Pulse Survey sample questions

Pulse surveys are a great way to check-in with employees on a more frequent basis as opposed to an annual employee engagement survey, but what questions should you ask?

Pulse surveys are meant to be a lower-cost and a more efficient way to gain insight into the state of the team. Simply put, the structure of the questions is very different vs. questions you ask the team once per year. If you’re new to pulse surveys, check out our getting started guide.

P.S - check out our pulse survey template to learn how we can help you automate most of the process.

We’ve provided sample questions below. We’ll start with popular questions, and then work our way into more granular, specific ones.

The Questions

On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend working at [company-name] to a friend?

Similar to the net promoter score (NPS) when measuring customer sentiment, this dives deep. It’s a way to measure promoters (people who love the company), with passives (people who are unsure), and detractors. There are things you can learn from each segment.

2. Is there anything holding you back from recommending {company} to your friends as a good place to work?

This is explicitly looking for roadblocks that may keep people from recommending the organization as a place to work. Remember, if you use a numeric question, make sure to ask a follow-up question digging deeper.

3. Are there things you don’t know about the company that you feel you should know?

This seeks to uncover gaps in an employee’s knowledge about the organization. This could be a process, business model, or culture questions. It’s a great question to ask when onboarding new employees. It’s also a great way to measure transparency for existing employees.

4. What are the challenges you are facing?

A bit open-ended, but a good question to ask. The purpose is to uncover roadblocks that prevent employees from doing their best work.

5. Were you able to achieve your goals this week?

This measures how well people were able to accomplish tasks within a certain period of time. It’s a good question to ask if you’re trying to create and keep track of goals or OKRs.

6. Was there anything that prevented you from doing your best work?

This is explicitly aimed to find roadblocks that prevent employees from doing their best work. Similar to question #4, but a bit more blunt.

7. Do you have the resources you need to achieve your goals?

It’s possible that employees may not have the resources that they need to accomplish their tasks/goals. This question seeks to uncover those issues and help you develop and coach your team.

8. Do you feel that our “corporate culture” exists in your department, division or subsidiary?

Very open-ended. We suggest asking employees if they can explain the mission and vision of the company.

9. My work gives me a sense of purpose

What drives you to show up every day? Is it a job, or something more than that? This question tries to uncover the details. Remember: if this is a numeric (1-10 question) remember to ask “why?”

10. How happy are you at work?

While we like this question, we also will be the first to admit, that some people simply don’t like work. That’s okay, sometimes, a job is a job. We recommend making this a numeric choice.

11. How well aligned is the company with your career goals?

Career misalignment tends to cause turnover. It may not be a few months, but instead, it could manifest itself over a span of years.

12. My work gives me a sense of purpose

What drives you to show up every day? Is it a job, or something more than that? This question tries to uncover the details. Remember: if this is a numeric (1-10 question) remember to ask “why?”

13. What part of the business would you like to see us improve?

There’s always business processes that need to be improved. This is a high impact one to uncover process optimizations.

14. Do you have what you need to be successful?

Very open-ended. What defines success? Are these resources available? A decent question, but not our favorite.

15. Are our company values clear?

I’d recommend asking this 1-2 months after onboarding. This a question regarding retention of company core values in the initial few months of working at a new company.

Additional pulse survey questions

• If you were in charge of the company, what’s the first thing you would work on?
• Is there anything preventing you from doing your best work?
• What was the best part of your week?
• What was the worst part of your week?
• If there was one thing you could improve about working at [company] what would it be?
• What’s one employee perk you wish you had?
• Do you recommend our product to friends and family (if applicable)? Why or why not?
• What’s one small change you would make to how we work as a company?
• What’s one big change you would make to how we work as a company?
• What’s one thing we could do to improve communication as a team?
• Is there anyone who deserves special recognition for going above and beyond the call of duty?
• What’s one thing we can do to improve our company culture?
• What’s one thing I can do to make your more productive?
• What’s the biggest obstacle keeping you from doing your best work?
• If you were able to wave a magic wand, what would you improve about [company]?
• Do you think we are heading in the right direction as a company? Why? Why not?
• If you could wave a magic wand and pick an internal project to work on, what would it be?
• How excited are you about the current projects you’re working on?