Pulse check: why engagement surveys matter

Engagement surveys have become a common practice across organisations, especially in fast-paced, international environments. Even so, there’s often some scepticism around how useful they are.

From my experience as head of people at Alts Digital, an international, remote-first company of around 50 people, engagement surveys continue to be a valuable tool. Not because they give us a perfect picture of reality, but because they create a structured moment of listening, reflection and alignment.

Their value doesn’t sit in the survey itself. It sits in how intentionally it’s designed, interpreted and followed up.

What engagement surveys are really for

At their core, engagement surveys serve three main purposes.

First, they create a structured way of listening. Day-to-day conversations tend to surface what’s most immediate or pressing. Engagement surveys, on the other hand, encourage people to reflect more broadly on their experience and share views on topics that may not usually come up, including what’s working well, not just what isn’t.

Second, they help identify patterns and trends. Individual conversations are incredibly valuable, but they’re also, by nature, subjective and fragmented. Engagement surveys allow us to zoom out and understand whether certain themes are isolated or shared more broadly across teams, roles or locations.

Finally, they support better decision-making. When used well, survey results can validate existing perceptions, challenge assumptions and help prioritise where attention and energy should go next.

The impact that engagement surveys can have

Engagement surveys are often seen as a ‘measurement exercise’, but their impact goes beyond numbers and scores.

In practice, they can:

• Helps to build a company-wide perception aligned around what really matters to people
  
  
• Give decision makers and managers a better context for conversations with their teams
  
  
• Surface topics that may not emerge organically in day-to-day interactions
  
  

They also bring a certain objectivity to discussions. Instead of relying solely on perceptions, surveys provide data that can support more balanced, informed conversations. That said, this impact only exists when surveys are treated as a starting point, not a conclusion.

Different approaches, same goal

Over the years, I’ve worked with different engagement survey models. In previous experiences, we used a pulse-style approach, asking one question at a time on a weekly basis. At Alts Digital, we chose a different path: running a more comprehensive survey at specific moments in time.

Both approaches aim for the same goal, understanding how people are feeling and what they need, but they achieve it in different ways.

This is also an area where I’ve personally felt some tension. As people-based professionals, we’re constantly exposed to new tools, benchmarks and “best practices”. It’s easy to feel a certain FOMO, seeing other companies doing things differently and wondering whether we should be doing the same.

Over time, I’ve learned that the most important question isn’t “what are others doing?” but “what are we trying to achieve right now?”

Context matters. Company size and momentum matter. Capacity to analyse and act matters. The reality is that what works well in one organisation might not make sense in another.

Thinking about frequency and timing

One of the most common questions around engagement surveys is how often they should happen.

Running surveys too frequently can lead to fatigue, both for those answering and for those analysing the results. Engagement data needs time to be digested, discussed and translated into action. Without that space, surveys risk becoming noise rather than insight.

On the other hand, spacing surveys too far apart can mean that smaller or more localised issues take longer to surface. There’s also the natural influence of recency as what’s happening now often weighs more heavily in responses from people than what happened several months ago.

Engagement surveys don’t replace human connection

One thing I strongly believe is that engagement surveys should never be the only way a company understands how people are feeling.

At Alts Digital, engagement surveys are part of a broader listening ecosystem that includes regular people syncs and ongoing conversations across managers and teams. Surveys help us zoom out and spot patterns, but it’s often in conversations that we understand the why behind the data.

How we approach engagement surveys

To give a practical example, at Alts Digital, we currently use Leapsome to run our engagement surveys. We ask 25 questions across 10 different categories, including areas such as teamwork, workload and autonomy.

All responses and comments are anonymous; we only analyse results for groups with at least four respondents, to ensure anonymity and create a sense of safety when sharing feedback. This allows us to analyse engagement across dimensions such as role, seniority, team or location, while still protecting people and ensuring the results remain meaningful.

Being intentional about the questions we ask

Question selection has always been an important part of how I approach engagement surveys. From the very first time we ran one, it was clear to me that the value of a survey depends less on how many questions it includes and more on whether those questions make sense for the organisation’s reality.

The goal isn’t to find the ‘perfect’ question or the ideal number of questions. It’s to ask questions that are meaningful and relevant to the context in which people are working. Questions where the answers can help us draw conclusions, inform decisions, or guide conversations, rather than simply describing a state we’re not in a position to influence.

At the same time, there’s an important balance to strike with consistency. Keeping a stable core of questions over time allows us to compare results and understand trends, while still leaving room to refine, clarify or adjust certain questions when needed.

Closing the loop: where impact really happens

Engagement surveys already have value in themselves. Asking people to reflect on different aspects of their experience creates awareness, invites perspective and helps surface what matters to them, even when those topics wouldn’t naturally come up in day-to-day conversations.

That said, the impact of an engagement survey becomes stronger when people can see what it leads to. Sharing results, explaining priorities, and communicating which changes are influenced by the findings helps reinforce trust and gives meaning to the process.

Not every survey results in concrete action, and that’s okay. Sometimes the outcome is alignment, context or a better understanding of what’s happening. As long as people can see how their input was considered, the survey fulfils its role.

Final thoughts

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to engagement surveys. Different organisations, sizes and moments call for different choices. What matters most is clarity of intention, understanding why you’re running a survey, what you’re hoping to learn and how prepared you are to respond.

Engagement surveys are most valuable when they’re treated as a meaningful listening tool rather than a standalone solution. When used with intention, they can have a real impact, not because they measure everything, but because they help organisations focus on what matters.