Hive gives you the flexibility to measure what matters most to your organisation. With Custom Indexes, you can track engagement and performance on your terms, while still benefiting from Hive’s data-driven insights.
Article Content
- What is a Custom Index?
- How do Custom Indexes work?
- Why use a Custom Index?
- What are the types of Index I can create?
- What’s the difference between Custom and Standalone indexes?
- Why use Hive’s Engagement Index?
- Can I edit my Index after it’s used?
- Can I include multiple indexes in my survey?
- Will my Custom Index apply to past surveys?
- Need inspiration for building your Custom Index?
What is a Custom Index?
A Custom Index lets you create your own engagement or performance benchmarks by selecting specific survey questions that align with your organisation’s priorities.
Instead of relying solely on Hive’s standard Engagement Index (EI), you can choose the questions that reflect your unique culture, goals, or strategy -while still benefiting from consistent, trackable reporting.
How do Custom Indexes work?
- Choose your own questions: Select the survey questions that best reflect what matters most to your organisation. These could focus on values, leadership, wellbeing, or any other key area.
- Set up your index in My Question Bank: Create and manage your Custom Index directly in the My Question Bank section. Give it a name, select your questions, and add short labels for easier reporting.
- Real-time insights: Your Custom Index will be automatically calculated and appear in your reporting dashboards — in real time. You can also use it with Key Drivers to understand what’s influencing the results.
- Track progress over time: Once your index is used in a survey, it becomes fixed — allowing you to track consistent metrics and monitor progress across surveys.
Why use a Custom Index?
- Tailored insights - Track engagement and performance in a way that aligns with your organisation’s culture and goals.
- Internal benchmarking - Compare progress over time with metrics that matter to your team.
- Balanced flexibility - Get the benefits of customisation while still using Hive’s validated engagement questions.
What are the types of Index I can create?
|
Type |
Description |
How? |
|
Custom Index |
Create your own index that also includes Hive’s standard 3 Engagement Index questions (incl. eNPS) |
Get in touch with Hive support to set up. Creation tool coming to the platform soon. |
|
Standalone Index |
Create an index with any combination of questions. |
Get in touch with your Hive contact to set up. |
What’s the difference between Custom and Standalone indexes?
|
Custom Index |
Standalone Index |
|
|
Includes Hive’s Engagement index & eNPS questions |
✅ Required |
No |
|
Gain access Hive Benchmarking |
✅ Yes |
No |
|
User-defined questions |
✅ Yes |
✅ Yes |
|
Available in Key Drivers |
✅ Yes |
✅ Yes |
|
How many indexes can I have? |
✅ Unlimited |
✅ Unlimited |
|
Editable after use |
No |
No |
Why use Hive’s Engagement Index?
Hive’s Engagement Index (EI) is our validated benchmark for measuring employee engagement. It includes three core questions (including eNPS) and offers:
- Access to industry-wide benchmarks
- Reliable, consistent engagement tracking
- Data-driven insights to guide decision-making
Even if you build a Custom Index, including Hive’s Engagement Index ensures you stay connected to our benchmarking data pool.
Can I edit my Index after it’s used?
No, once a Custom Index has been used in a survey, it can’t be changed. This ensures your data stays consistent and comparable over time.
Want to include a new question? You’ll need to create a new index to maintain clean, reliable insights.
Can I include multiple indexes in my survey?
Yes, you can include multiple indexes in one survey, even if some questions overlap within different indexes.
Where can I create a custom index?
You can create a custom index by going to My Question Bank and selecting Create Index.
- Give your index a name, this will appear in your reports and dashboard.
- Add the questions you want to include in your index. Note: Once these questions are added to a live survey, you won’t be able to edit them.
- By default, Hive’s engagement index question will be included to help you get started and maintain access to benchmarking.
- Lastly, give each question a label — a short title that makes it easier to refer to the question in reports or the dashboard. Using the question topic is a good rule of thumb.
Want more flexibility? Unlock Standalone Indexes to build an index from any combination of questions. Contact Hive Support!
Can I run Key Drivers against a custom index?
Yes, absolutely!
- Make sure your index is created in My Question Bank.
- Add the index questions to your survey.
- Then, in the Survey Builder, go to the Analysis tab and enable Key Drivers.
This lets you see which factors are most influencing your index scores giving you deeper insight into what drives engagement.
Will my Custom Index apply to past surveys?
Yes! Once your Custom Index is used in a live survey, it will automatically be applied to any previous surveys that included the same set of questions.
This means you’ll be able to view and compare your Custom Index across historical data, helping you track trends and progress over time, even before the index was officially created.
Need inspiration for building your Custom Index?
Check out our blog post, “Measuring What Matters Most with Custom Indexes and Hive’s Question Bank.”
It includes real index examples, like Leadership Trust, Wellbeing, and Belonging & Inclusion and shows exactly which questions to include:
- Leadership Trust Index (e.g. “I trust the leadership team…” + EI questions)
- Wellbeing Index (e.g. “My workload feels manageable” + EI questions)
- Belonging & Inclusion Index (e.g. “I feel a sense of belonging…” + EI questions)
Head to the article to explore more custom index ideas.