If you care about your customers, then customer feedback helps you understand their likes, dislikes, their opinion about your product, and so on. If you care about your employees, then it is imperative that you conduct employee feedback surveys as well. Without happy employees, it is impossible for you to produce impressive results every quarter. They are the backbone of your business and you should treat them as such.

Feedback from employees can help you figure out how the office environment is, changes that can be made internally, etc. If there are no set processes to get feedback from employees directly, you will never know what they feel about working with your organisation. In this research from Officevibe where more than thousands of organisations from 157 countries participated, here are some interesting statistics-

82% of employees appreciate giving feedback, whether it is positive or negative.
32% of employees have to wait at least 3 months to get any kind of feedback from their managers.
60% of employees say that their job takes a toll on their personal life
57% of employees wouldn’t recommend their place of work to their friends

All of this happens due to a lack of feedback from employees. Companies that implement regular employee feedback surveys have turnover rates that are 14.9% lower than those employees where there is no feedback. Even if you have employees who put in a lot of effort, they would never know if they are doing a good job unless you explicitly tell them so. Employee feedback sessions are a great time to get this done. If their efforts were better recognized, 69% of employees say that they would work harder. Being recognized is the number one thing that employees say that their managers can do to keep them inspired.

Not sure how to get feedback from employees? Fret not.

What is Employee Feedback?

Employee feedback is when they share insights about their job, work environment, etc. to their peers or bosses at each level of the organization. When you gather perspectives from different angles, there is so much to learn about how to run an organization. By conducting an Employee feedback survey, you create the starting point to discuss your workplace environment. They are crucial to the success of the organization. In fact, they are as important as the customers themselves. So there needs to be ample investment in time, effort and money to keep them happy and thriving.

What should you include in an Employee Feedback Survey?

Anonymity: A customer doesn’t fear being fired when they send you snarky feedback for your survey, but an employee is bound to feel threatened and unsafe when asked to send their frank comments. You need to assure them that the entire exercise is totally anonymous. No one would know who sent the response unless they want to identify themselves.
Tell them the results: You need to let them know what will happen as a part of the employee feedback survey. Tell them how the results would be used and what they can expect. If you would be making worthwhile changes based on the feedback, then let them know.
Legacy results: To make them feel safe, you can let your employees know about the previous results and how it was used in the organisation. You can show them the kind of positive development that happened because of the employee feedback programs in the past.

How does conducting Employee Feedback Surveys benefit your organization?

There are a lot of benefits that come attached to conducting employee feedback. Here are some of them:

Helps you focus on the process:

When you get to know the perspective of your employees with regards to some work, you will be able to empathise with them. You will learn to understand ‘how’ things were done instead of just concentrating on the ‘what.’ When you focus on the process, you will understand the entire workflow and be able to identify any leaks or inconsistencies. It will help you unearth small changes that you need to do which can completely overhaul your business.

Improves the workplace:

Feedback helps strengthen the relationship between your company and your workforce. An open dialogue can make a lot of difference in the equation shared between each other. It also develops a stronger relationship among peers thus making the workplace environment better.

Keeps the employer accountable:

As a business, getting employee feedback is important to you as it helps you understand the kind of things that you have been doing which were wrong, If you are among the very few companies that regularly conduct employee feedback programs, then you can be a pioneer in understanding how to make things better in an office. You will be able to understand the problems employees face and the onus will be on you to change the prevailing circumstances so that they feel respected.

Learn what matters to employees:

When you conduct employee feedback, you can expect to get a lot of frank comments from employees about what they want. You will understand the amount of time that your employees invest. As a business owner, you will be better prepared to take care of the interest of employees once you know exactly what matters to them.

Improves retention and loyalty:

Every employee wants to know their future in the organization and how their experience with you can advance their career. Effective feedback helps them understand that exactly. Employees who know how they contribute and the value they add to the organization are more inclined to stay at the company for a longer time. The employee retention rate directly affects loyalty in the organization. Employees who value their time with the organization will also be respectful and helpful to everyone else in the organization.

Improves performance:

The employee feedback session is a great way for employees to know how they perform. When they realize the areas they can contribute better, they will be more than happy to put extra effort to make that happen. Their performance will also be in alignment with what the business demands. Since that’s the case, you could opt for a 360 feedback or employee NPS survey, which are great options to measure performance through employee feedback.

Increases sales:

Feedback drives performance, especially in sales when there are extra resources that are given to them to improve based on the session. Feedback surely increases the understanding of the sales process. Sales is all about understanding the needs of the client. If a salesperson doesn’t bring in as many sales as you expect them to, you can sort it out during the employee feedback session. Even the salesperson can let the employee know where they could have been trained better.

You welcome change:

No one loves change but it is impossible to become a successful company unless you embrace change. When you open yourself up to feedback, you will get a lot of comments that will force you to change invariably. It could even ask you to change the very basic tenet of your company. Create an atmosphere where your employees can air their views openly and without fear of any repercussions.

Make better products:

Your employees might not have been able to air their grievances about the way products were made because of hierarchy or some other issues. You need to make it right. With the employee feedback process in play, you will get stronger opinions that can help steer your product development in the right way.

Increase customer satisfaction:

One of the biggest benefits while conducting employee feedback is that keeping your employees satisfied will have a direct consequence on the happiness of your customers as well. It is the case with every business, if you take care of your employees, they will go out of their way to take care of your customers.

Conclusion:

Getting feedback from your employees is completely different from getting it from your customers. Your employees will not be comfortable sharing honest feedback with you because there is a power equation. You need to develop a feedback system that will give the necessary courage to your employees as well as have a well-drafted strategy where you take concrete steps to get the best results from the employee feedback program.

Employee feedback Surveys can also be a strong arsenal to transform your organization completely which will lead you to create a workplace that is better, more productive, engaged and happier.

If you are looking for one of the best online survey tools that will let you conduct a full-fledged employee feedback survey, then look no further than SurveySparrow which is more than happy to help you with its expertise. Get on a call with one of our experts so that we can serve you better.

The Beginner's Guide to Employee Feedback Surveys