A pulse survey question bank is the list you pick from when the quarterly survey is due and the blank form is open. This bank holds 60 questions across twelve themes: four statements on a seven-point scale and one open question per theme. Copy a set, or download the whole bank as a CSV from the survey question bank, and the survey is written before the meeting about it ends.
How to use the bank
- Keep a pulse short. Five to eight scale questions and one open question. A pulse is answered in two minutes on a phone; a 40-question survey is answered by the people with the most time, which is not a sample.
- Repeat the same questions. A pulse measures change. Ask the same five statements every quarter, and rotate one theme in and out for the thing the quarter was about.
- One scale, every time. The seven-point scale, from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree, with a neutral middle. A score is the share who agree (6 and 7) minus the share who disagree (1 to 3), so a question is comparable across quarters and teams.
- One open question. It gets the sentence the scale cannot hold. Read every answer; group them by theme; report the groups, never a quote with a name on it.
The twelve themes
| Theme | What it measures | The anchor statement |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement | Whether people would stay and recommend the company | I would recommend this company as a great place to work. |
| Manager | The feedback, the information, and the care a manager gives | My manager gives me feedback that helps me improve. |
| Enablement | The tools, the clarity, and the processes work needs | I have the tools and resources I need to do my job well. |
| Alignment | Whether people see how their work meets the company's goals | I understand how my work contributes to the company's goals. |
| Growth | Learning, a career path, and a development conversation | I have good opportunities to learn and grow here. |
| Recognition | Whether good work is seen and thanked | I receive recognition when I do good work. |
| Wellbeing | Workload, time off, and a sustainable pace | My workload is reasonable. |
| Teamwork | Help, disagreement, openness, and safety on a team | I feel safe to raise a concern or a mistake on my team. |
| Communication | Whether change arrives before it lands, with its reasons | I hear about important changes before they affect my work. |
| Company confidence | Belief in the direction and in leadership's decisions | I have confidence in the direction the company is taking. |
| Onboarding | The first week, the first month, and the role as hired | My first week gave me what I needed to start contributing. |
| Exit | What a person who leaves would tell you | The reasons I am leaving were raised before I decided to leave. |
Each theme has three more scale statements and one open question in the bank. The open questions are the ones people answer at length: "What slows your work down the most?", "Who did something recently that deserves thanks?", "What should the next new hire get that you did not?"
Three ready sets
The quarterly pulse (6 scale, 1 open). I would recommend this company as a great place to work. My manager gives me feedback that helps me improve. I have the tools and resources I need to do my job well. I understand how my work contributes to the company's goals. My workload is reasonable. I have confidence in the direction the company is taking. Open: What would make you more likely to stay?
The new-manager check (4 scale, 1 open), sent to a manager's reports three months in. My manager gives me feedback that helps me improve. My manager keeps me informed about what is happening. My manager cares about me as a person. My manager makes decisions in a timely way. Open: What is one thing your manager could do differently?
The 30-day onboarding pulse (4 scale, 1 open). My first week gave me what I needed to start contributing. I knew who to ask when I had a question in my first month. The role I do matches the role I was hired for. I had the accounts and the equipment I needed on my first day. Open: What should the next new hire get that you did not?
The CSV
The download has three columns, theme,answer,question, with 7-point scale or open text in the answer column, one row per question. Paste it into a spreadsheet, keep the rows you want, and import them into your survey tool. In OrgOrg Engagement Surveys, a survey takes the same statements and scale, keeps answers confidential below a group size, and shows the score of each theme by team against the last quarter.