The Power Of Candid Employee Feedback

If we want better outcomes for our organizations, we need candid feedback from our employees. We may not always like what we hear, but without it, we’re missing opportunities. When we’re not asking tough questions, or when our employees are nervous about answering honestly, we become satisfied with the status quo. As a result, the organization doesn’t grow, and employees don’t improve, which leads to long-term consequences.

There’s a lot of ink shared about obtaining employee feedback as an engagement tactic. We’re reminded that employees feel valued when we ask for and use their ideas and suggestions. While that’s true (and extremely important), a key reason for getting employee feedback is more basic. Employees are closest to the work, and they are the first to hear complaints or suggestions from clients. They also have helpful insight into the culture and work environment -- critical factors in recruiting and retention.

The Best Ways To Get Employee Feedback

We often think of employee feedback as a formal process -- a survey or focus group. In planning for this, it’s important to consider why you’re collecting data. Are you trying to assess some specific variable related to the work, the culture or a specific problem?

For example, if your organization has been experiencing massive change, and you are checking the pulse of your employees, a survey offers a relatively easy way to get data on satisfaction levels. If you’re experiencing high turnover and you’re trying to get to the root cause, a focus group with an external, neutral consultant may be a more appropriate choice in helping you gather better insight.

Anonymity is important. Employees may be reluctant to offer critical feedback (particularly if it’s a new occurrence), and your survey efforts must provide a safe environment free from fear of repercussions.

Communication is critical when soliciting employee feedback and can affect participation in future surveys. Prior to the survey, explain the purpose and the anonymity safeguards. Set some parameters, and consider adding verbiage like, “We can’t take action on every single idea, but we will give all ideas consideration.” Then, when your study is over, share the results. Tell employees what actions are going to be taken and when they can expect to see these things. 

We want more honest feedback in the future, and we have to show employees that their feedback is valuable. Organizations do themselves a disservice when they hold onto employee survey data. It becomes obsolete. Employees begin to question why they’re taking time to participate, and eventually stop sharing their feedback.

Improving Participation

While we hope our actions pave the way for future feedback, we know that sometimes getting high participation levels takes more than simply asking and reacting to the results. Incentives like time off, money or food can help with employee participation. If you’re struggling to get people to show up, consider adding an incentive such as company-branded swag or gift cards.

Still, there will always be a few people who won’t participate. These might be people for whom their work is just a job, and they simply aren’t that committed. If this non-participation number is particularly high, unfortunately, it may be a valuable indicator of your work culture. In this case, your first steps should be to improve the culture, engagement and trust. Once you’ve made strides in this area, consider trying the survey again.

How often should you solicit employee feedback? My suggestion would be every year. This provides you with plenty of opportunities to act on what you’ve learned and plant the seed for future feedback. You also don’t want to diminish the perceived value of participating by asking for feedback too often.

Getting Employee Feedback Has Many Layers

Other than formal ways to gather employee feedback, there are plenty of informal opportunities for intentional, open communication within organizations. Frequent one-on-one meetings with individuals, teams or departments can help address your employees’ ideas, concerns and issues as they emerge, so there’s no delay in reacting.

By building a culture where regular feedback in all directions is the norm, you’re creating a stronger organization. By making it safe for conversations to happen regularly between management and all employees, you’ll get more brain power focused on the challenges ahead to achieve better outcomes.