Regular feedback and rapid action with Qualtrics Pulse enhancements

Pulse surveys are popular, not only because they are shorter and reduce the amount of time it takes employees to give their feedback, but also because they introduce a new dimension to results analysis: tracking sentiment over time.

While annual Engagement studies provide a once-a-year snapshot of employee engagement, pulses allow you to track trends bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly to:

1. Check in and react more regularly

• Example use case: Helping maintain an early warning system for important business metrics, e.g. an employee safety or attrition risk.

2. Plot trends over time

• Example use case: Helping you to understand the relationships with other important business outcomes that are tracked frequently, such as voice of the customer (VoC), performance, and turnover.

3. Quickly link improvements back to actions

• Example use case: Measuring the effectiveness of action plans, particularly those implemented following a traditional engagement survey.

Pulses are more agile than traditional Engagement surveys, and reflect the social changes and expectations around feedback. In fact, our research shows that 77% of employees want to provide feedback more than once per year.

While there are many reasons why organizations may decide to stand up a Pulse program, we recommend mastering one of the following approaches as you evolve and mature your listening frequency.

Establishing early success will ensure your organization is properly set up to effectively take action on more frequent feedback before expanding into other Pulse programs.

Program #1: Engagement Focus Area Pulse

• What: Pinpoint key themes from the results of your existing Engagement program and use those topics as focus areas of your frequent pulsing program to track across time.
• How: We recommend using Qualtrics’ validated EX25 model for your engagement program so that you may choose specific themes, such as the KPIs and drivers in the model below, to dive into further and prioritize for taking action.

Program #2: Executive Priorities Pulse

• What: Select topics that are prone to frequent fluctuations and are actionable at higher levels of the organization, as well as items relating to engagement or business priorities.
• How: Topics like “Trust in Leadership'' and “Resources” are more actionable at the organizational level rather than the manager, team or individual level, so focus on tracing these items in your pulse program over time. You could also gather frequent opinions on “Safety” and “Communication” topics, which may change quickly based on circumstance and leadership behaviors

Program #3: Deep Dive Pulse

• What: Dive deeper into categories that your organization cares about and wants to act on more regularly.
• How: To help you get started, Qualtric offers ready-to-go, validated solutions that you can leverage as part of your Pulse program: 
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI): Provide leaders and managers a regular view of employees’ opinions on DEI to illuminate how employees feel about inclusivity, authenticity and equity within the organization.
  • Well-being: Internal and external environments can change so rapidly, so it can be helpful to get a frequent pulse from employees on their well-being. Qualtrics’ validated well-being solution can form the basis of your frequent pulsing program to provide all levels of the organization with well-being experience data.
  • Workplace Experience: As working norms shift, explore the workplace experience as part of your regular pulsing strategy -- especially if your organization is returning to the office, tap into employee sentiment and take action to promptly resolve issues.

Regardless of your organization’s approach to pulsing, it’s important to focus on areas where you’re prepared to act (and ideally, to act quickly). If there is a great deal of organizational and leadership enthusiasm around a specific topic, you are much more likely to see action than in areas that are of less interest. Qualtrics’ frequent pulsing program is purposely designed to help you get started quickly, as well as be flexible as organizational priorities change.