5 Ways to Gather Feedback from Your Employees

As an employer, it's essential to gather feedback from your employees to understand their needs, concerns, and ideas. Not only does it help you improve your organization's overall performance, but it also shows your employees that you value their opinions.

But gathering feedback can be a challenging task, and if not done correctly, it can lead to disengagement and dissatisfaction among employees.

That’s why we have compiled this guide that contains some effective ways to gather feedback from your employees effectively.

The importance of feedback

According to recent statistics, employees are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered and perform better at work if their voices are heard. Statistics also show that 69% of employees believe that they’d work harder if they saw better recognition of their efforts.

It means that getting feedback contributes to employee engagement and can improve their performance. Let’s discuss some of the most critical factors explaining the importance of gathering employee feedback.

Increased employee engagement and profitability

As mentioned already, gathering feedback from your employees can make them feel more engaged at work. It can help them improve their productivity which can increase your company's profitability. According to Gallup’s Employee Engagement Survey, highly engaged employees are 23% more profitable.

Increased employee retention

Organizations that have a comprehensive feedback system in place experience 14.9% lower employee turnover rates. Asking for feedback from your employees shows that you value their opinions and are committed to improving their experience at work.

It gives your employees a voice that empowers them to share their thoughts and concerns. Not only does it help you identify potential problems and opportunities for growth, but it also leads to reduced employee turnover rates.

Positive organizational culture

Another important factor that highlights the importance of gathering feedback from your employees is the creation of a positive organizational culture. It’s characterized by teamwork, high-performance levels, and increased efficiency, leading to higher job satisfaction among employees.

If you have an effective employee feedback system in place, you can foster a culture of trust and honesty, which will benefit your company's bottom line in the long run.

Highly skilled workforce

Providing continuous learning opportunities to your employees is critical to help them improve their productivity. It allows you to upskill your employees and accelerate their abilities, creativity, and innovation.

However, to ensure that your training initiatives are effective, it's crucial to gather feedback from your employees regularly. It’ll help you determine if your training programs are meeting their needs and expectations and whether or not they’re benefiting from them.

This way, you can create a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, leading to a highly skilled and engaged workforce.

How to approach employees to gather feedback

To get worthwhile feedback from your employees, you need to make sure that you approach them correctly. Here are some effective tips that you can use for this purpose.

Implement a feedback culture

Approaching your employees to gather feedback requires a thoughtful and strategic approach. One effective tip is to implement a feedback culture within your company. Research shows that employees value career growth and company culture almost twice as much as benefits and compensation.

So, you should work on creating an environment where open communication/conversation and information exchange are encouraged and feedback is provided regularly.

Establish trust

Team members who trust you are more likely to provide honest and constructive feedback. But it’s important to remember that building trust takes time, so be patient and consistent in your actions.

To gain your team members' trust, match your words with your actions. Be transparent with them from day one and encourage them to do the same.

Let your employees know that their opinions matter and contribute to the success of the team. Encourage them to exchange feedback among themselves and build on each other's suggestions.

When employees feel that their feedback is being heard and taken seriously, they’re more likely to engage and share their questions, ideas, and perspectives.

Set goals before gathering feedback

You should set clear goals and objectives before gathering feedback from your employees. Knowing what type of information you need will help you create a targeted, relevant, and productive feedback process.

Identify the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you want to measure and define the target audience for your survey or meeting. Keep in mind that different levels of employees will have varying experiences and perspectives, so tailor your approach accordingly.

Give your employees time

Providing your employees with time to reflect can lead to more thoughtful and meaningful feedback. Therefore, consider giving your team members the space they need to process your questions and provide well-thought-out responses.

You can set up a dedicated feedback channel or schedule regular feedback sessions. It’ll help your employees have the time they need to consider their answers, gather relevant data, and provide you with valuable insights.

Be understanding and flexible

Not all employees will feel comfortable sharing feedback, especially if they fear that their input will be used against them. Make it clear that feedback is not meant to be used for negative consequences, but rather to improve the company as a whole.

