In the 2020 report from Glint.inc, 87% of HR professionals agreed that measurement is key to improving employee experience. Luckily, there are many ways to measure employee engagement success.
Here are just a few to get started:
- Turnover and retention rates
- Enter and exit interviews
- OKRs and productivity data
- Communication systems
- 1:1 meetings
- Employee engagement surveys
In this article, we’ll discuss ways to obtain employee engagement data on a weekly basis with custom pulse survey templates. We’ll explain what pulse surveys are and how to cater them to your team needs. We even created some example questions to get you started today!
Click & Skip:
What’s the purpose of an employee engagement survey?
Factors affecting employee engagement
Employee engagement survey questions
Weekdone as an employee engagement survey tool
What is a pulse survey?
Well, a pulse is the number of times your heart beats per minute, right? For a healthy person, this rate should be:
- Frequent
2. Brief
3. Uniformed
4. Consistent
These 4 criteria define a healthy heartbeat, and as Qualtrics.com explains pulse surveys, they also define a pulse survey.
In short, a pulse survey is a questionnaire regularly distributed in a company in order to obtain regular, informative, and useful feedback. The survey results are then analyzed by management and used to make improvements within the organization.
Check out our complete guide on employee pulse surveys here.
What’s the purpose of an employee engagement survey?
An employee engagement pulse survey is one where the managers and leaders have identified the purpose of their survey with a need to gain more information about employee satisfaction and retention.
The employee engagement survey purpose: to give managers feedback and serve as inspiration for ways to improve employee experience. Additionally, these surveys give employees the chance to regularly check in with themselves about their work experience.
Factors affecting employee engagement
As a team leader, you should consider asking questions that will make your life easier. What do you need to know that will help improve the work experience for your team? Let’s look at 4 factors affecting employee experience.
- The ability to grow within the company (opportunities to learn)
- A positive culture with very few toxic behaviors
- Trust in leaders
- Having a voice that’s listened to
It’s easy to overlook issues. Without regularly asking the hard questions, you’ll never know what employees really want.
Check out another blog post by our CEO explaining the best times for different questions and some tips on forming your own employee questions.
Employee engagement survey questions
Here are some questions that may help you when creating the best employee engagement survey for your team.
Open-ended questions
Open ended questions offer your employees the chance to share their voice. Asking questions where they can leave remarks or suggestions on how to improve is great for surveys.
- What is one thing about your work experience that is positive?
- What is one thing about your work experience that could use some improvement?
- What are three words or phrases that best describe the culture at [company name]/within our team?
- What opportunities for growth do you see for yourself at [company name]?
- What was a challenge you experienced this [time period] at work? Is there a way you could have been better supported by your team?
- How would you describe your workflow management process?
- What is something that motivates you – in or outside of work?
- What is something you see in other companies that you would like us to consider applying to our business or within your team?
- Have you read, watched, or listened to anything interesting lately that you would like to share? 🙂 If so, we’d love to know.
- What is something we don’t know about you? Anything!
Yes or No questions
Alternatively, by asking yes or no questions you’re able to ask more outright questions. Those that don’t require an explanation. Simply because the response will give you a relative understanding of what you need to improve. Follow up questions can be asked in 1:1 meetings if leaders need more information.
- I understand what I need to do in order to be successful in my role.
- I receive appropriate feedback and recognition when I do good work.
- I have access to the resources I need in order to do my job well.
- I am proud of where I work
- I feel valued as a team member
- I feel valued as a member of the entire organization
- I feel supported by my coworkers
- I find my work meaningful
- I have a good work-life balance
- I wish there were more learning opportunities for me at our company.
5-star rated questions ⭐️
A 5-star rating gives your employees the chance to give feedback based on their level of agreement.
1 point : strongly disagree
2 points: disagree
3 points: neutral
4 points: agree
5 points: strongly agree
Of course we are all striving for the 5 points or 100% value. And, if you’re distributing your pulse surveys weekly, like Weekdone does, you need a quick way to get effective, honest feedback. The goal is engagement – you’ll decrease your chances of that if everyone is expected to write a term paper every Friday.
Some helpful examples of 5 star rated questions are:
- I believe there are good career growth opportunities for me at [company name]
- I feel that the CFR (conversation, feedback and recognition) system at [company name] is effective
- I am satisfied with the amount of team building activities we have at [company name]
- I would like more opportunities to socialize with other teams outside of my own
- Team communication runs smoothly
- I feel that my feedback is valued by my manager
- My work-life balance is supported by my company and team
- My work tasks are motivating and purposeful
- My team is productive and collaborative
- The work environment at [company name] is positive
Weekdone as an employee engagement survey tool
At Weekdone, we understand the importance of people management, socialization, and productivity. Achieving 100% employee engagement isn’t something that happens overnight. But by offering your team a communication system that promotes transparency, tracks progress, and encourages open communication and collaboration – you’ll be on your way to success.
5 star questions
Using the 5 star rating questions mentioned before, team leaders can customize these to satisfy their intention. As a team leader, ask yourself “what regular information could I benefit from to understand my team’s needs?” Employees fill in these surveys at the end of each week. Afterward, individual and team reports are sent to management and team leaders for review.
Weekly Check-Ins
Weekly Check-Ins are for employees to answer the following questions weekly. These questions follow the Plans, Progress, and Problems (PPP) methodology for status reporting.
- What are 5-7 tasks that you’re working on this week?
- Which of these plans have you accomplished?
- What kind of challenges have you faced this week that you think we should know?
Weekly check-ins provide the transparency companies need for productivity and success. Coworkers can engage by sending ‘likes’ or collaborate through comments. Managers can keep track of progress and understand where projects stand.
1:1s
1:1s are for starting a direct conversation between team leaders and employees in case of any issues or concerns. Having this right there, makes it easy, and reinforces the idea that their voice is ready to be heard. Not to mention that their leader is easily accessible.
Conversation, Feedback and Recognition
A little recognition goes a long way. Weekdone allows you to upvote others within the company to the leaderboard. You can share a comment to highlight a specific achievement, or give them a 👍 and let that say enough. Your profile and accomplishments are shown on the company newsfeed for everyone to recognize the employee(s) of the week.
Custom Templates
Team collaboration and connection are important factors in employee engagement. By adding custom categories like “interesting materials” to your dashboard, you show your team that you’re open to new conversation – related or unrelated to work tasks. You can use some of the open-ended questions for inspiration.
Let’s wrap it up
Pulse surveys with a focus on your employees will help you understand and care for the regular, overall health and strength of your company. And, according to Gallup.com, employees believe that team leaders alone account for 70% of variance in team engagement! Your employees are counting on you to create an open environment for them to succeed.
Seeing this positive engagement requires more than a quarterly review – it’s an ongoing process. It’s the relationship with your employees that you must build and nourish over time.
Treat your employees like your best customers; make them your loyalists. Create an environment they’ll want to boast about with their friends at the next dinner party.
Weekdone is free for teams of 3 or less. For larger teams, you’ll get a 14 day free trial. And once you start seeing engagement within your company improve through productivity and survey analysis, rest assured knowing you’ll only pay $29 a month for unlimited users. All bells and whistles included.