⚠️ Closed Early Access Program

Multi-signal Intelligence and the Survey Hotspot Insight are currently available as a closed Early Access program. We look forward to rolling this out to more accounts soon.

🔐 Who can use this feature?

Roles: Account administrators and users with an Insights role
Subscriptions: Any package with Engagement (AI Coach and Multi-signal Intelligence™ enabled)

A survey hotspot is a group of employees whose survey results on a factor, such as Engagement, are notably lower than everyone else who answered. This is surfaced as a Multi-signal Intelligence™ insight.

Unlike insights suck as Turnover Risk, which looks ahead at who may leave, a survey hotspot shows how a group responded in your most recent survey. Open it and Coach helps you explore what is driving the gap and what to do about it.

Before you begin

To begin seeing survey hotspots, you require Multi-signal Intelligence™ configured on your account with the following sources:

Employee Data with Demographics added in Settings > Insights. Groups are built only from these demographics.
A closed survey added in Settings > Insights > Survey data. The survey must include an index factor, such as Engagement.

For details on configuring these data sources, see the Multi-signal Intelligence setup and administration guide.

Which survey is used?

Survey hotspots use the latest closed survey in your Survey data list, which is the survey with the most recent close date.

Live surveys: A live survey is only used once it closes.

The card names the survey the insight is based on, so you can always check which survey is being used.

Where the insight appears

The insight appears as a card in the insights carousel when a group with notably lower survey results is identified. Survey hotspots are shown after turnover insights in the carousel. If no qualifying group can be identified, no card will be shown.

The insight will be shown to Account Administrators and users with an Insights role in the AI Coach side pane. It appears in two places:

The Home page
The general Coach page

These are the only two places the insight appears. For how the carousel works, see Where are insights shown?.

When the insight appears and disappears

Survey Hotspot insights stay in the carousel for as long as your data continues to identify the group. Opening an insight does not remove it, and you see the same insights on any browser or device. For full details, see When insights appear and disappear.

How often does the insight update?

Insights are checked each time you start a new Coach conversation, using the latest data available for your account. The insight card shows automatically when a survey hotspot is identified.

What the insight card shows

When there is a qualifying survey hotspot in your data, the card will show:

A heading naming the factor, for example Engagement is notably lower for a group in your organization. If your Insights role is restricted to a group of employees, the heading says in your area instead.
The demographic group/s the result relates to, such as Department: Sales, and the number of people in the group who responded.
The difference in points, compared with company overall, or with your area if your Insights role is restricted.
The caption Based on [survey name], naming the survey the insight comes from.
Explore with Coach, to start a conversation about the group.

The wording on the card is produced directly from your data. Coach does not write it.

How to open a survey hotspot conversation

The entire card is clickable and clicking it will start a conversation with Coach.

Go to the Home page or the General Coach page.
Find the Survey Hotspot card in the insights carousel in the Coach side pane. Use the arrows or dots to move between insights.
Select the card or Explore with Coach, or press Enter or Space while it is focused.
Coach sends a message to start the conversation about that group and begins working through the result with you.

What Coach does in the conversation

After you open the insight, Coach starts a conversation focused on the group named on the card. Because you have already seen the group, Coach goes straight to why it stands out:

Why: Coach runs driver analysis on the factor for that group and shares the two or three survey questions most linked to the result.
Scores: Coach shows results as favorable, neutral and unfavorable percentages, and can present them as charts.
Sources: Coach shows the survey and factor its answer is based on.
Next steps: Coach suggests concrete next steps you can take, and you can keep chatting to explore other factors or dig deeper.

How are survey hotspots identified?

For the survey factor, Culture Amp looks at each group of employees and compares them with everyone else who answered the questions in that factor. Groups that respond notably lower are surfaced as hotspots.

Demographics: Groups are built from the demographics added in Settings > Insights.
Factor: The card uses the survey's index factor, such as Engagement.
Respondents: Only responses that answered every question in the factor are counted.
Minimum group size: A group needs at least 16 respondents.
Share of respondents: A group must make up between 5% and 75% of the people analyzed.
Overlapping groups: If a smaller group is almost entirely made up of the same people as a larger group, only the larger group is shown.
Number of hotspots: Up to three survey hotspots are shown, with the lowest results first.

"Notably lower" is based on a combination of measures of how differently the group responded, not only the difference in favorable percentage.

How the points difference is calculated

The points difference on the card compares the group's favorable percentage with the favorable percentage of everyone analyzed, including the group itself. Favorable responses are answers of Agree or Strongly agree.

If your Insights role is restricted to a group of employees, both the hotspot groups and the comparison are calculated within that group only.

What are drivers?

Drivers are the survey questions most closely linked to the factor for that group. Coach uses them to explain what may be behind a lower result and where to focus.

If the group has fewer than 25 respondents, the drivers Coach shares reflect your organization overall. Coach tells you when this happens, so you can treat them as a reference point rather than a result specific to the group.

Limitations to keep in mind

Survey hotspots are a useful signal, but they have important limits:

It reflects one survey. Survey hotspots use a single closed survey, so results reflect how people felt at the time of that survey.
The only comparison is within your organization. Survey hotspots compare with company overall, or with your area if your role is restricted. External benchmarks and trends from previous surveys aren't included.
It requires sufficient data. Survey hotspots may not be generated if no closed survey has been added, if the survey has no index factor, if no demographics have been added, or if groups are too small.
A group is not its individuals. Results describe how a group responded overall. Not everyone in the group feels the same way.

Frequently asked questions

Why isn't the Survey Hotspot insight showing?

The insight only shows when a survey hotspot has been identified. If it is not showing, check that:

A closed survey with an index factor has been added in Settings > Insights > Survey data.
Demographics have been added in Settings > Insights.
You are an Account Administrator or have an Insights role.

If all of these are in place, no group may stand out in the survey data.

Why is Coach showing drivers for my whole organization?

When a group has fewer than 25 respondents, the drivers Coach shares reflect your organization overall. This is expected, and Coach tells you when it happens.

Will my live survey be used?

Not until it closes. Survey hotspots only use closed surveys from your Survey data list.

💬 Need help? Open a Support Conversation to speak with our Product Support team.

MSI Insight - Survey Hotspot (Early Access)