Pulse Surveys // What, When, How and Why?

Pulse Surveys // What, When, How

and Why?SARAH MARRS

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT, EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS, QUALTRICS

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Sarah MarrsPRINCIPAL CONSULTANT, EMPLOYEE INSIGHTS

Sarah has dedicated her career to designing and running employee feedback programs for over 7

years. She joined Qualtrics in April 2015, after working in-house at Tesco overseeing their global

colleague insights survey. At Qualtrics, Sarah works with clients to design survey solutions that

drive real business value, through questionnaire design, sampling methodologies, survey

communication programs, or interpreting survey results. She has particular experience helping

organisations to take the first step from annual surveys to more regular feedback such as Pulse

surveys or Lifecycle feedback.

Prior to working at Tesco, Sarah spent the bulk of her career at the Hay Group, leading survey

delivery for the Pacific region. With the Hay Group Sarah designed and delivered surveys to many

different types of organisations – banks, logistics companies, energy companies and more. She’s a

big believer in the power of listening to and acting on employee feedback, and always energised to

talk about new and innovative ways to collect and act on that information.

ALWAYS ON FEEDBACK

ADHOC SURVEYS

EMPLOYEE LIFECYCLE SURVEYS

CENSUS ENGAGEMENT SURVEY

EmployeeInsights are nolonger just about Engagement surveys

PULSE SURVEYS

Slow-movingLong-termRobustBroad

Immediate-feedbackShorter-termSpecific

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©2015 Q

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LTRIC

S LLC

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Today’s session WHAT IS A PULSE SURVEY

WHY RUN PULSE SURVEYS

CONSIDERATIONS FOR PULSE SURVEYSLENGTH

CADENCE

SAMPLING

HOW TO CONSTRUCT A PULSE SURVEY

TWO COMMON EXAMPLES

Ask yourself these four questions. If the answer to all four is ‘yes,’ then it’s a pulse survey.

Does it track the same construct over time, measuring it at least twice?

Is it a shorter survey?

1

2

3

4

Is it more frequent? (relative to the annual census survey)

Does it happen at regular time intervals?

What is a Pulse Survey?

A Pulse Survey is not

Bound to measuring a specific set of content / construct

A “one off” survey that can be sent by anyone at anytime

A survey that changes its content completely over time

SURVEYOUTCOME

(ENGAGEMENT)

SURVEYOUTCOME

(ENGAGEMENT)

SURVEYOUTCOME

(ENGAGEMENT)

DRIVERS (ORG PRACTICES/

BEHAVIOURS)


BEHAVIOURS)


BEHAVIOURS)

SURVEY EVENT 1 SURVEY EVENT 2 SURVEY EVENT 3

The ROI of Pulse Surveys

(NPS, $$)

BUS INESS OUT COME

(NPS, $$)

BUSINESS OUTCOME

(NPS, $$)

BUSINESS OUT COM E

Pulse Survey ConsiderationsCadence, Length & Sampling

WEEKLY

5-10 qu’sMONTHLY

10-15 qu’sQUARTERLY

15-20 qu’sBI-ANNUAL

20-30 qu’s

WHAT WE’LL TALK ABOUT TODAY

Sampling may be needed Sampling may not be needed

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10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

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Monthly Pulse

Q1

Q2Q3

Q4

Quarterly Pulse

5 steps to construct a pulse survey program


What business outcomes do we want to drive?

What constructs influence that?

STEP 1 / / DETERMINE THE GOAL OF THE PULSE SURVEY

• Build predictive model of how org practices / behaviors predict future engagement and business outcomes.

