Custom Surveys let you create surveys for regular engagement checks, follow-ups after an event, or a one-off question about a new policy. You build the survey on one page, choose who receives it, and launch it right away or on a date you pick. Employees answer from a link in their email — no login needed.
Once the answers come in, read Review and manage Custom Survey results to see the summary, filter and export the results, and close the survey.
Note: This article covers Custom Surveys. If you’ve used Surveys in Tellent HR Grow before, your existing surveys keep working and are marked Legacy; Custom Surveys are marked New. Legacy surveys follow a different workflow — see Create an engagement survey. Only HR can create and manage Custom Surveys.
Create a survey
Everything happens on one page: Survey settings on the left, your Questionnaire on the right, and a live preview that updates as you type.
In Tellent HR Grow, go to Engagement > Custom surveys and click New survey.
The Custom surveys list with the New survey button
Click the pencil icon next to the survey name at the top to rename it.
In the Questionnaire card, click Edit.
Under Introduction, fill in the Header and a Description. Employees see these at the top of the survey, so use the description to explain why you’re asking and how the answers will be used.
Click + Add to add a question. Type the question, then choose an Answer type:
Scale — rate from low to high, for example 1 to 5, with a hint for what the ends mean.
eNPS — the standard “How likely are you to recommend this company as a place to work?” question on a 0–10 scale, scored automatically.
Single choice — pick one option from a list.
Multiple choice — pick any number of options. Add your options under Answers, and set how many options people can pick with At least and At most.
Text — an open answer in the employee’s own words.
The Edit questionnaire panel with the Introduction block, the questions, the + Add button, and the live preview
A multiple-choice question with its Answer type, Answers, At least and At most fields, and the Participants explanation option
Repeat for each question. Use the arrows to reorder questions, the copy icon to duplicate one, and the trash icon to delete one.
Check the preview on the right to see exactly what employees will see, then click Save.
Note: Questions are required by default. Multiple-choice questions are the only exception: set At least to 0, and employees can submit the survey without picking an option, which makes that question optional.
Tip: Select Participants explanation on a question to let people add a short comment to their answer. It appears as an optional Additional comment field under the question, and the comments show up next to each answer in your results.
Add one eNPS question to get an employee Net Promoter Score in your results, with a breakdown of promoters, passives, and detractors.
Set up the audience, anonymity, and invitation
These settings live in the Survey settings card on the left of the survey page. Set them before you launch — they lock once you launch the survey.
Choose who receives the survey
You can combine people, groups, and managers’ teams in one audience.
Click the Audience field and select any combination of:
All employees
Users — individual people
Groups
Subordinates of — pick a manager to include everyone who reports to them
Click outside the field to close it. Your selection shows as chips in the field.
The Audience dropdown with the Subordinates of option expanded
Your picks add up. For example, if you select the Sales group and also add Anna from Finance under Users, Anna is included even though she isn’t in Sales.
Make the survey anonymous
Anonymity is off by default. Turn it on when you want candid answers on sensitive topics: select Anonymous survey in the Survey settings card.
The Anonymous survey option selected, with the notice about the 5-response threshold.
When a survey is anonymous, results stay hidden until at least 5 people have responded — this protects everyone’s anonymity. Employees see a notice on the form telling them the survey is anonymous.
Important: You can’t change the anonymity setting after you launch the survey. If fewer than 5 people respond, the results stay hidden. The same threshold applies when you filter the results. For small teams, consider leaving anonymity off.
Edit the invitation email
Employees receive the invitation by email, with a personal link to answer. You can change what the email says.
In the Invitation email section, click the pencil icon.
Edit the Subject and the Message. The message can be up to 5,000 characters.
Click Save.
Tip: Say how long the survey takes — people are more likely to answer when they know what they’re signing up for. You can leave anonymity out of the email, because the survey form displays an anonymity notice automatically.
Launch or schedule the survey
Launch the survey right away, or schedule it for a date and time you pick. You can also click Save draft at any point and come back later — the survey shows as Draft in your list.
Launch the survey now
Click Launch survey.
Check the audience count in the Launch this survey? dialog, then click Launch survey to confirm.
