity and figure out how to address your employees’ concerns. For example, you may ask your employees about the effectiveness of communication within the organization. Suppose your survey results show that there’s a lack of effective communication. In that case, you can then address this with proper training programs or policy changes to improve how employees interact with each other.

How Do Pulse Surveys Differ From Traditional Ones?

Employee pulse surveys are shorter and more frequent than traditional surveys. They are intended to tell you “what’s happening out there” right now. Pulse surveys are typically about one or a few topics, while traditional surveys cover many issues. Pulse surveys are also great for assessing feelings toward recent organizational changes. Pulse surveys are also intended for immediate intervention, while traditional ones are usually aimed at implementing gradual change. 

Popular Pulse Survey Questions to Include on your Surveys

Here are some popular pulse survey questions:

• How satisfied are you with your current workload?
• Do you feel supported by your manager/team?
• Are you clear about your role and responsibilities?
• How do you rate the communication within the team/organization?
• Do you feel your opinions and ideas are valued?
• Are you able to maintain a healthy work-life balance?
• Do you have the resources and tools needed to perform your job effectively?
• How motivated are you to come to work each day?
• Do you feel recognized for your contributions?
• How likely are you to recommend our organization as a place to work?

Let’s Recap

The backbone of any successful organization is the people, plain and simple. You can have all the bells and whistles, but if your team isn’t feeling heard and valued, you’re missing the mark.
That’s why you should always use pulse surveys in your company. They give you real-time insights into how your employees are feeling about their workload, support, and whether their ideas are being heard.

Communication improves, motivation skyrockets, and suddenly, your workplace becomes a place where everyone wants to be.

So it’s clear, pulse surveys aren’t just about data collection. They’re about fostering a culture of listening, learning, and taking action. Because when your people feel heard, your organization thrives.

Ready to get started with your first pulse survey? We can help! Peoplelytics offers over 50 prebuilt surveys so you can choose which one you want and go from there. Check out our demo here to get started.