Compare average scores and response rates at a glance.
- Identify high and low scores in seconds
- Download to use in reports and presentations
- Incredibly intuitive
- View any of your bespoke attribute
Article contents
- What exactly are heatmaps?
- How does it work?
- Can you remind me how confidentiality works for Heatmaps?
- What’s the difference between viewing average scores or response rates within a heatmap?
- I’m on the heatmaps page but it’s blank?
- How can I compare my survey against another survey?
- What filters can I use in my heatmap?
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What data is being displayed for the response count and response rate in the Filter Average column?
- What’s the difference between the Combined Average and Survey Average row?
- How is the Combined Average and Survey Average rows calculated?
- Some of the columns are grey and empty… what does that mean?
- My heatmap doesn’t fit on the screen?
- What are the different colours in a heatmap?
- What are survey-specific filters?
- I can’t view the response rate for my survey-specific filters.
- Will employees’ identities be protected when using using survey-specific filters?
- Can I download the heatmap as an image?
- Can I download a heatmap as a CSV?
What exactly are heatmaps?
Heatmaps are basically colour-coded tables of all the scores and response rates from a particular survey, broken down by your bespoke segments. The heatmap shows the data in a clear and easy-to-digest format that you can easily download for reports or presentations, helping you to close the feedback loop!
How does it work?
Easy, all you need to do is click on the Heatmaps icon on the navigation bar. To get started simply select your chosen survey(s), pick your data view (average score or response rate), then begin ticking segments you’d like to compare.
Quick tip: If you wish to focus on specific questions within your survet, make sure to filter by ‘Question Category’.
The purpose of our heatmaps is to easily show where low/high scores and response rates are coming from within your organisation so you can see, at a glance, which areas need the most attention.
Can you remind me how confidentiality works for Heatmaps?
Hive is 100% committed to your employees confidentiality. When applying filters to your heatmap, our recommended minimum threshold is 6 responses—allowing you to drill down into attributes without ever being able to identify a single person. If the number of respondents in the selected segments does not reach the confidentiality threshold, the segments will not be shown.
If you want to know more, check out our Confidentiality Commitment, or our Ultimate Guide to Employee Survey Confidentiality.
Please note that your organisation has set your confidentiality threshold and will be consistent across the Hive platform.
What’s the difference between viewing average scores or response rates within a heatmap?
Using heatmaps to view average scores is most useful once a survey is closed, so that you can see all positive, moderate or low scores and the areas that need improvement.
When it comes to response rates, heatmaps are most beneficial when a survey is still open (so you can send out targeted reminders if necessary), and you can compare them to response rates over several closed surveys.
What is the response count row in the heatmaps?
The response count row displays the number of responses received from each segment alongside the existing response rates. This row allows you to better understand survey engagement levels and psychological safety.
Why is understanding psychological safety important?
Psychological safety is crucial for fostering an environment where employees feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and opinions. By monitoring response counts and understanding psychological safety indicators, organisations can create a more inclusive and supportive workplace culture.
I’m on the heatmaps page but it’s blank?
As default, your latest survey will selected and ready to go, but you’ll need to tick which segments you’d like to view! Simply select the segments you want to view and the heatmap will begin to build itself.
How can I compare my survey against another survey?
Simply search or select a survey from the survey drop-down menu in the filter sidebar. We understand that comparing surveys is essential for informed decision-making. That's why you have the ability to compare any survey side by side with the utmost ease. By selecting more than one survey or comparing multiple areas within your organisation, you’ll get more effective insights from your data.
What filters can I use in my heatmap?
Just like analysing surveys in Hive, your bespoke attributes will be down the left column of the page (e.g. department, gender, location). All you have to do is select the segments you’d like to be included in your heatmap by individually clicking them or click “select all” to include the entire segment.
Quick tip: The filter sidebar will only show segments and attributes that are included in your selected surveys. This allows you to focus on only the relevant segments for your survey(s).
How can I use the filter average column?
The filter average column in Heatmaps displays the average scores for the segments that have been selected. It enables you to compare multiple groups of segments alongside the organisation's overall average.Simply select the desired segments or filters in Heatmaps, and the filter average column will automatically display the average scores for those selections.
What data is being displayed for the response count and response rate in the Filter Average column?
Response Count: The total number of survey responses from the selected segments.
Response Rate: The percentage of survey recipients who responded, calculated as the total number of survey responses divided by the total number of survey recipients from the selected segments.
