Employee Feedback – 3 Important Facts to Keep in Mind

The quality of a job is determined by the quality of employee feedback. It’s important to have regular conversations with your employees, even if they’re not explicitly required by HR or company policy. I recommend having one-on-one meetings with each employee every week or two weeks. These meetings should be informal and conversational — just sit down with them in person and ask how things are going. This can be done informally over lunch or while walking through the office together on a break from work (if you work in an office).

Are YOUR employees feeling appreciated?

• Are employees feeling appreciated? According to a recent Globalforce survey, 30% of employees report feeling unappreciated at work. And that’s a problem, because it doesn’t just impact your culture and employee morale—it has negative effects on the bottom line as well.
• What can you do? The first step is to make sure you have a formalized recognition program in place. This means encouraging all members of your team (whether they’re managers or not) to take time out of their day to recognize other people for their efforts with things like public praise or handwritten notes. Then ensure that leaders are setting an example by giving regular feedback on performance—and making sure it focuses on more than just what needs improvement!

Can employee feedback help with turnover?

Turnover is, without a doubt, a significant challenge to any leader these days. Here’s an important tool that you may be overlooking- regular and productive feedback. Employee feedback can be a useful tool for employee development, and if you’re looking for ways to improve your employees’ performance and engagement, try implementing regular employee feedback. In fact, in one study of 65,672 employees, Gallup found that those who received strengths feedback had turnover rates that were 14.9% lower than for employees who received no feedback

Employee feedback is an integral part of the employee development process. When employees are given opportunities to provide feedback about their jobs and workplace, it helps them feel engaged with the organization’s goals. According to the 2018 Gallup State of the American Workplace Report, 41% of workers are not engaged at work, which means they’re unlikely to stay with their employer for very long or highly productive when they do stay longer than expected. This rate increases when companies don’t provide any opportunities for employee engagement or culture building through programs like regular feedback sessions where employees give and receive constructive input on how things could be improved at work (like more training).

The good news is that research shows companies that implement regular employee feedback have 14.9% lower turnover than those who don’t offer these types of programs!

Start with praise and honest appreciation.

Did you know that according to a recent Gallup survey, when leaders focus on their team members’ strengths, those team members are 30X more likely to be engaged? When it comes to giving feedback, start with praise and honest appreciation. did you know that when leaders focus on employees’ strengths, employees are 30X more likely to be engaged team members when leaders focus on their strengths.

Be specific; don’t just say “I like the way you do X.” Describe exactly what it is about someone’s performance that works for you, such as:

• “I really appreciate how quickly you responded to my email.”
• “The way you found potential clients at the meeting impressed me.”
• “It was helpful to hear your thoughts and ideas during our brainstorming session.”

Talk about your own mistakes. Be vulnerable and use storytelling.

Focus on your own mistakes. Talk about the lessons you learned from them, and how you applied those lessons to improve your work and the work of others.

• Tell stories about how you made a mistake in the past, but then learned from it and did better in the future.
• Share stories about how you’ve helped colleagues who were making similar mistakes by guiding them through the process of working through an issue together.

Be specific. Don’t dance around.

When giving feedback, it is important that you be specific about what you want your employees to do. This will make it easier for them to understand what they need to change or improve upon and also help them see how their behavior affects others around them. Your goal should be to describe positive behaviors as well as the negative ones that you want changed.

For example: “I would like for [name] to be more respectful when speaking with other staff members, particularly those who are new or less experienced than him/herself.” When giving examples of these positive behaviors, think about what actions would show respect towards others. In this case an example could be listening without interrupting while another employee speaks or asking if there’s anything else he/she needs before ending an interaction (e-mail/phone call).

Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.

Asking questions is a good way to get more information. When you ask questions, you are inviting the other person to share their thoughts and ideas with you. Asking questions also helps you understand where the employee stands on a topic or issue so that you can address it accordingly.

Asking questions is a good way of finding out what the other person thinks. When asking questions, try not to give direct orders or tell them what they should do; instead, try asking open-ended questions that allow them to come up with their own solution or conclusion based on your input. This will show that they have ownership over the situation and give them confidence in whatever decision they make going forward

Let the other person save face.

When you are giving feedback, try to think about how the other person is likely to feel and react when they hear the criticism. Remember that no one likes to be criticized, but some people may be more sensitive than others.

For example:

• Don’t criticize your employee’s performance too harshly. It can be tempting to make a big deal out of every mistake or error in judgment, but this can make it difficult for them to see themselves in a positive light or improve their performance. You want them to feel like they are capable of improvement rather than incompetent or unintelligent.
• Don’t use sarcasm or condescension when giving negative feedback either—this will only cause tension and resentment between you two.

Praise the slightest improvement—it matters.

It’s important to praise the slightest improvement, as well as every improvement. Praise can be a powerful motivator and is essential to retain employees.

You should be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” You need to make sure that you are specific about what you are praising and make sure that it is sincere.

In addition, if an employee makes a mistake, don’t wait until they have been working for you for five years before telling them how much better they could have done; say something immediately so that it does not become a habit or affect their self-esteem. It should also be noted that praise given too soon may not be believed by the employee as genuine because he has not yet shown himself worthy of such praise; therefore it has little effect on his performance which further decreases its effectiveness over time but this does not mean one should not say anything at all until an employee shows signs of deserving recognition!

Don’t wait—create!

Don’t wait for a big opportunity to give negative feedback — create opportunities positive feedback whenever possible, then when you do have to give negative feedback it will be more effective.

• Give positive feedback as frequently as possible. Positive reinforcement is more powerful than punishment, and we tend to focus on the negatives in life. Even if someone isn’t doing something wrong, tell them what they’re doing right and why that’s important. This can help maintain morale and encourage others to follow suit by improving their work or behavior.
• Always give criticism privately: No one likes being publicly criticized or embarrassed even if they are in the wrong; this makes it harder for them learn from their mistake or change their behavior accordingly. There are exceptions – if someone is being openly disrespectful towards customers or coworkers then this might need immediate addressing so that everyone else doesn’t think it’s OK but otherwise try avoiding public reprimands whenever possible!
• Don’t assign blame without having all the facts: You may think that something was someone else’s fault but until you’ve spoken directly with them (and not just heard secondhand gossip), don’t assume anything yet!

Keep in Mind

Employee feedback can be a powerful tool for improving work culture, but it’s important to remember that not every employee is going to be receptive to your feedback. Sometimes you’ll have to take a step back and evaluate whether or not you’re giving the right advice in the first place. It’s also important not to get frustrated if things don’t go according to plan — there will always be challenges when working with people!