CEO and founder of AllVoices, the employee feedback management platform empowering anyone to report workplace wrongdoing 100% anonymously.
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From what we're seeing in the news, it's obvious that organizations are having a hard time handling feedback. As more news stories break about employees facing internal discrimination and harassment issues that went unresolved in their organizations — Amazon, Apple, Google, and more — the question becomes, “Why did these employees take to public forums in the first place?”
It’s because they haven’t found resolution or justice internally, because their organization’s feedback system just doesn’t work.
Too often organizations think that when it comes to gathering employee feedback and acting upon it, what they're doing is working. But the fact that in our “State of Workplace Harassment” report, we found that 44% of employees are still experiencing harassment at work, means something isn’t working. Having the right feedback management makes the difference between having happy, engaged employees and a tarnished brand.
How do you fix what’s broken?
Reasons Why It’s Broken
We’ve worked with a number of organizations to help them improve their feedback management. Here are some ways that feedback systems are broken and how to fix them.
Problem 1: Bandwidth
One of the hurdles organizations face when it comes to taking action on feedback is they often don't have the bandwidth — staff, time, resources, etc. — to track, follow up on and fully resolve reported issues. Two new reports found that workload has increased for HR departments in the past year: One report found that 64% of HR professionals report an increase in workload as a result of the move to remote work, while another report found upwards of 80% of HR professionals are experiencing higher workloads.
There also seems to be a fear of a Pandora's box of reports flooding in if HR commits to better ways to source feedback, which would overwhelm an already strapped team. If the system used to collect feedback is outdated, or if the "system" is simply a desktop folder filled with Word doc reports, then trying to track and resolve the feedback that does come in may be more of a lift than it should be.
The problem is that workplace issues still exist, and those issues of harassment, bias, safety or other concerns don't get put on pause while HR tries to catch up with the backlog. Knowing that a lack of HR bandwidth could lead to a potential public scandal, legal issues and brand damage, as well as seeing the value in keeping employees safe, may be enough to shift priorities in an organization.
Problem 2: Successful Adoption
Maybe your organization has committed to revamping its feedback approach and is rolling out new channels for employees to use. That doesn't necessarily mean that employees will immediately begin using those resources and be on board with your new initiative — especially if they've experienced a lack of resolution or interest from leadership on their feedback in the past.
Employee adoption is another area where organizations need to take a long-term approach, and it isn't going to happen with a one-and-done email announcing the program. Rather, employees need to know that this plan is the real thing and that their leadership is truly committed to bettering their well-being at work. This means strategizing the approach to feedback management and being transparent about the process. Source feedback from employees about their experience with giving feedback. Have messaging come from the top, and have executive buy-in to drive communication and align everyone under the same goal. SHRM points out that two big hindrances to adoption are the lack of a clear vision for their adoption of new technology and a disconnect between what tools leadership thinks will work and what tools employees will use.
Successful employee adoption is not only about getting employees to use the feedback tools, but also about increasing their trust in your organization so that they believe you want to hear their feedback and that you'll take steps to remedy it.
Problem 3: Periodic And Passive
Another problem that inhibits the successful collection, follow-up and resolution of employee feedback is passivity. Don't operate under the assumption that hearing from employees about their workplace experiences should just be relegated to annual performance review time, or to quarterly engagement surveys that don't ask the right questions or leave the space to express ongoing issues or concerns.
The other hurdle is that many leaders think that by offering a suggestion box or by having an open-door policy, they don't have to do anything more but passively wait for feedback. This passivity can be a detriment, as we found in our report that only 53% of employees saw their issue addressed with a sense of urgency. Additionally, only 54% of employees who have reported or filed complaints had their issues fully resolved.
Ultimately, it's a lack of awareness of comprehensive employee feedback: Issues don't just appear at annual review time but impact the day-to-day lives of employees, so they should have ongoing tools through which to report. Additionally, organizations should be actively seeking out feedback from their employees, providing channels for anonymous reporting, taking action on and resolving cases with a sense of urgency, and working to decrease barriers of hesitancy and increase trust that will make employees more at ease to report.
A Better Way To Do Employee Feedback Management
An employee feedback management plan should increase efficiency and organization and decrease time spent tracking down individual reports. It should also help organizations get issues to resolution easier and analyze data to see how they’re doing with the pipeline. Creating a happy and healthy environment for employees to thrive in will take commitment to culture change, transparency and knowing the value of ending harassment, discrimination, bias and other workplace wrongdoings.
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