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HOW TO GET HONEST, VALUABLE

EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK

Submitted by The RiseSmart Team

If you’re an HR manager, you may spend ample time trying to ensure employee satisfaction. And with job

satisfaction, engagement, and retention heavily intertwined, there are plenty of good reasons for spending

time making sure that your employees are truly happy. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to tell how your

employees feel about their work or about the company as a whole. So, how do you go about getting honest

feedback from your employees to help you increase overall satisfaction? Here are few strategies you may

want to try:

1. Start with anonymous feedback. Not everyone feels comfortable giving criticism to their managers or

company leaders, and they may not trust that they won’t be penalized for it. Anonymous feedback

allows those who are hesitant to provide feedback to open up honestly without fear of repercussions.

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2. Ask the right questions. To get the most valuable feedback, make sure you’re asking questions that will

bring out the responses you’re after. It’s important to ask employees what’s working and what isn’t,

but you might also ask for constructive criticism. As a manager, you might ask: What don’t you like

about my management style? How can I help you be more successful? What can we do to make this

department more effective and reach its goals? Questions should prompt employees to consider their

answers and provide insightful, actionable feedback.

3. Ask for regular feedback, not just during reviews. Performance reviews might be a convenient time to

sit employees down for a two-way feedback session, but if you want to gain the most value out of

employee feedback, it has to happen regularly. Check in with employees during different seasons and

projects to understand year-round satisfaction. If you’ve implemented a new policy or program, check

in frequently to see if employees are comfortable with the initiative’s progress. You may even offer

employees a weekly survey check-in that allows them to anonymously answer a handful of questions

that can help you track satisfaction over time.

4. Act on it. Nothing deters employees from offering feedback than the feeling of not being heard. If your

employees don’t believe their feedback is being taken into account, they won’t have much incentive to

provide it in the future. Make an effort to act on feedback whenever possible and keep employees

involved and informed. Show employees that their voices are heard and their opinions matter.

5. Foster a culture of openness. The ultimate goal is to be able to give and receive feedback openly and

honestly without concern. Organizations that prioritize openness will have an easier time getting

valuable feedback from their employees. And for any organization, that openness needs to start with

the company leadership. Leading by example can do wonders for a company’s culture, so make sure

that executives are the first to demonstrate the value of transparency.

Getting employee feedback doesn’t have to be like pulling teeth. At the end of the day, employees want to be

heard, and with the right approach, you can help your employees see honesty as an asset and not a risk.