Most organizations assess employee engagement through an annual staff survey, measuring the factors that influence engagement rather than engagement itself. Some also track employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), alongside people metrics such as staff turnover and absenteeism. Together, these measures can tell you a lot about how things were, but very little about how teams are doing right now. Surveys are typically annual or, at best, quarterly, while turnover only tells you something once people have already left.
Annual surveys give you one snapshot a year. A quarterly survey gives you four. A weekly question gives you 52. The chart shows what that difference looks like for one team in our interactive demo. Each dip in the line is a week when something wasn't going well, and a chance to talk about it while it could still be fixed. Most of those dips fall between the quarterly surveys, and the annual score shows none of them. You can explore this team's data in the interactive demo.
Key takeaways
- Annual surveys miss what's happening between them. They provide a snapshot of the drivers of employee engagement, but tell you little about how teams are doing week to week.
- Engagement scores have barely changed in a decade. For example, Gallup's UK figures have remained between 9% and 12% since 2016, raising questions about how useful these measures are in helping organizations improve.
- Spot problems early and act quickly. Organizations using Friday Pulse can see when team happiness dips and respond within 2-3 weeks, rather than waiting months for the next survey.
- Turn measurement into meaningful conversations. Share results with teams, discuss what's working and what isn't, and take action together. Measure, Meet, Repeat.
How do you measure employee engagement?
Organizations use several methods to understand employee engagement, from annual staff surveys and employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) to people analytics, structured conversations and regular pulse surveys. Each provides a different perspective, but they vary considerably in how quickly they help organizations identify problems and take action.
- Annual engagement survey (annually). A broad picture of the drivers of engagement and how they change over time. Provides useful context, but misses the ups and downs between surveys.
- eNPS (usually quarterly). Whether employees would recommend their organization as a place to work. Measures advocacy rather than engagement or happiness, and reveals little about why people feel as they do.
- People analytics data: turnover, absence, internal moves (monthly or quarterly). Important organizational outcomes and trends. Useful for tracking trends, but often identifies problems only after they have become serious.
- Conversations: one-to-ones, stay and exit interviews (ongoing). The experiences and reasons behind the numbers. Provides valuable qualitative insights, but can be difficult to compare systematically across teams.
- Regular pulse surveys (weekly). How people are feeling right now, what's changing and which teams need attention. Creates a continuous feedback loop, helping teams spot problems early, discuss them and track improvements.
The most effective approach combines regular pulse surveys with meaningful team conversations. A simple weekly happiness question helps organizations see how teams are doing in real time, spot emerging problems and track improvements. Discussing the results gives teams the opportunity to understand what's happening and decide what to do about it.
A more detailed survey of the drivers of engagement can then help identify where to focus improvement efforts. Together, these approaches provide both the ongoing feedback and deeper understanding needed to make work better.
eNPS is often treated as an engagement score, and we set out why it falls short in why you should rethink eNPS.
What does an engagement score miss?
It misses how work feels from week to week. Most engagement surveys measure the conditions that influence engagement, such as recognition, clear expectations and opportunities for development. These are important, but they don't directly measure how people are experiencing their work. And because surveys are typically conducted annually, they rarely provide an early warning when a team is struggling.
Take Gallup's Q12, one of the best-known measures of employee engagement. Its statements include “I know what is expected of me at work” and “In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.” These help organizations understand the factors that influence engagement, but they don't directly tell you whether people are feeling better or worse about their work.
What's missing is a more dynamic measure of people's experience. One that captures how teams are feeling right now, shows when things are changing and helps managers see whether their efforts to improve working life are making a difference.
Why make your weekly question about happiness?
Because happiness captures people's experience of work. Everyone can answer “How happy have you been at work this week?” without needing a definition or explanation. It measures the outcome that engagement surveys are ultimately trying to understand, and it changes quickly enough to help teams take action.
Everyone can answer it
Ask people how engaged they are and it's not always clear what the question means. Different people may interpret engagement differently. But ask how happy they've been at work this week and everyone understands what you're asking. People know how they've experienced their own working week.
It measures an outcome
Recognition, clear expectations and opportunities to grow all matter because they influence how people feel about their work. Measuring team happiness captures that experience directly, helping organizations see whether improvements to working conditions are actually making a difference.
It provides an early warning system
Weekly happiness measurement makes it easier to spot when a team is struggling, before problems become entrenched. Organizations using Friday Pulse can identify changes in team happiness and respond within 2-3 weeks, rather than waiting months for the next survey. Research also shows that unhappy employees are twice as likely to leave their jobs in the following quarter (Friday Pulse research).
At Friday Pulse, we call this weekly measure the Happiness KPI, developed by founder Nic Marks. It's a team happiness score on a scale of 0-100, based on one simple question. Alongside this, our quarterly Culture Profile measures the drivers of happiness at work, based on the Five Ways to Happiness at Work: Connect, Be Fair, Empower, Challenge and Inspire.
What can you do this week?
Start by asking every team how happy they've been at work this week. Look at the results team by team, and give each team 15 minutes to discuss them the following week. It's a simple rhythm that helps teams understand what's working, spot problems early and make work better together.
Measure: Ask every week. Every Friday, ask everyone the same simple question: “How happy have you been at work this week?” Track the results over time, team by team, to see where happiness is improving or declining. Organization-wide averages can hide important differences between teams.
Meet: Make time for a team conversation. Give each team 15 minutes early the following week to discuss their results. Celebrate what's gone well, explore what's been difficult and agree on one thing they could do to make the next week better.
Repeat: Keep the conversation going. Ask the same question every week, keep meeting and see whether the changes are making a difference. Everyone has difficult weeks, but regular measurement helps teams recognize patterns and respond before problems become entrenched.
We call this approach Measure, Meet, Repeat. Combined with a more detailed quarterly survey of the drivers of happiness, it gives organizations a practical way to understand both how people are feeling and what can be done to improve their experience of work.
Why not start measuring happiness in your teams this Friday?
About the author
Friday Pulse helps organizations measure and improve team happiness through a weekly pulse, the Happiness KPI and the Five Ways to Happiness at Work, built on more than 25 years of research led by Nic Marks.
See it for yourself. Explore the team in the chart, and the Happiness KPI behind it, in the Friday Pulse interactive demo.
