Answers to the questions we hear most about setting up and running Pulse Surveys, including survey questions, best practices, confidentiality, eNPS, results, and reminders.
Survey setup and customization
What types of questions can I add?
What types of questions can I add?
There are two question types: numbered scale and free text.
Tip: Sticking to consistent question formats makes surveys easier for employees to complete and easier for you to compare results over time.
Can I customize the survey questions?
Can I customize the survey questions?
That depends on your plan:
Elevate: full customization
Grow: our library of pre-built survey templates
Legacy plans with the Pulse add-on: full customization
See Pulse Surveys, limited subscriptions for more.
How many questions can I include in a survey?
How many questions can I include in a survey?
There is no limit to the number of questions you can include. The right number depends on what you’re using the survey for.
For regular pulse checks that run weekly, biweekly, or monthly, aim for around five to seven questions to keep participation quick and focused. If you’re using Pulse Surveys for a larger annual, quarterly, or engagement survey, you may want to include more questions to cover a broader range of topics.
Research from SHRM suggests 5 to 7 minutes as a good target for employee survey length.
Tip: Start light. Ask what will give you useful, actionable Feedback, and add more questions only once you know they'll earn their place.
Are all questions required?
Are all questions required?
No, you decide. Mark each question as required or optional when you set up the survey. Participants must answer all required questions before they can submit.
What happens if someone doesn't finish the survey?
What happens if someone doesn't finish the survey?
Their answers still count. As participants respond to each question, those answers flow into your reporting right away, so an incomplete survey still contributes real data.
Can employees change their answers after submitting?
Can employees change their answers after submitting?
Yes, anytime the response window is open. Once the deadline passes, responses lock and can't be changed.
Best practices and use cases
Can I use Pulse Surveys for onboarding or offboarding?
Can I use Pulse Surveys for onboarding or offboarding?
We'd recommend Pulse Surveys for understanding trends and sentiment across a group, not for individual milestones like onboarding or offboarding.
Since responses are confidential and results are aggregated, a Pulse Survey won't provide the individual-level context you'd need to follow up on an employee's experience.
Tip: Use Pulse Surveys to check in regularly on topics that affect a group or your wider organization, and track how those responses shift over time.
Confidentiality and results
Are answers confidential?
Are answers confidential?
Yes. Every Pulse Survey response is confidential.
Results are aggregated and displayed only for groups with at least three respondents.
More on how this works: Pulse Surveys, confidentiality and anonymity.
What's the minimum number of responses needed to see results?
What's the minimum number of responses needed to see results?
Three people must respond to the survey. Results display once the minimum group size is met, which protects individual participants when you're viewing or filtering results.
More detail here: Pulse Surveys, confidentiality and anonymity.
What is eNPS?
What is eNPS?
Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) measures how likely your people are to recommend your organization as a place to work.
Employees rate this from 0 to 10, and responses fall into three groups:
Promoters (9 to 10): highly likely to recommend
Passives (7 to 8): satisfied, but unlikely to actively recommend
Detractors (0 to 6): unlikely to recommend
Your eNPS is the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors, giving you a score from -100 to +100.
Note: eNPS follows the same confidentiality rules as the rest of your Pulse Survey. Results display once the minimum group size is met.
Can I run eNPS without adding other questions?
Can I run eNPS without adding other questions?
Yes. You can run eNPS as a standalone survey or include it with other Pulse Survey questions.
When can I see Pulse Survey results?
When can I see Pulse Survey results?
As soon as participants start responding. Results populate in real time while the survey is open, once the minimum group size for confidentiality has been met.
Tip: Results can shift as more people respond, so we'd wait until the survey closes before drawing conclusions or sharing final numbers.
Who can view Pulse Survey results?
Who can view Pulse Survey results?
By default, only HR Admins can view the results. Access has to be granted in one of two ways:
Use Share results to give specific people access to the report.
Export the data to build your own internal reports.
Full instructions: Pulse Surveys, viewing, analyzing, and sharing results.
Can admins respond to comments made on a survey?
Can admins respond to comments made on a survey?
No. Admins and managers can't reply directly to comments within a Pulse Survey.
Note: Keeping comments one-way protects participant confidentiality. An open conversation could make it easier to identify who said what.
Reminders and notifications
How are employees reminded to complete a Pulse Survey?
How are employees reminded to complete a Pulse Survey?
Participants get an initial invitation by email or Slack when the survey launches, plus one automatic reminder before it closes. The timing of that reminder depends on the length of the response window
.
There's no option to send additional manual reminders from within Small Improvements, so if you'd like to encourage participation further, you can:
Ask managers to remind their teams and explain why the Feedback matters
Post a reminder in an internal communication channel, like Slack or Teams
Include it in an internal newsletter
Bring it up at an All Hands