How many questions should an employee survey have?

An annual engagement or climate survey works well at 20 to 30 questions, which takes most people six to eight minutes. A pulse survey should be five to eight questions and take under two minutes. Length matters less for response rate than for response quality: people rarely abandon a long survey, they finish it carelessly, so the last third of a 60-question survey produces data you cannot trust. Cut any question you are not prepared to act on.