Even the very best organisations have room to improve, and growing and changing with the times is a vital part of running a successful company. Who could be better placed to let you know where improvement is needed than your employees?
Encouraging employee feedback is tremendously valuable for your organisation. It shows you where you can improve, highlights problems you may have been unaware of, and creates a more positive company culture for everyone.
Gathering and acting on employee feedback is not always easy. For many reasons, employees may be reticent to say what they really think and feel. Here are six of our tips to help you encourage and act on employee feedback.
1. Adopt an open-door policy
An open-door policy simply means that employees can approach the relevant people, such as their managers or members of your senior leadership team at any time to ask questions, give feedback, or raise concerns. These policies help to lower the barriers between employees and management and to foster open and honest dialogue.
Let employees know that they are welcome to approach you (or their manager), and set appropriate boundaries–for example, knock and wait to be invited in if the office door is closed, or check the manager’s calendar first to ensure that they are not about to go into a meeting. For managers who are very busy, you might create an “office hours” system in which employees are invited to go and speak to them on particular days or at particular times.
Your “open door policy” can also extend to the digital realm. Why not create an online comment form or allow employees to email management with their thoughts and feedback at any time?
2. Create spaces for anonymous feedback
Employees may feel more confident in saying what they really mean without needing to attach their names to it. Create mechanisms for them to give feedback anonymously. This can be through physical means such as an anonymous suggestion box, or digital means such as an online form they can fill complete. Refrain from trying to guess who provided a particular piece of feedback and, even if context provides clues, retain their anonymity as you deal with the issue, this will further establish trust and loyalty.
3. Ensure confidentiality
Confidentiality is the cornerstone of trust, and employees need to know that any concerns they raise will be treated sensitively. Provide training to managers and establish policies that, in most cases, things that employees disclose will be kept confidential or shared only with the relevant parties.
There may be times when it is impossible to entirely keep confidentiality, such as if someone raises a serious issue like workplace abuse, harassment, or gross misconduct. However, it is important to have a clear policy for dealing with these serious issues when they arise.
Managers should never promise confidentiality if they may not be able to offer it, but they should take steps to ensure that any issues that must be disclosed are handled with care, sensitivity, and respect.
4. Foster trust between employees and management
For employees to feel safe and comfortable raising issues or giving feedback, they need to know that they can trust those above them including line managers and senior management. Trust can be difficult to build, and unfortunately, very easy to destroy. As a manager, you will need to consistently show empathy, kindness, and a willingness to listen when employees approach them with problems or feedback. You will need to carefully follow confidentiality and disclosure rules, refrain from any gossiping or casual chat about employee feedback, and retain open communication about how problems are being resolved.
5. Keep lines of communication open
When employees give feedback, they want to know that they have been heard and are kept up to date on what is being done about the issues they have raised. It is vital to keep open lines of communication between senior leadership, managers, and employees at all times. This can take various forms, including email updates, newsletters, intranet communications, and updates in team meetings.
6. Act on the feedback you receive
This might sound obvious, but many organisations miss out on this vital step of the feedback process. Gathering employee feedback is only useful if you are ready and willing to act on it and make changes accordingly. This might mean amending policies and procedures, providing support or amenities, or changing some other aspect of the ways you work. Of course, it may not be possible to act on every piece of feedback you receive or honour every employee’s request. However, in cases where a piece of feedback cannot be acted on or implemented, it is still vital to communicate to employees about this decision and the reason for it. Receiving feedback is not an end in itself. It is a tool you can use to make changes and to increase the happiness, wellbeing, satisfaction, and productivity of everyone in your organisation.
