Table of Contents

1. Why feedback from employees matters
2. Gathering employee feedback
3. Fostering a feedback-friendly environment
4. Putting employee feedback to work
5. Reap the benefits of employee feedback that’s put to work

“Employee feedback” is a topic that corporate America tends to view as a one-way directional for providing staff with constructive criticisms and insights that will allow them to improve their job performance. But, there can be a lot of benefits for employers to regularly collect feedback from their employees to improve their workplace, culture, and more.

Why feedback from employees matters

You invest a lot of money into the team members you hire, so why not do your best to keep them?

There are many benefits from asking creating a consistent way for your employees to give you feedback on their experiences.

1. You’ll learn why employees choose to stay at your company, which you can promote to candidates
2. You will learn about what the company is doing well and what it is doing poorly to continue improving your culture and teams
3. You may learn that some of the benefits you offer, no one actually wants, which may save you money
4. You’ll have a lot more happy workers, which will create a better environment for your guests

Gathering employee feedback

Figuring out what feedback system works best for your team may take some time and effort. You can test out a few methods, such as anonymous surveys, like SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, or Hotjar, or creating suggestion boxes with paper forms around the offices.

There are a few distribution methods to consider as well. If your company has an intranet, you can use that to house the survey, or possibly send out a quarterly email to all employees containing the link.

Fostering a feedback-friendly environment

If employees don’t feel comfortable being honest in the workplace, they are not likely to share even the most basic of information. So it’s essential to create a work environment that’s free of politics, gossip, and non-judgmental. This can be easier said than done.

Communication is key to keeping an organization free of such drawbacks. Team members should be kept up-to-date on changes to workplace procedures, colleagues taking time off, and updates to human resources policies. When they hear about these things before an official announcement is made, it only emphasizes a culture of distrust.

Instead, giving employees regular feedback that is positive will help to accentuate trust.

Also, enforce active listening among teams and managers. When staff is speaking to management, don’t interrupt them. Don’t challenge them. Don’t become defensive.

Ask for details about what they’ve just said. It will show that you’re interested, paying attention, and want to know more.

You should also reassure them at the time of the discussion that the employee will not suffer any repercussions and actually respect that.

Putting employee feedback to work

Keep in mind that management should be prepared to accept and respond to feedback, professionally and actively. Paying lip service to staff without affecting any real change will quickly stop employees from sharing insights that could potentially better the bottom line.

This is where the onus is on management to make improvements. It’s also important to give employees updates on those plans as they occur. Consider outlining the next steps in the process for the employee. They should feel as those they are part of the process and have the power to bring about positive changes at work.

Reap the benefits of employee feedback that’s put to work

Staff can help you get ahead of a problem before it becomes a real issue. This can save time, it can save costs, and –when done correctly—it can even improve revenues.

Regularly collecting employee feedback and then affecting change as a result of that information is also a valuable tool to use in interviews with job candidates. Every job seeker wants to know how their potential new employer values staff.

Typically, hiring managers will talk about compensation, benefits, and human resources programs. However, telling interviewees that team members have the power to directly improve how the business is run could be a game changer for your organization.