• Track changes (improvements based on action) over time


Monthly

Quarterly

Bi-annual

STEP 2 // DECIDE ON THE RIGHT CADENCE FOR YOUR PULSE SURVEY

Note: You should be ready to take action at the same cadence that you are surveying

Understand the cadence at which important business metrics / outcomes are measured / tracked


Monthly // 10-15 items

Quarterly // 15-20 items

Bi-annual // 20-30 items

STEP 3 // DECIDE ON THE LENGTH OF YOUR SURVEY


OUTCOMES // Engagement, eNPS, customer barriers

DRIVERS // Company practices & behaviours

STEP 4 // IDENTIFY YOUR SURVEY ITEMS

5 steps to construct a pulse survey programSTEP 5 // IDENTIFY A SAMPLING STRATEGY

Monthly // Sampling could be needed

Quarterly // Potentially no sampling needed

Bi-annual // Likely no sampling needed

ACTION PLANNING FOLLOW-UPLinked to an engagement survey (i.e. track actions or key drivers)

1 2 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT PULSETrack employee attitudes / engagement (e.g. eNPS) and potential drivers

Two common monthly / quarterly pulse survey examples

Example 1 //Action Planning Follow-up

Action Planning follow-up PulseSTEP 1 / / Determine the goal of the survey:

STEP 2 / / Decide your survey cadence:

STEP 3 / / Define your survey length:

STEP 4 / / Define survey content:

STEP 5 / / Define sampling strategy:

To track the success taken of actions on an annual survey

Bi-annual

Up to 20 questions

OUTCOMES: Use the same Engagement measure as annual survey given the two events are linked

DRIVERS: Measure top critical areas for action planning as uncovered in your annual survey. This

might be a combination of lower-scoring key drivers, or items with lower absolute scores.

Ask all participants as cadence is infrequent and want to check in with all employees mid-year.

Action Planning follow-up Pulse

No. ITEM CATEGORY

1 I feel proud to tell people where I work Engagement Outcome

2 This company motivates me to go above and beyond in my role Engagement Outcome

3 I would recommend this company to family and friends as a great place to work Engagement Outcome

4 I see myself working at this company in two years time Engagement Outcome

5 Overall, I am satisfied with my job at this company Engagement Outcome

6 There are good opportunities for career progression at this company Career Progression

7 --- Follow-up for disagree - What would you want to see from this company to give you the career opportunities you're looking for? Career Progression

Action Planning follow-up Pulse

No. ITEM CATEGORY

8 My manager encourages collaboration on my team Collaboration

9 It is easy to collaborate with other functions or teams within this company Collaboration

10 I am happy with my current work-life balance Work-life Balance

11 I hear enough communication from the senior leadership team about what is happening at the company Company Leadership

12 --- Follow-up for disagree - What types of communication methods do you prefer? (select up to 3) Company Leadership

13 I have seen action as a result of the last employee survey Post-survey action

14 What do you think we could have done better to take action on the survey? Open Text

Example 2 //Engagement Pulse Surveys

Engagement PulseSTEP 1 / / Determine the goal of the survey:

STEP 2 / / Decide your survey cadence:

STEP 3 / / Define your survey length:

STEP 4 / / Define survey content:

STEP 5 / / Define sampling strategy:

To measure engagement and it’s drivers more frequently than just once a year and align with

customer data

Monthly

Up to 10 questions

OUTCOMES: Look for a shortened version of your engagement measure, that measures the

components more inclined to fluctuate at your desired cadence

DRIVERS: Look for a broader range of drivers which reflect the driver categories in an annual survey.

Aim for one driver item per category.

As customer data is reported at Divisional level, ask an equal number of employees every month

so that each employee is asked to contribute once a year.

Engagement PulseNo. ITEM CATEGORY

1 I would recommend this company to family or friends as a great place to work Engagement – Org Commitment

2 Generally speaking, when I get up in the morning I look forward to going to work

Engagement - Job Involvement

3 It's up to me how I get things done in my role Autonomy & Empowerment

4 We work well together on my team Collaboration

5 There is open and honest two-way communication on my team Communication

6 I am happy with the recognition and promotion I've received in this organisation to date Recognition

7 I have the tools / equipment / technology I need to be most effective in my role Resources

8 My manager helps me resolve any work-related issues I have Supportive Management

9 I have the training I need to be successful in my role Training & Development

ThankYou

Business

Pulse Surveys // What, When, How and Why?