BLS AG

Employee survey at BLS: feedback at every level

with Andrea Weedon

People Development Specialist

+140% attractiveness

Employer attractiveness from 23 to 55 score points in five years

+54 points collaboration

Score increase from –21 to +33 points in five years

+21 points work situation

Score increase from 4 to 25 points in five years

Industry

Mobility & public transport

Headquarters

Bern, Switzerland

Company size

4,000 employees

Website

bls.ch

The company

One of Switzerland's largest transport companies

BLS AG connects people, regions, and places by train, bus, boat, car-carrying service, and freight. With around 4,000 employees and a 424-kilometre rail network, it is one of the largest railway companies in Switzerland.

What sets BLS apart from other companies: few organisations bring together such a diverse workforce under one roof. Train drivers alone form the largest professional group with 780 people, complemented by workshop teams, the boat operations, bus crews, and the entire commercial administration. This diversity places particular demands on leadership and internal communication: no feedback process designed only for office staff can work in railway operations.

BLS uses Pulse Feedback for employee surveys, mood barometers, and pulse surveys across divisions and projects. With Peer Feedback, it also gives all employees continuous feedback from multiple perspectives.

The challenge

A cumbersome employee survey, no framework for Peer Feedback

At BLS, the existing employee survey was reaching its limits, while there was still no structured framework for continuous feedback from multiple perspectives.

With the employee survey:

  • Enormous effort → Running and analysing it tied up too many resources
  • A confusing questionnaire → Many employees couldn't make sense of the questions
  • Months of waiting → Results arrived only half a year after the survey
  • Measures based on outdated data → Action areas were defined long after reality had moved on

With Peer Feedback:

  • No shared framework → Feedback between employees and managers happened, if at all, unsystematically and without a binding basis
  • No link to context → There was no approach that reflected the reality of specific professional groups
  • A lack of flexibility → Agile work structures had no suitable feedback instrument

The solution

From a one-off measurement to a living feedback culture

With Pulse Feedback, BLS renewed its employee survey and established a continuous feedback process for the first time. The result is a multi-level feedback architecture, tailored to the reality of a complex transport company.

For the employee survey:

  • Simplified and focused: Short, focused surveys instead of endless questionnaires
  • Flexible to use: From the company-wide survey to the division pulse and project barometer
  • Immediate results: Feedback is visible right after the survey
  • Teams in charge: Employees discuss results directly in the team and derive improvements themselves

For Peer Feedback:

  • Continuous feedback: Employees regularly gather feedback from multiple perspectives, not just once
  • Context-appropriate: Adaptable to the reality of different professional groups and work structures
  • Ownership at the centre: Employees take their own development into their own hands
"What I like is that everyone can get involved and have a direct impact. I also value the transparency, because you can enter into a dialogue straight away."

The result

Continuous improvement over five years, in every area measured

The numbers speak for themselves: employer attractiveness rose from 23 to 55 score points (+140%), collaboration developed from –21 to +33 points, and the work situation improved from 4 to 25 score points over five years.

Behind the numbers lies a cultural shift: at BLS, feedback is no longer a top-down instrument. Teams work independently with their results, talk openly about challenges, and drive improvements themselves, across every professional group. With the Peer Feedback module, employees at all levels now continuously gather feedback from multiple perspectives and actively take their development into their own hands.

"Pulse starts with the individual employees and the teams. That makes improvements more tangible, and everyone can make a noticeable, visible contribution."

Why Pulse Feedback

Simple, transparent, and close to people's everyday work

BLS particularly values that Pulse Feedback doesn't just measure, but enables genuine conversations and ownership at every level and across every professional group.

  • Bottom-up and transparent: Employees have their say, results are openly visible and create the basis for direct conversations
  • Versatile: One tool for many use cases, from the annual survey to the team pulse
  • Context-appropriate: Adaptable to the reality of different professional groups and ways of working
  • Easy to work with: Hands-on support from a team that meets you as an equal
"Pulse gives every employee a voice and the opportunity to drive change themselves."
Portrait of Andrea Weedon

Andrea Weedon

People Development Specialist at BLS

Ready for feedback at every level?

Discover how to combine employee surveys and Peer Feedback for all employees into one integrated approach with Pulse Feedback.