What’s the difference between the Combined Average and Survey Average row?
Each survey that is selected and displayed in Heatmaps will have a survey average row, allowing you to gain an insight into a survey average for each segment you have selected (average of all selected questions for each segment.
A combined average row will appear at the end of all your Heatmaps, when you have loaded 2 or more surveys. This gives you insight into the average score, for each segment, across all surveys and questions that are displayed in Heatmaps..
Key information: The average which has been calculated does not include eNPS responses
How is the Combined Average and Survey Average rows calculated?
Both average rows will only consider segments within a survey that surpass your organisation’s confidentiality threshold.
For example, if you select the 'male' segment and two surveys, Survey A has 6 male responses and Survey B has 1 male response, only the survey meeting or exceeding the confidentiality threshold will be included in the average row. This ensures a more robust safeguard for smaller response counts within the Hive platform.
Some of the columns are grey and empty 🤔 … what does that mean?
When you see a greyed out segment with no score or response rate, it means that the number of responses is below our confidentiality threshold.
My heatmap doesn’t fit on the screen?
Once you begin adding segments into the heatmap, they will appear as columns. If you continue to add segments, you will need to scroll to the right to view some columns. To help with this, we’ve added a simple “toggle filters” button just to the right of the filters, which will collapse the filters and allow you to see more of the segments.
What are the different colours in a heatmap?
Sometimes it’s helpful to see data in different ways, that’s why Hive gives you the option to apply different styles to your heatmap! There are 3 styles for the traffic light system, each with their own benefits. Simply change between these by clicking the different “Colour-coding” buttons on the page banner.
Ranged
Ranged displays the level of variance away from the most positive score/response rate for each question. In ranged, the colour gradients will change slightly depending on the scores/response rate for each question within the heatmap:
🟩 A shade of green will highlight the most positive scoring area for each question
🟨 A shade of yellow score/response rate will indicate a slight negative variance from the highest score
🟧 A darker amber score/response rate will be indicating an even greater negative variance
🟥 A red shade will indicate the lowest scoring area for each question.
Remember, a red score/response rate may not necessarily be a bad score/response rate, only the lowest in comparison to the other scores for the specific question. As you remove/add segments the colours will change.
RAG
In RAG, the colour shading is standardised and is not affected by the comparative scores/response rate. The minor variations in shading better demonstrates the difference between scores and consists of the ranges below:
🟩 A shade of green will indicate a score of 7 or above or response rate above 70%
🟨 A shade of yellow will be indicating a score of 5–6.9 or response rate of 50%–69%
🟧 A shade of amber indicates a score of 3–4.9 or response rate of 30%–49%
🟥 A red shade will inculcate a score below 3 or response rate below 30%
RAG (banded)
This is the default colour spectrum for Hive heatmaps and scores are the same as RAG, but shown as one of just four distinct colours to enable you to see more clearly which scores/response rates are positive, moderate, or require improvement or immediate action:
🟩 .Green will indicate a score of 7 or above or response rate above 70%
🟨 .Yellow will be indicating a score of 5–6.9 or response rate of 50%–69%
🟧 .Amber indicates a score of 3–4.9 or response rate of 30%–49%
🟥 .Red will inculcate a score below 3 or response rate below 30%
What are survey-specific filters?
Survey-specific Filters in Hive enable you to selectively analyse survey results based on employee-identified characteristics. By incorporating Result Segmentation questions in your survey, you can filter responses according to the answers provided to these specific questions.
I can’t view the response rate for my survey-specific filters.
The absence of response rates for Survey-specific Filters in Heatmaps is due to the nature of these questions, which focus on gathering employee characteristics rather than traditional question responses. As a result, the response rate metric is not applicable to Results Segmentation questions.
Will employees’ identities be protected when using using survey-specific filters?
Yes, the confidentiality threshold still applies to these questions.
Can I download the heatmap as an image?
Of course. Just click the ‘Download image’ button to then use the image in presentations or reports. Any filters (department, location, function) applied will still be applied. So if you’d like to see every score or response rate, make sure you’ve selected all the segments
Can I download a heatmap as a CSV?
Simply download heatmap as a CSV file by clicking “download csv” and you’re ready to upload to Excel or any other compatible programme. Remember, any filters (department, location, function) applied will still be applied. So if you’d like to see all of them, make sure you’ve selected all the segments!