Research foundation
QuestPulse rests on decades of research into engagement, team dynamics, leadership and organizational health. These are the sources we rely on, and why they support the way we work.
Theme 1
Engagement and strain fluctuate over time. Periodic measurements miss the development while it happens, and problems are often held back inside the organization.
Strategic HR Review, Winton & Palmer · 2018
Engagement is dynamic and shifts from week to week. The authors argue that organizations must supplement annual surveys with more frequent measurement to get data that can be acted on in time.
Read the sourceFrontiers in Organizational Psychology, Berthelsen & Muhonen, Malmö University · 2026
Short, frequent measurements are used in organizations as a decision basis and for ongoing management of psychosocial risk, not only as an annual temperature check.
Read the sourceAcademy of Management Review, Morrison & Milliken · 2000
Employees systematically withhold information about problems. Without a safe channel for continuous signals, leadership sees the development only once the consequences are visible.
Read the sourceIZA Discussion Paper, Frederiksen, Aarhus University · 2015
Job satisfaction measured at company level predicts actual turnover. The signals exist in the organization before the consequence occurs, for those who measure them.
Read the sourceTheme 2
It is not who is on the team that determines performance, but how the team works together. And the manager is the single largest factor for engagement.
Google re:Work · 2015
After more than 200 interviews and analysis of 180 teams, Google found that who is on a team matters less than how the members interact. Psychological safety was the most important dynamic.
Read the sourceResearch-Technology Management, on Amy Edmondson's research at Harvard · 2023
Psychological safety is rare in practice, yet decisive for learning and performance. When people hold back their thoughts, the team loses small moments of learning every day.
Read the sourceGallup, State of the American Manager · 2015
Managers explain at least 70 percent of the variance in engagement across teams. One in two employees has left a job to get away from their manager. Leadership action is the conversion point.
Read the sourceScientific Reports, Watanabe et al. · 2025
A randomised study among Japanese office workers found that strengths-focused AI feedback increased occupational self-efficacy. For improvement-focused feedback, emotional support from managers and colleagues was decisive. The findings underline that technology must work alongside human support.
Read the sourceTheme 3
The connection between people, leadership and business outcomes is among the best documented findings in modern organizational research.
Gallup · 2024
The largest study of its kind: 183,806 teams and 3.3 million employees across 347 organizations. It documents the link between engagement and 11 business outcomes, including profitability, productivity, turnover and absenteeism.
Read the sourceMcKinsey & Company · 2024
More than 20 years of research through the Organizational Health Index shows that organizational health is the best predictor of value creation. Healthier organizations deliver three times the shareholder returns over time, regardless of industry.
Read the sourceWorld Health Organization · 2019
Burnout is defined as a work-related phenomenon caused by chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. Strain is an organizational challenge that can be addressed before it becomes an absence figure.
Read the sourceAnnual Review of Organizational Psychology, Morrison · 2023
Hundreds of studies show when and why employees choose to speak up or stay silent, and what it means for the organization. Channels for voice must be designed deliberately.
Read the sourceVoices from the research
Three quotes we believe capture why this field matters.
“Who is on a team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.”
Analyst, Google People Operations
“Every time we withhold our thoughts, we rob ourselves and our colleagues of small moments of learning.”
Professor, Harvard Business School
“People leave managers more than companies.”
Chief Scientist, Gallup
QuestPulse is not an employee survey and not a measurement tool. The research above shows that the signals exist in the organization all the time, that team dynamics and leadership determine the outcome, and that the link to business results is documented. Our task is to make these signals available as a shared basis for decisions, while there is still time to act.
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