Should managers see their own team’s pulse results?

Yes, as long as the team is big enough to keep answers anonymous, often five or more people. Managers who see their own results can act on them, and talking them through with the team shows the survey is taken seriously.

How often should managers hold one-on-ones?

Weekly or every other week works for most teams. Gallup’s research suggests that short, regular conversations of 15 to 30 minutes have more impact than longer ones of 30 to 60 minutes.

What makes a good manager check-in question?

It asks about something the employee experienced recently that the manager can change, such as a useful one-on-one or help getting unstuck. Questions about a manager’s personality are hard to act on, so leave them out.

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Pulse question sets

Manager check-in pulse questions

How managers help: one-on-ones, feedback and unblocking. 4 pulse survey questions to copy.

Pulse questions. Opens this set in Pulse questions. Nothing is added until you choose Add questions.

Use in Shuffl

Four questions about one-on-ones, unblocking work, career conversations and credit.

Results show by group, not by person, so use them to see where managers need support.

Shuffl · HR by the numbers

Why managers matter

Sources: Gallup, March 2014, updated February 2026¹; Gallup, May 2023, updated February 2026³; American Psychological Association, 2024⁴Download PNG

Manager check-in questions

Each line shows the answer scale and what the question measures.

1. My last one-on-one with my manager was useful. (strongly disagree to strongly agree; Manager support)
2. When I was stuck, my manager helped me get unstuck. (strongly disagree to strongly agree; Manager support)
3. My manager and I have talked about my growth recently. (strongly disagree to strongly agree; Manager support)
4. My manager gives credit for good work. (strongly disagree to strongly agree; Recognition)

How to adapt it

Ask one question at a time, a few times a week, rather than all of them at once.
Keep the wording about the last week or two, so people answer about now.
Ask the same question again later to see whether something you changed helped.

What the research says

Gallup estimates that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in engagement across teams, based on an analysis of 11,781 work teams.¹ Managers are struggling too. Their engagement worldwide fell from 27% to 22% in 2025.²

Conversations are where much of that influence happens. In a Gallup study of nearly 15,000 employees, only 16% said their last conversation with their manager was extremely meaningful. Gallup also reports that 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged.³

The relationship shows up in how people feel. In APA’s 2024 survey, 48% of workers dissatisfied with their manager reported a desire to quit their job in the past month, compared with 13% of those satisfied. For emotional exhaustion the figures were 45% and 23%.⁴

How to read the results

Use these results to decide where managers need support. Show results only where five or more people answered, and group smaller teams under the next level up so nobody can guess who said what.

Look at the pattern across the four questions. Useful one-on-ones with low scores on career talks often means meetings are full of status updates. Low scores on getting unstuck point to managers without the time or authority to fix problems. Look for a score that improves over two or three months after a manager changes one habit.

Common mistakes

Publishing manager scores as a ranking, which turns a support tool into a performance review.
Showing results for teams so small that people can guess who answered.
Asking managers to fix low scores without giving them time, training or authority.
Forgetting managers’ own experience. They need useful one-on-ones and credit too.

Common questions

Should managers see their own team’s pulse results?: Yes, as long as the team is big enough to keep answers anonymous, often five or more people. Managers who see their own results can act on them, and talking them through with the team shows the survey is taken seriously.
How often should managers hold one-on-ones?: Weekly or every other week works for most teams. Gallup’s research suggests that short, regular conversations of 15 to 30 minutes have more impact than longer ones of 30 to 60 minutes.
What makes a good manager check-in question?: It asks about something the employee experienced recently that the manager can change, such as a useful one-on-one or help getting unstuck. Questions about a manager’s personality are hard to act on, so leave them out.

Sources

Read on October 13, 2026. Numbers change as new studies come out, so check the source before you quote it.

Gallup, Why Great Managers Are So Rare, March 2014, updated February 2026. The 70% estimate comes from a multiple regression across 11,781 work teams using Gallup’s Q12 engagement measure.
Gallup, State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report, 2026. Primarily the Gallup World Poll. 2025 data: 263,810 respondents (141,444 employed) in 140+ countries and territories, collected January to December 2025, plus U.S. web samples.
Gallup, A Great Manager’s Most Important Habit, May 2023, updated February 2026. The 16% figure comes from a Gallup study of nearly 15,000 employees. Manager upskilling results from 17 studies (14,774 participants, 2,354 teams).
American Psychological Association, 2024 Work in America Survey: Psychological Safety in the Changing Workplace, 2024. Online survey by The Harris Poll of 2,027 employed U.S. adults, March 25 to April 3, 2024. Psychological safety measured with seven items adapted from Edmondson’s scale and split at the median.