The year 2025 has seen an uncertain labor market, return to office mandates, and increasing workplace demands. Perhaps not surprisingly, employee engagement reached a 10 year low, according to the Gallup 2025 State of the Global Workplace Survey. Pulse surveys can help employers track employee sentiment and identify potential issues as they arise
Organizations need engaged workers. Gallup estimates that a fully engaged workforce would add $9.6 trillion to the global economy. In 2025, however, the percentage of employees actively engaged at work fell to 21%, a 2% drop from the year before. Overall, only 33% of employees reported “thriving” in their lives – including work.
The results of these numbers show up in the bottom line: Disengagement cost the global economy $438 billion in 2024, Gallup reports. One way organizations can remedy disengagement is to learn what employees are experiencing and feeling. And the best way to learn is to ask the employees themselves.
In this article, we will examine pulse surveys – short, focused questionnaires that can be used to track sentiment and engagement over time. They are especially useful for identifying pain points before they become bigger issues.
Most organizations measure employee sentiment through annual or semi-annual engagement surveys, often tied to performance review cycles. Engagement surveys can cover a variety of issues and may require employees to provide narrative answers. They generate much useful information, but they are time consuming – both for employees to answer and for management to process.
Pulse surveys are brief, recurring employee surveys designed to measure sentiment on important topics over time. They provide clues about the “heartbeat” of the organization. They may track known issues or look for signs of emerging ones. Because they’re short, pulse surveys can be given at regular intervals and track issues over time.
These are a few characteristics of pulse surveys:
Pulse survey questions ask employees to rate a series of statements, with responses ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.” Because they are short and easy to answer, pulse surveys can be completed quickly, making it more likely that employees will respond.
Pulse surveys can serve as an “early warning system” for emerging issues that may need attention – like tracking burnout or disengagement. Used properly, pulse surveys can help employees feel heard and valued.
Common types of pulse surveys include the following:
To get the best results, start with the most pressing issues. Each survey question should be timely, important, and actionable. Leaders should focus on what they need to know about the workforce right now.
It may be that the organization has concerns about specific business results, or the performance of certain business units. Leadership may want to follow up on the effects of a recent change initiative. Or it may want to monitor trends that surfaced in longer year-end engagement surveys.
Survey scope. Each pulse survey should be limited to a single topic, but that doesn’t mean leadership is limited to just a few questions. Leaders can develop a list of 10 to 15 questions that can be asked over two or three surveys on the same topic. The number of questions will depend on the timing of the surveys to avoid stale data.
Survey timing. Pulse surveys should happen often enough to provide current, actionable data, but not too frequent that employees get “survey fatigue.” While sending pulse surveys on a predictable schedule can encourage participation, leaders need to be mindful of workloads, holidays, and the like. Finding the right cycle may require some experimentation.
Response rates. Assuming employees answer the surveys candidly – which we will discuss in the next section – response rates are the key to accurate results. According to Lattice, in an organization of 100 employees, an 80% response rate yields an acceptable 5% margin of error. As organizations increase in size, lower response rates can yield equally valid results.
Employee participation and support is critical for organizations to obtain useful information. But there are several issues requiring special attention to make sure organizations get the most from their pulse surveys.
Protecting confidentiality. Another common barrier to participation is employee concern that their answers may be used to penalize them. Employers want to encourage participation by protecting privacy, but they also want to learn as much as possible about potential problems.
The key for organizations is to provide “consistent, simple communication” on how survey data will be collected and used, according to the Harvard Business Review. Some conduct anonymous surveys, in which responses cannot be linked to specific individuals, but it’s more common for surveys to be conducted confidentially, in which only a small group has access to identifying information.
Making employees feel heard. Employees want their organizations to know what they’re thinking, but according to the Harvard Business Review, they “won’t speak up if they don’t believe their input will be genuinely considered.” The author writes that managers who are responsive to employee feedback experience 30% less attrition than those who aren’t.
To demonstrate that they value employee input, many leading companies practice “reflective listening,” according to the author. Reflective listening involves “actively demonstrating an understanding of what’s been heard,” for example, by summarizing and reporting to the employees the results of surveys. Reporting can be done by immediate supervisors or by senior leaders, depending on the survey.
Providing follow up. If the surveys uncover the need for a change, what happens next? As the author notes, “At most companies, employees, middle managers, and leaders are already working at capacity.” That can make finding resources a challenge.
Before planning newly identified changes, older, “legacy” change initiatives need to be re-examined, and let go when necessary.
Leaders need to periodically follow up on implementation. Communication with employees is again critical. Leaders should explain what they’ve learned from the survey and how they are responding.
We at TEP help organizations design and implement both pulse surveys and change initiatives. If you would like to learn more, please contact us.
TEP.Global partners with CEOs and senior leaders to unlock the talent, excellence, and potential within their people and organizations. Led by Dr. Vic (Victor Porak de Varna), an executive coach, people expert, and organizational consultant with a rich background in both science and the humanities, TEP helps leaders create healthier, more engaged, and higher-performing workplaces. Through a unique approach to talent assessment, leadership coaching, workshops, regular group meetings, mentoring, and organization-wide consulting, TEP supports sustainable culture change and better results for people and business.
If you are a CEO or senior leader looking for a trusted sounding board and strategic partner on people, culture, and leadership, connect with Dr. Vic and the TEP team here:
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