Also, be understanding of employees' schedules and availability. If they can't attend a meeting or fill out a survey at a specific time, provide other options for them to participate. Flexibility and understanding will help create a more positive and open environment for feedback.

Methods of collecting feedback

Now that you understand the importance of gathering employee feedback and how to approach your team effectively, it’s time to discuss methods of collecting feedback. They’ll allow you to create a more positive and productive work environment, which is critical for your company’s success.

Read each method carefully and choose the one(s) that suit your organizational needs the best:

1. Conduct surveys (and how to prepare them)

Surveys are an effective and efficient way to gather feedback from your employees. They allow you to collect a large amount of data from the entire company and target specific areas for improvement and specific issues that need to be addressed.

Types of surveys that you can conduct

There are various types of surveys you can use to gather employee feedback, including the following:

• Employee satisfaction surveys: Employee satisfaction surveys cover a wide range of topics, such as overall job satisfaction, compensation and benefits, career growth opportunities, and more.
• Pulse surveys: Pulse surveys are short and frequent and make for an excellent way to check in with your team and get their feedback on current projects or initiatives. They can be used to monitor employee morale and track changes in their attitudes over time.

How to create surveys

You can use online tools to create surveys quickly and easily. Online form creators allow you to customize the design of your survey to match your brand image, helping you create a positive impression on your employees and encouraging them to take the survey seriously. Additionally, these tools allow you to share your survey anywhere using a unique weblink or by embedding it on your landing page.

When collecting employee feedback through surveys, it's important to ensure that the information provided is kept confidential and secure. Most survey tools allow you to adjust your survey’s privacy settings so that only your employees can view it. If you want to add another layer of security to your surveys, consider encouraging your employees to use a VPN service like NordVPN or ExpressVPN, especially if they are working remotely.

Another great feature of survey tools is that they provide an easy way to review your survey responses. You can view the data in different formats, such as a spreadsheet or an email inbox. You can also use the advanced analytics section to obtain useful statistics about your feedback data.

Lastly, you can integrate it with other tools you use, including Slack, Google Sheets, Trello, WhatsApp, MS Excel, HubSpot, and more, to automate your workflows.

Consider keeping the following tips in mind to create effective feedback surveys:

• Use targeted questions: Avoid broad, overarching questions and instead use targeted questions to address specific topics. This encourages employees to give honest answers and provides you with more valuable feedback.
• Avoid leading questions: Avoid leading questions that suggest a particular answer. This can lead to biased responses and prevent you from getting accurate feedback.
• Send surveys regularly: Sending surveys regularly is essential to keep your employees engaged and to maintain a culture of feedback. However, be careful not to send too many surveys, as this can become burdensome for employees. A good starting point is to send a survey at the beginning of every month.
• Conduct both anonymous and non-anonymous surveys: Anonymous surveys can encourage employees to provide honest and constructive feedback without fear of retribution. Whereas, non-anonymous surveys can help you identify specific areas of concern and address them directly with individual employees.

These tips can help you gain a more well-rounded perspective of your employees' feedback and make more informed decisions about how to improve your workplace.

2. Conduct regular meetings

Regular meetings between employees and employers/supervisors are essential to establish an open and transparent communication channel and build trust between them. They also provide an opportunity for employees to share their opinions and suggestions regarding their work environment and job duties.

Types of meetings to collect feedback

• One-on-one meetings: These meetings are held between an employee and their supervisor, and you can schedule them on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. They’re useful for gathering information on an employee's performance, discussing their goals and objectives, and addressing any concerns they may have.
• Team meetings: These meetings involve a group of employees who work in the same department or on the same project and you can conduct them on a regular basis or as needed. Not only do they provide you with employee feedback but they can also promote team collaboration and communication.
• Skip-level meetings: These meetings are between an employee and the employer (or manager) who is not their direct report. They help you gain insight into the employee's work and understand any concerns they have about their direct supervisor.

