Example polls
Paste any of these into the message box in Slack.
Survey (3 questions). A three-question weekly pulse. Make it recurring from the modal.
/poll "Weekly pulse" "Three questions, anonymous, under a minute." anonymous close after 2 days --- "How was your week?" scale --- "How manageable is your workload?" "Too light" "About right" "Stretched" "Unsustainable" limit 1 --- "Anything blocking you?" short text optional
Premium: surveys (several questions), closing automatically
AnonymousClose automatically: after 2 days
Choice poll. A one-question pulse for teams that already get too many surveys.
/poll "How is your energy this week?" "Running low" "Okay" "Good" "Great" anonymous limit 1 close after 1 day
Premium: vote limits, closing automatically
AnonymousLimit votes: 1 per personClose automatically: after 1 day
What makes a pulse survey work
- The same questions every round. The value is the trend. Change the wording and the line breaks.
- Short. If it takes more than a minute, it's not a pulse. Three questions is plenty.
- Anonymous, when the questions are about how people feel.
- A fixed cadence. Weekly or every two weeks for a team, monthly for a larger group. Pick what you can act on between rounds.
- Visible follow-through. Share the trend and one thing you're changing. A pulse that never leads anywhere turns into survey fatigue.
Running a pulse survey in Slack
Build it as one anonymous survey (Premium): a scale question for the headline number, a
choice question if you need categories, and an optional short text question for
anything else. Add close after 2 days so every round covers the same window.
To repeat it, create the poll from the Simple Poll modal (type /poll with no text) and use
the Schedule button to make it recurring (Premium). Recurrence can't be set in the /poll
text itself. The results view shows a scale question's average and median, the numbers to
track round to round. To keep a history outside Slack, export each round's results (Premium).
The mistake people make
Adding a question every round. The survey grows, responses drop, and you lose the comparison. Keep a fixed core and rotate at most one extra question.
Questions
How is a pulse survey different from an engagement survey?
Size and frequency. An engagement survey is long and runs once or twice a year. A pulse is a few questions on a regular cadence.
Can a pulse survey repeat automatically in Slack?
Yes, with a recurring poll (Premium), set up from the Simple Poll modal. See how to create a recurring poll.
Should a pulse survey be anonymous?
If it asks how people feel or how their manager is doing, yes.
Related
- Weekly pulse survey for Slack
When an annual engagement survey is too slow to catch problems and you want a light, regular read on how the team is doing.
- How to create a recurring poll in Slack
A recurring poll posts itself on a schedule you set, such as every Monday at 10am. You write it once and Simple Poll reposts it, so your weekly pulse or standup check-in never depends on someone remembering. Recurring polls are a Premium feature.
- What is survey fatigue?
Survey fatigue is when people are asked for feedback so often, or at such length, that they stop answering or start answering carelessly.
- What is the Gallup Q12?
The Gallup Q12 is Gallup's employee engagement survey: twelve statements that employees rate on a five-point agreement scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The items are Gallup's proprietary material.