5 steps to follow when collecting employee feedback

Recent years have seen a surge in the popularity of 'real-time feedback' and 'pulse surveys', focusing on regular feedback opportunities for employees.

While regular feedback opportunities are great and performance feedback should never be withheld until a formal review, 'feedback fatigue' is definitely a concern with weekly and fortnightly pulse surveys. We recently completed a team engagement survey project with a client, and we've scheduled to do a follow up survey this time next year. That timing is much more effective, especially for small-to-medium businesses. An annual survey allows time to consider the feedback, take it on, action a plan and implement change.

Giving your staff a confidential and anonymous forum to provide feedback is important to have along with the team and individual check-ins, 1:1 meetings and performance feedback sessions that happen face-to-face. In our experience, people are more likely to be open about their thoughts and experiences when their data anonymous. It also gives them targeted questions and the time to consider the answer and write clearly about it, unlike an impromptu meeting.

These are the 5 steps we take when approaching a feedback survey to ensure maximum use of the opportunity:

1. Design question that show the bigger picture.

Within our process of designing questions, we consider all the most significant areas of the workplace: culture, customers, role specifics, management, improvements, and a form of net promoter score (e.g., ‘would you recommend to a friend?’). This approach is designed to create an accurate picture of your team’s morale, satisfaction and engagement. Of course, these questions should also be tailored to the business to target specific situations you face within your team environment. As an example, you might have recently implemented safety initiatives, process changes or uniforms and are looking for combined feedback regarding these.

2. Communicate, encourage buy-in and collect data.

By informing the team on what the survey is for, why the data is being collected, and what will be done with it, we can maximise our response rate and ensure that the clearest picture is painted of what’s going on in the workplace. We normally aim for an 85% response rate. Having the process run by an external party also helps to further reinforce the confidentiality of the feedback – essential for gathering raw, honest feedback.

3. Analyse and present to decision makers.

After collecting the data, we trawl the feedback provided and present each question to along with insights and recommendations for maintenance or change. Another invaluable aspect is the benchmarking we provide for businesses, comparing them and their responses to other anonymous datasets. This can be significantly helpful in giving you perspective on how your team and work environment stack up to others. It also offers the opportunity to take inspiration from practices other businesses have implemented to improve their feedback standards.

4. Present to the team and action plan.

Following the team providing their honest opinions on their role and the workplace, it’s important to close the loop and present them with summarised feedback based on their team answers. This means they have visibility on issues that may have arisen and can take ownership over the planned changes that result. We even like to facilitate focus groups or workshops to brainstorm solutions or gather further feedback if any aspects need a deeper dive before actions can be mapped out.

5. Make change,

Arguably, this is the most important step in the process of a feedback survey. Based on the information you’ve been able to gather, you’ll have a good idea of what areas of the business need some support. During this implementation phase, it can also be great to set up teams to each tackle one or two aspects of the action plan, take ownership and follow through to achieve results. This can be a great way to offer those in your team who might be craving opportunity a chance to lead a project that will have a positive impact on the team!

As we approach the end of the year, it's a great time to give your team an opportunity to flag any significant themes they’ve seen in your workplace throughout the year, good or bad. The bonus is that you get ahead of any issues and can come into the new year with a plan to improve outcomes, culture and overall satisfaction of your team through people and culture planning.

If this sounds like something you’re interested in implementing for your business, reach out to our team, we're here to help!