Pulse and engagement surveys
Short surveys of three to ten questions that open by themselves every week, month or quarter. Answers are stored with no name, results show only for groups of five or more, and eNPS is worked out for you.
PLANSFrom Growth
The problem it solves
- You hear that people are unhappy only when they resign.
- A yearly survey on a form is filled in by a few people, and nobody trusts that it is anonymous.
- HR spends days counting answers in a spreadsheet, and the numbers cannot be compared with last quarter.
- A department head asks how their team feels, and you have nothing to show.
How it works
- Pick your questions from the question bank. A starter set comes with the product: eNPS, agree-or-disagree statements, one-choice questions and comments.
- Make a pulse programme, for example a monthly pulse. Set how often, the next date, how many days it stays open, who is asked and the smallest group shown.
- On the day the pulse opens by itself. Everyone asked gets a notice and answers in the app or on the web in about a minute.
- The day before it closes, only those who have not answered get a reminder.
- When it closes, the results are made: per question, per measure, per department big enough, and the eNPS. HR reads them on the pulse, in Engagement Results and on the Engagement dashboard.
Everything it does
Anonymous by design
- An answer is stored without the person's name, without a date and time, and with only the department and location it counts for
- Nobody can open answers one by one: not HR, not an administrator; the product only makes totals
- A separate list keeps who has answered (the day only), so each person answers once and only those who have not answered are reminded
- Results show only for groups of at least the Smallest Group Shown: 5 by default
- A department with fewer answers is left out of the department view; its answers still count for the whole entity
- Comments are shown in no order, and only when the whole pulse has enough answers
Questions
- Four kinds: eNPS (0 to 10) and Agree scale (1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree). Also One choice (choices you write) and Comment (free text, never required)
- Each question measures one thing: engagement, manager, team, growth, recognition, wellbeing, workload or culture
- A question can be for one entity or for every entity; archive what you do not use
- Each question in a programme is required or not; comments are never required
- A pulse keeps its own copy of the questions, so changing the bank later does not change past results
Programmes and schedule
- How often: once, every week, every two weeks, every month (the default) or every three months
- Open For: 5 days by default
- Remind Before Closing: 1 day by default
- Who Is Asked: everyone in the entity, some departments or some locations
- Managers See Their Department: on by default
- Start a Pulse Now opens one today, outside the schedule
Results
- Per question: the number of answers, the average, the favourable % (4 and 5 on an agree question) and the spread of answers
- eNPS: % promoters (9 and 10) minus % detractors (0 to 6), from -100 to 100
- The same per department, for departments with enough answers
- The response rate: how many were asked and how many answered
- Engagement Results: list, pivot by measure and month, and eNPS over time
- The Engagement dashboard
- Make the Results Again recalculates a closed pulse, for example after a department head changed
States
- Draft, Open, Closed, Cancelled
- A pulse closes by itself after its last day, or with Close and Show Results
- After the closing day nobody can answer
- A draft pulse can be cancelled; a closed pulse keeps its results
Who uses it
EmployeeAnswers each pulse once, in the app or on the web.
Department headSees the results of their own department, when the programme allows it.
Engagement Surveys AdministratorKeeps the question bank, sets up programmes, reads all results and comments. The HR Manager has this role.
Where you use it
- Web: HRMS > Performance and Pay Review > Engagement (Pulse Programmes, My Pulse Surveys, Engagement Results, the Engagement dashboard); Configuration > Pulse Questions
- The SmartMy HRMS app: Menu > Pulse surveys to answer, and Engagement results for department heads. (Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Not in the app: setting up questions and programmes; do that on the web
What you control
Settings
- How often: every month to start with
- Open For: 5 days
- Remind Before Closing: 1 day
- Who Is Asked: everyone in the entity
- Smallest Group Shown: 5 (raise it for more privacy)
- Managers See Their Department: on
Notifications
- Pulse Survey to Answer: to each person asked, when the pulse opens; in the app, by email and as a phone notice
- Pulse Survey Reminder: to those who have not answered, before the pulse closes; in the app, by email and as a phone notice
- Pulse Survey Results Ready: to the engagement survey administrators when a pulse closes; in the app, by email and as a phone notice
- These go out at once; each person can switch off a channel, such as email, but in-app notices always arrive. Phone notices are ready for the app, which is not in the stores yet
Questions
Can HR see who gave a low score?
No. An answer is stored with no name and no time, and nobody, not even an administrator, can open answers one by one. The product keeps only a separate note that a person has answered, so they are not asked twice.What if a department has only three people?
Its results are not shown on their own, because the smallest group shown is 5 by default. Its answers still count in the whole entity's results.Can department heads read the comments?
No. Comments are for the engagement survey administrators, shown in no order, and only when the pulse has enough answers. Department heads see their department's scores.Can we write our own questions?
Yes. Change the starter set, add your own as eNPS, agree scale, one choice or comment, and archive what you do not use. Past pulses keep the questions they were asked with.Can we run a one-off survey instead of a regular pulse?
Yes. Set the programme to Once, or press Start a Pulse Now on any programme.Can people answer on the phone?
Yes, in the SmartMy HRMS app under Menu > Pulse surveys, or on the web. The app is built and in testing; it is not in the app stores yet.Related features
COMPANY FEEDCompany feed, announcements, kudos and staff chatOne wall for everyone in the Entity, with groups for each department and location. It has announcements people confirm they read, kudos with badges, birthdays and work anniversaries, polls and events. Staff also message each other in Chat, one to one or in groups.ENGAGEMENT, GOALS AND HR TOOLSGoals and OKRsObjectives with measurable key results for each period, set for the entity, departments, teams and people and aligned to each other. Owners check in with progress and confidence, managers approve, and the goals flow into the appraisal.ENGAGEMENT, GOALS AND HR TOOLSOne-to-ones, feedback and improvement plansRegular one-to-ones with a shared agenda, private notes and action items that carry over. Praise and suggestions with the reader chosen. Improvement plans with goals, reviews, approval and a recorded outcome.VIEWS AND REPORTSHR reports and the custom report builderHeadcount, attrition, salary cost, leave liability and more than 20 payroll and statutory reports, most of them on screen, in Excel and as PDF. In Scale, HR builds its own reports without code and shares them; each person sees only what their access allows.SELF-SERVICE AND APPPhone app for employees, managers and HROne SmartMy HRMS app for everyone: employees check in, apply for leave and see payslips. Managers approve and see their team, and HR and payroll do their daily work. The server decides what each person sees, by the same access as the web.
See your own month run in it.
Tell us how many people you have, how you take attendance and how your salary is structured. We will show you SmartMy HRMS set up that way.