Invitation emails go out to everyone in the audience. Each employee gets a personal link and can answer straight from it — no login needed.
Results update as answers come in. To follow them, open the survey from your list — see Review and manage Custom Survey results.
Important: Launching can’t be undone. After launch, only the survey’s name and introduction stay editable — enough to fix a typo. The questions, answer types, anonymity setting, audience, and invitation email are locked.
Schedule the survey for later
Under Schedule, click + Set start date and pick a Start date and a Send time.
The Start date and Send time fields with the date picker open
Click Schedule survey at the top of the page.
Check the date, time, time zone, and audience count in the Schedule this survey? dialog, then click Schedule survey.
The survey shows as Scheduled in your list and launches automatically at the chosen time — that’s when the invitation emails go out.
Add participants after launch
To add people to a survey you’ve already launched, open the survey, click the three dots in the top-right corner, and select Add participants. Pick the people, groups, or managers’ teams to add.
Only the newly added people receive an invitation email.
Note: You can add people after launch, but you can’t remove anyone.
Share the survey anywhere
Besides the invitation email, every survey has a share link you can post wherever your team already is — Slack, Teams, a newsletter, or your intranet.
Go to Engagement > Custom surveys, click the three dots next to the survey, and select Copy share link.
The survey list row menu with the Copy share link option.
Paste the link where you want people to find it. You’ll also find the share link in the top-right corner of the survey’s results page — click it to copy.
Note: The share link is a shortcut for people you’ve already invited, not an open invitation. Anyone who opens it has to log in to Tellent first, and only people in the survey’s audience can answer. The personal link in the invitation email is the only one that works without logging in.
Tip: Custom Surveys don’t send reminder emails. If responses are slowing down, post the share link again with a short nudge.
How employees answer
Employees open the survey from the personal link in their invitation email, which needs no login, or from the share link, which asks them to log in first.
The employee survey form with the anonymity notice and the first question.
The survey is a single page with one Submit button at the end. Answers can’t be saved partway, so keep surveys short enough to finish in one sitting.
After submitting, employees see a confirmation: “Thank you! Your response has been submitted.”
Example
For example, you can set up a quarterly engagement survey to check in with the whole company.
You create a survey with an eNPS question, four scale questions about work-life balance, manager support, recognition, and growth, and one text question asking what the company should start doing.
You select Anonymous survey so people feel free to be candid.
You set the audience to All employees and schedule it for Monday at 09:00.
On Monday morning, the survey launches by itself and the invitations go out. You post the share link in your company Slack channel so it’s easy to find.
When most people have answered, you review and close the survey — see Review and manage Custom Survey results.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send a reminder to people who haven’t answered?
Can I send a reminder to people who haven’t answered?
No. Custom Surveys don’t send reminder emails, and there’s no list of who has or hasn’t answered. Post the share link in Slack or your newsletter to nudge people instead.
Can I set a deadline for the survey?
Can I set a deadline for the survey?
No. Custom Surveys stay open until you close them, so you can keep collecting responses for as long as you need.
Can I make a question optional?
Can I make a question optional?
Only multiple-choice questions: set At least to 0. All other question types are required.
Can employees save their answers and finish later?
Can employees save their answers and finish later?
No. The survey is a single page with one Submit button, and answers aren’t saved partway. Keep surveys short enough to complete in one go.
Can I change the questions after launching?
Can I change the questions after launching?
Partly. The survey name and the introduction stay editable, so you can fix a typo. The structure of the survey — the questions, answer types, audience, anonymity setting, and invitation email — is locked after launch.
Can I add or remove people after launching?
Can I add or remove people after launching?
You can add people, groups, and managers’ teams at any time with Add participants in the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of the survey. Only the newly added people get an invitation. You can’t remove anyone after launch.
Does the share link work for people who weren’t invited?
Does the share link work for people who weren’t invited?
No. The share link is a quick way to post the survey in Slack, a newsletter, or anywhere else your team looks. Anyone who opens it has to log in, and only people in the survey’s audience can answer. The only link that works without logging in is the personal one in each employee’s invitation email.