How Employee Feedback Can Help Your Company to Thrive?
Why Does Employee Feedback Matter?
The manager-employee relationship is one of the main ways managers get the feedback they need to lead successfully. In this way, employees can be heard and express their opinion.The way your company functions hinges on the effectiveness of your managers to successfully achieve organizational goals while balancing employee expectations. If your managers are resistant to employee feedback, they can get stuck in the same habits for years — habits that can increase turnover, damage employee relationships, and slow projects resulting in a team of unhappy and unmotivated employees.
The Power of Feedback
An employee feedback policy can work wonders for your business. Whether you conduct an annual survey, hold regular one-to-one meetings, look at intranet discussions, carry out exit interviews, or encourage an open-door policy, feedback from your employees can help transform your business in several ways including:- Giving you a new perspective on work practices and procedures.
- Highlighting areas of concern, allowing you to step in and fix problems quickly.
- Providing you with a more thorough understanding of management and team dynamics.
- Ensuring employees’ views are in line with company values and business objectives.
- Determining how employees are dealing with organizational change.
- Pinpointing the reasons why people are leaving the company.
- Identifying training and development needs.
- Re-evaluating the workplace culture.
- Drives their performance.
- Makes employees feel listened to and valued.
- Strengthens their commitment and loyalty to their employer.
- Can even lower absenteeism.
Honesty Is Key
For your employee feedback policy to have real value, it must be honest. Employees may fudge the truth or go along with the company narrative because they are afraid of being criticized for their opinions or are worried that they would face some form of negative treatment. And then others feel that there is just no point in providing feedback because nothing will change. If you are surveying, for example, you can make it anonymous so people will be more inclined to provide honest feedback. Or in group meetings, employees will be encouraged to speak up if managers actively try and get people’s opinions and take it all on board.Be Prepared for Both Good and Bad
It can be hard to hear criticism and you may need to develop a bit of thick skin, but remember that a policy of constructive employee feedback can be extremely beneficial. For instance, if you have picked up in exit interviews that many employees are leaving due to work-related stress, you can take steps to remedy this. Likewise, if employees are complaining about some clunky software, you can see what can be done to make it easier and less cumbersome for employees to carry out their professional duties.Analyze the Results and Take Action!
It is not enough to just collect the feedback, you need to take time to analyze the results and take action based on your findings. Their feedback can be used to celebrate successes, make relevant changes, and shape your business decisions and future goals.It can be challenging to accept feedback from employees who work under you, but it’s important to note that these employees have a unique experience that is essential to understanding how your business works. This feedback helps you identify areas for improvement throughout your organization, resulting in optimal growth.
