Top 5 Benefits of Checking Your Team’s Pulse

A team pulse check is an essential feature of the modern workplace. Check out these 5 benefits of checking the pulse of a team

October 4, 2022
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It's no secret that employee engagement is key to retaining top talent and improving corporate culture. A satisfied employee shows more engagement and readily delivers good results. So, it is essential to assess employees' satisfaction periodically with a focus on open communication and provide feedback on company culture.

And one of the key tools to motivating your team and improving satisfaction is employee pulse checks.

Pulse surveys and data will allow you to understand the people who work for you and how they feel, allowing you to map out how to help your team evolve in the long run.

Ready to begin?

This article will highlight the essential aspects of an employee pulse checks and its benefits. 

Let's dive right in!

What is a team pulse check?

A team pulse check is a brief and concise survey administered to employees regularly. It contains a short set of questions on employee satisfaction, work environment, job role, communication, and relationships.

It provides an avenue for a quick check-in with employees and promotes open internal communication. And the data collected from the survey points out areas that need improvement (pending good participation rates). 

A team pulse survey typically contains a minimum of 5 questions and a maximum of 15 questions. However, these questions should be easy to answer and not time-consuming.

How do you check a team's pulse?

You check a team's pulse by asking questions in the employee survey that encourage members to share both good and bad news. These help you better understand what your teams are facing in the market.

One of the ways to achieve an effective team pulse check is using surveys. Here are steps to follow to conduct a team pulse survey:

  • Select survey questions

The success of a team pulse survey largely depends on asking the right questions. It is essential you include questions that require workable responses. You're checking the pulse of the team, so its best employees provide valuable insights in their responses to frequent survey.

  • Inform your employees about the survey

It is important to inform team members before sending out the survey, allowing them to create time to sufficiently answer the questions rather than answering them in haste. 

  • Conduct the survey

It's important to align the time to conduct the survey. While organizations can decide what works, it is best to decide to measure on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly schedule.

  • Evaluate responses

A team pulse survey doesn't serve its purpose if the responses obtained are not evaluated. So, it's vital to examine the responses and spot areas that need improvement. Positive feedback is also a great area to reflect on as it shows what the team is doing right. 

  • Act on feedback

It is not enough to show that you listen. It's essential that you act on the feedback. After you complete a team pulse survey, formulate an action plan to follow up on the feedback received and fix timelines for specific changes to be made.

  • Prepare for the next survey

The word, pulse, indicates the need for the survey to be done frequently. So, for example, after completing one survey, it's important to make plans for the next one, and use it as an avenue to assess the effect of the changes that were made.

Assembly's employee pulse survey template is the perfect guideline for conducting a successful team pulse check. Try it Today.

What should I ask in a pulse survey?

The questions you ask in a team pulse survey should be clear, concise, and understandable.

Every organization has its peculiarities. And the type of team pulse check survey questions used is unique to every organization.

Here are examples of pulse check questions for teams to include in your survey:

  1. Are you always happy heading to work?
  2. Would you recommend this company as an ideal place to work?
  3. Do you see yourself still working here in the next year?
  4. Do you feel you're best suited for your role in the team?
  5. Do you feel your work input receives enough recognition?
  6. Do you think your job is valuable?
  7. Do you feel left out of the team?
  8. Do you believe in the team's leadership?
  9. Are you comfortable with providing honest remarks about your work experience?
  10. Are you satisfied with the available opportunities for career advancement?
  11. Are you satisfied with the technologies and tools you work with?
  12. Are you aware of what is expected of you in the team?
  13. What's your relationship with other team members?
  14. Are you feeling stressed lately?
  15. Do you believe in the team's mission and vision?

What is the purpose of a team pulse check?

Your employees are the heartbeat of your business. Setting up annual engagement survey as a pulse check is a best practice to ensure you're keeping this team in peak shape. It's also an easier avenue to get the candid opinion of workers as surveys are a typically less intimidating way to get information.

According to an article by Edume.com, the average employee engagement survey gets about a 30-40% response rate, while employer pulse surveys have an average response rate of 85%.

By checking your team or employee's pulse, you'll learn more about who they are and what they value, so you can support them further while taking action on any issues discovered.

Team pulse checks help maintain dialogue with employees, obtain useable employee feedback together, identify drops in the level of employee engagement, reduce turnover, and boost productivity.

Let's dive further into the benefits of checking the pulse of the team. These benefits include:

  1. Boost employees' engagement

Team pulse surveys are your go-to option for boosting employee engagement. Frequent employee check-ins make them more engaged, as the routine employee pulse surveys and checks communicate to employees that they are important and their opinions. This feeling typically evokes a sense of commitment, enthusiasm, and advocacy in the workforce.

  1. Avenue for Honest Feedback

Employees tend to open up more in a survey or employee pulse check call-in than in physical meet-ups. They'll instead express their honest opinions in a designated survey made for candid conversations as there's less pressure. Therefore, a team pulse check gives teams a better chance of getting reliable and valuable insights.

  1. Monitoring changes in employees' satisfaction

To ensure that employees are satisfied, it's crucial to maintain a suitable work environment and improve the company's productivity. And this can be achieved through pulse checks. 

Pulse checks also help you know how changes made affect employees' satisfaction. 

  1. Easy identification of potentially significant issues

A team pulse check allows you to nip issues in the bud early. The survey serves as a warning alarm that draws the organization's attention to issues that could be potential problems if not handled early.

For instance, if a high number of employees respond that they do not see themselves working in the company in the next year or more, the top management team will need to look into the reason. The responses may be a warning sign of a flood of resignations. A team pulse check will enable you to address it before a mass resignation occurs.

  1. Reduced Burnout Rate

Burnout is an epidemic in the modern workplace, affecting employees and employers. 

An employee pulse checks are designed to use short and simple questions to gauge employees' feelings and emotions. So, checking in can help you identify when someone is struggling and provide them the support they need to get back on track.

Pulse checks can help companies reduce burnout among employees by giving them an outlet to express themselves without fear of repercussions or reprimand.

Find a balance

A team pulse surveys or engagement surveys is designed to be administered frequently. However, it's important not to administer it too frequently. This is to avoid it losing its essence. 

When employees are required to take team pulse surveys very often, they gradually begin to put less effort into filling them, resulting in survey fatigue, especially when feedback isn't reflected. 

When in doubt, remember that the aim of employee pulse checks is to understand the employees more to improve their productivity and motivation.

Book a Demo with Assembly to see how it's more than just an hr tool and learn how a team pulse survey and employee feedback increase your employees' engagement.

Browse our Free Employee Recognition Guide

Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.

Explore Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Assembly SOC 2 compliant?

Yes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.

What's the ROI for employee recognition?

There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.

Does Assembly offer longer-term contracts?

Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.

The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.

Does Assembly offer onboarding support?

We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.

Is there a free version of Assembly?

Yes. We offer a completely free plan for up to 50 team members. This plan is intended for teams or organizations that are looking to get started with an employee engagement tool. Keep in mind, this plan is limited in features.

All customers can open an Assembly account for free and get started without a credit card. Then you can change plans as necessary.

How much do rewards cost?

At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.

The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.

Does Assembly offer discounts?

We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.

For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.

How do I cancel my plan if needed?

If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.

If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.

What customizations are available?

Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!

Who can give or receive recognition?

While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.

What integrations are available?

Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.  

Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.

What's your average adoption rate?

That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.

Must rewards be set up to use Assembly?

They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.

Are points required to use Assembly?

No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.

Could find the answer you are looking for?

Please schedule time with an expert and we will help you to get all your questions answered