How companies use pulse surveys: 3 examples

When moving to remote work, Microsoft needed to understand how the new way of working affected teams. Its People Analytics team added questions about the changed situation to the ongoing Daily Pulse survey. Daily invitations went to randomly selected employees, rather than to the entire workforce every day.

The trend showed a clear signal: in April 2020, 91 percent felt connected to their team. By November, the figure was 75 percent. A positive initial picture was therefore not a reliable description of the following months.

The analysis directed attention to specific leadership tasks. Employees reported stronger connections when managers supported them with priorities and balancing work and personal life. Microsoft therefore recommended strengthening these foundations of collaboration and supporting managers with insights from feedback. Source: Microsoft WorkLab, March 2021.

For your leadership practice: When introducing a new way of working, it is useful to revisit its effects. A decline in collaboration or clarity is a reason to clarify obstacles and adjust a specific working rule. Then agree when to review feedback again. This turns a snapshot into a basis for ongoing decisions.

High participation shows that many employees contribute their views. Whether something follows from feedback is a second leadership question. Deutsche Telekom makes both visible: more than 104,000 employees responded to the November 2025 pulse survey. Participation was 81 percent.

Alongside topics such as mood, development and working conditions, Telekom assesses the effectiveness of follow-up. Agreement in this category was 65 percent, among the survey's lowest scores. The overall engagement score remained at 77 out of 100 points compared with the previous year. The additional follow-up question therefore identifies a specific area for action that an overall score alone does not adequately describe. Source: HR Factbook 2025, Group excluding T-Mobile US.

For HR and senior management: Look beyond result values to what teams do with feedback. Which measure was selected? Who is responsible? Has it been implemented, and is it experienced as helpful? This lets you provide targeted support where the route from result to change stalls.

This gives your next survey round a clear task: alongside the original topic, it should become apparent whether employees experience the agreed improvement. Participation remains important; success also involves how feedback is handled.

A broad survey can reveal priorities. Implementation then needs a defined process. Allianz therefore connects its annual Allianz Engagement Survey with action plans and global pulse surveys held twice a year.

Participating companies analyse their results and agree measures with teams. Cross-cutting topics feed into a shared follow-up plan. In 2025, one focus was simplifying work processes, alongside initiatives to develop digital and data skills. The additional pulses review progress on measures from the annual survey and their implementation. Source: Allianz Annual Report 2025, p. 97.

For your organisational development: Assign the next review date along with the measure. A department head then needs to report more than the fact that a workshop took place. They can show which way of working changed and how people experience the development. HR can see where support is needed and which topics affect several areas.

The right interval depends on your project. A new rule for responsibilities can be assessed sooner than an extensive development programme. The transferable principle is a dependable connection between survey, measure and renewed feedback.

A smaller organisation does not need a large analytics operation. What matters is making three commitments that can be drawn from these examples.

1. Name a decision. Do you want to accompany a new way of working, clarify priorities or review an already agreed measure? A specific purpose helps keep questions short and reporting usable.

2. Clarify responsibility for implementation. Team leads address topics they can influence. HR or senior management take on obstacles affecting several areas. A result alone does not assign responsibilities.

3. Set an appropriate follow-up date. Agree when to revisit feedback and how you will recognise implementation. Keep the wording and scale stable for tracking over time. Also check facts from the work process if, for example, you want fewer follow-up questions or shorter lead times.

EngageBeat turns regular feedback into a weekly team rhythm. Two to four short questions combine a fixed team index with changing topics. The index provides a recurring mood snapshot; topic questions help put individual aspects into context. Those responsible choose measures from this and track subsequent feedback.

EngageBeat Team fits when you want to support mood and collaboration. EngageBeat Fokus adds custom questions and topic packs for changes such as AI implementation or transformation. Use across several teams can be discussed through EngageBeat Enterprise.

Authorised team owners see results after the weekly survey closes and once there are five valid responses per question. The demo shows the route from check-in to reporting using sample data. If you are already planning implementation, you can discuss with Sven Heese which starting point fits your organisation.