THE GUIDE
How to run a team pulse survey people answer honestly
A pulse survey is a short, regular check on how your team is doing: a handful of agree/disagree statements and one or two open questions, repeated every month or quarter. Unlike the big annual engagement survey, it’s quick to answer, quick to act on, and shows you whether things are getting better.
The catch is honesty. People only tell you the truth if they believe their answers are anonymous and that something will happen as a result. This tool is built around both: no names are stored, results stay hidden until at least 3 people answer, and the results page tells you what to do next.
Good pulse survey questions
Keep it to 5–8 questions. These cover what most often goes wrong in teams:
- Clarity
I know what is expected of me at work.
- Resources
I have what I need to do my job well.
- Workload
My workload is manageable.
- Speaking up
I feel safe raising problems or disagreeing in this team.
- Feedback
I get useful feedback on my work.
- Overall
I would recommend this team as a good place to work.
- Open
What is one thing that would make your work better?
How to run it
- Tell the team why you’re doing it before you send the link, and promise to share the results.
- Send it at a calm moment, not straight after bad news, and give people about a week.
- Read the results looking for the lowest score and the most common comment theme.
- Share the results with the team, thank them, and pick one thing to change.
- Run the same questions again in a month or a quarter (use the same team name) to see what moved.
Keeping it anonymous
Answers are stored with no name, email, account or IP address. You see only totals, never individual answer sets, and nothing until at least 3 people have answered. Comments are shuffled and have no timestamps. In a very small team, people can sometimes still guess who wrote a comment, so say in your message that comments are optional, and never try to work out who said what.
Frequently asked questions
Monthly for a team going through change, otherwise every quarter. More often than monthly and people stop bothering, especially if nothing changes between rounds.
No. They open the link and answer. Only you, the creator, need a free account, so that only you can see the results.
On a 1–5 scale, averages of 4 or above are strong, 3.2 to 4 is fine, and below about 3.2 deserves a conversation. The trend matters more than the number: a 3.4 that was a 2.9 last quarter is good news.
Results stay hidden until 3 people answer, to protect anonymity. Send one friendly reminder. If response stays low, that is itself a signal worth talking about.
Yes. Pick from the library or add your own agree/disagree statements, up to 12 questions in total.
One-minute lessons on this
TOPIC 10How to notice when your team has stopped volunteering
TOPIC 23Why silence in a meeting is not the same as agreement
TOPIC 20The burnout sign that can look like things calming down
TOPIC 55What to do when someone says “I’m fine”
TOPIC 40Why silence from a remote employee isn’t always good news
TOPIC 31