Tips to conduct meetings to collect feedback

Keep the following tips in mind to create effective meetings for gathering feedback:

• Set clear objectives: Before scheduling a feedback meeting, it's essential to have a clear objective in mind. Clearly define what you want to achieve from the meeting and what type of feedback you're looking for.
• Prepare an agenda: Prepare a clear and concise agenda for the meeting that should include the discussion topics and time frames for each topic. Share the agenda with participants before the meeting.
• Encourage open communication: Encourage participants to share their opinions and suggestions openly and honestly. Provide a safe and non-judgmental environment where participants feel comfortable sharing their feedback.
• Listen actively: Listen actively to what participants have to say. Ask questions to clarify their feedback and show genuine interest in their opinions.
• Follow-up: After the meeting, follow up with participants to address any concerns or suggestions they have raised. Provide regular updates on the progress made toward implementing their feedback.

3. Utilize the power of the traditional suggestion box

A suggestion box is a physical container where employees can anonymously submit suggestions, feedback, or concerns about their work environment or company operations. It’s a traditional tool that organizations use to collect ideas and feedback from employees, without fear of retaliation.

The suggestions can be related to a variety of topics, such as improving processes, reducing costs, enhancing customer service, and more. Here’s a list of tips that will help you utilize the full potential of a suggestion box:

• Choose the right location: Select a spot that’s easy to access, but where employees can submit their suggestions or comments confidentially.
• Clearly label the suggestion box: Use bold lettering and a clear message to indicate the purpose of the suggestion box, and let employees know how and when they can use it.
• Encourage participation: Make sure employees understand the value of their feedback and the role they play in shaping the company’s future. Encourage participation through company-wide announcements or internal messaging.
• Review and act on feedback: Ensure that management reviews and responds to feedback from the suggestion box in a timely and effective manner. This helps to build trust and encourage continued participation.

4. Keep an eye on employer review sites

Monitoring popular employer review sites can be a valuable source of information. They provide an opportunity for current and former employees to share their experiences working for a company.

Reading those reviews will allow you to gain insights into what your employees are saying about your organization, identify areas for improvement, and address any critical issues.

It's important to keep in mind that reviews on these sites may not always be completely objective or accurate, and some may have a negative bias. However, by looking at overall trends and common themes, you can have a better understanding of the overall sentiment of your employees.

5. Don’t underestimate yearly/monthly reviews

Yearly or monthly reviews can be a valuable tool for gathering feedback from employees regularly and driving performance improvements. During these reviews, it's important to encourage your employees to provide specific examples and actionable feedback that can help improve their as well as the overall team’s performance.

One advantage of annual or monthly reviews is that they provide an opportunity to track progress and set new goals for the future. It’s an excellent way to keep your employees motivated and focused on continuous improvement. In addition, it also gives you a better understanding of where your team members stand and how to support them in their development.

Act on the collected feedback

Collecting feedback is just the first step in the process of continuous improvement. The real value comes from effectively using feedback to make positive changes. Here are some tips for using feedback effectively:

• Analyze the feedback: Take the time to thoroughly review and understand the feedback you've received. Look for patterns and themes that emerge.
• Prioritize the feedback: Identify the most critical areas for improvement based on the feedback.
• Create an action plan: Develop a plan of action to address those areas. Your plan should include specific, measurable goals and timelines.
• Communicate the plan: Share the action plan with your team and communicate how you plan to address the feedback.
• Implement the plan: Follow through on the action plan and regularly check progress towards the goals.
• Evaluate the results: Once the plan has been implemented, evaluate the results and assess whether the changes made have addressed the feedback.

Conclusion

Gathering feedback from employees is a crucial aspect of any successful organization. It not only helps employers to identify areas of improvement but also increases employee engagement and satisfaction.

Regardless of the method you choose to collect feedback, the key is to create a culture of openness, transparency, and trust. It’ll allow your employees to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas.

By utilizing employee feedback effectively, you can improve the workplace’s environment, boost productivity, retain your talented workforce, and achieve your business goals.