There are two factors you should consider when thinking about how often to send a pulse question. 

First, think about your employees and consider their day-to-day. How often do you think they will be happy to give feedback? (You might even want to schedule this question as one of your first pulses!). On average we find that for small- to medium-sized companies this looks to be every 1 - 2 weeks. And for larger companies every 3 - 4 weeks. 

Our research shows there's 3 great times to send:

The other important factor to consider is how quickly you can make changes based on the feedback from pulse questions. You will experience a decrease in engagement if employees do not believe that change will happen as a result of their feedback. 

It's important to consider employee events when scheduling a pulse question. If you're taking on a number of new starters, it's worth scheduling in a few more pulse surveys than usual. This will help to keep them in the loop and give you an idea of how they're settling in. You can schedule in a pulse survey two weeks from your employees' start date and follow up within a month to see how they're getting on.