Pulse surveys: How to launch a programme that drives action — not survey fatigue
Pulse surveys only work when results lead to action. See how to design, launch and run a pulse programme that surfaces issues fast — without the fatigue.
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Pulse surveys: How to launch a programme that drives action — not survey fatigue
A pulse survey is a short, frequent employee survey — typically 5–15 questions, run monthly or quarterly — designed to track engagement, well-being and team dynamics in close to real time. The instrument is cheap to run and quick to deploy, but it only delivers value if leadership commits to acting on the results: pulse surveys without follow-through accelerate disengagement faster than they detect it. This guide covers what pulse surveys are, when to use them, how often to run them, what to ask, and the pitfalls that turn a promising programme into a checklist exercise nobody trusts.
APV: How to cover your full work environment in one measurement
Combining the work environment assessment (APV) and the employee survey means running both measurements in a single questionnaire that covers physical safety, psychological work environment and engagement at the same time. Running them separately typically costs HR and the work environment committee 30–50 % more time, produces overlapping data, and lowers response rates because employees are asked the same things twice. This article shows why APV and employee survey overlap, what you gain by merging them, how to design the combined questionnaire, and what to watch out for so the merger doesn't dilute either measurement.
Safety culture: Why rules on paper don't prevent accidents — and how to measure what employees actually do
Safety culture is the shared set of habits, behaviours and leadership signals that determine whether written safety rules are followed in practice. Most workplaces have a safety handbook, signs and procedures — but the gap between rules on paper and behaviour in the moment is where accidents happen, and it is invisible until you measure it. This article shows why safety handbooks alone don't prevent accidents, what a strong safety culture looks like in practice, how to measure it using a validated framework (NOSACQ-50), and how to convert measurement results into prioritised interventions.
How to interpret employee survey results: 6 questions that separate useful insight from a wasted measurement
Interpreting employee survey results is the analytical work of separating signal from noise — identifying which scores actually require action, which reflect natural variation, and which point to underlying patterns the headline numbers hide. Done well, it produces a focused action plan with two or three priorities. Done poorly, it produces a 40-page report no one acts on. This article gives you the six questions experienced HR analysts ask before they touch the action plan. Asked in order, they prevent the most common interpretation mistakes — over-reacting to small sample noise, missing patterns across dimensions, and treating uniform variation as if it were a single problem.
Quiet quitting: How to spot it, what it costs you, and how to bring engagement back
Quiet quitting is the gradual mental disengagement of employees who keep their jobs but stop investing discretionary effort, ambition or initiative. According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report, 72 % of the European workforce shows low engagement — meaning most teams are already affected, whether leadership has named it or not. This article shows what quiet quitting looks like in practice, why it happens, what it costs the organisation, and how to use employee surveys to spot it before it spreads.
Employee survey follow-up: Why 70 % of surveys fail at this step
Employee survey follow-up is the structured process of turning survey results into communicated decisions, action plans and visible change. It is the single biggest predictor of whether a survey produces value or quietly erodes employee trust — and it is the step where roughly 70 % of all employee surveys fail. This article shows what good follow-up looks like in practice, the five-step process that consistently works, how to write SMART action plan goals, and what to do when results come back stronger than expected.
Onboarding and exit surveys
Onboarding and exit surveys are structured measurement instruments that capture what employees experience at the two most decisive points in their employment — the first 90 days and the final weeks. Replacing a single mid-level employee costs 75–125 % of annual salary (Phillips, 2003) — and 25 % of new hires leave within the first year (Harpelund & Højbjerg, 2016). Without data from those two moments, retention strategy is guesswork. This article shows what onboarding and exit surveys measure, why they are the most cost-effective retention instruments available, how to design them, and how to turn the results into actions that actually reduce turnover.