Wondering who to include in your Friday Pulse questions?

In short, everyone.

Building trust

Everyone benefits when participation is as inclusive as possible. Each person’s input helps create a more complete picture of how teams are feeling and what can be improved. When people see that their responses lead to real discussions and positive changes, trust in the tool and response rates both grow.

Senior leaders’ voices are important too

Sometimes leaders or certain individuals may feel they shouldn't answer the Friday Pulse questions. In most cases, they should have the option to.

It’s important that everyone, including senior leaders, has a chance to reflect on their own experiences and contribute to the shared picture of happiness at work and workplace culture. Their happiness at work matters too.

Also, seeing leaders participate – such as sharing their own Celebrations, Frustrations, and Ideas – also helps build trust and demonstrates that everyone’s voice matters equally. Perhaps most importantly, leaders can share their gratitude with colleagues and model the behaviour they want to see from others by sending Thank yous.

Considering the impact of excluding users

Before setting a user to be excluded from questions, consider the wider impact:

• Excluding a senior person may create a perception that employees are being monitored, instead of everyone taking part in a shared initiative to look after happiness at work.
• Excluding particular groups can suggest to them and others that some voices are more important than others.

In most cases, it’s better to leave everyone included so participation remains voluntary.

Friday Pulse is intentionally not compulsory. Participants always have the choice not to respond, and we don’t show a list of who has or hasn’t taken part. Occasionally, not participating can itself be a message – for example, it might indicate that someone doesn’t yet trust the process or feels their input won’t make a difference. By reviewing results together, celebrating what’s going well, and addressing frustrations openly, teams can help build trust in the process – which, over time, encourages more consistent participation.

#Excluding a user from participating There is a “Question participation” setting on a user’s profile that allows administrators to select “Exclude from questions”. This option prevents the person from receiving the participation email and taking part, but they can still view other people’s results.

This should only be used in extreme or edge cases – for example, if someone has permanently left but shouldn’t yet be retired, or if they are not working within the organization but are supporting you externally with HR or culture.