HEY BOSS…. Let me tell YOU something!!

When you say, “My door is always open”, does your staff have a mental picture of Mr. Grant tossing the comment over his shoulder as he’s walking into his office slamming the door behind him?

The term Employee Feedback is usually associated with managers giving it to their staff.  What’s often missed is the golden opportunity of managers receiving employee feedback.

Too often managers think that providing opportunity, the ‘open door’ is enough.  Although they may offer this with the most earnest intent, does this passive method ever work?  You may get one or two who will come and speak with you on a regular basis, but most will say they’re ignored.  If you can get an honest opinion and feelings from the entire staff you will have a much more balanced and truer picture.

So, what’s the best way to get reliable employee feedback?

One of the Cronk tools is an anonymous confidential survey.  This will gain employee feedback in a way that allows them to be direct and frank without fear of repercussion.  The employee survey can accomplish many objectives.

1. First, it provides employees with the chance to share their opinions on issues that they might not be comfortable discussing in person. While this might seem unfair to the managers or employers, the reality is that many people fear reprisals for speaking out. This is especially true where a manager has made a decision that affects a group of people that weren’t consulted.  It can also be about money. Feeling underpaid and approaching a person of authority about it can be a daunting. So, while reading the employee feedback might be uncomfortable, what’s important is identifying problems so that they can be resolved.
2. Second, our front-line staff will often have the best ideas on how to increase efficiencies, improve working conditions or better yet, enhance customer service.  We hope that these ideas will be shared spontaneously, but for many people, they simply aren’t comfortable walking up to the boss to tell him what would work better. A survey process with open-ended questions will usually produce at least a few brilliant ways to be better.
3. Third, an annual and confidential employee feedback survey eliminates the opportunity for a negative employee to say the words, “Nobody ever listens to us”.  In general staff members don’t like to feel ineffective. The survey process enhances effective communication. When people share ideas, and some of those ideas are acted upon, it builds engagement and pride in the workplace.  This does more for the open-door concept than the actual open door!

Ready to get started?  

With our easy to use templates and forms, we take the guesswork out of your survey so you get the results you need.  The survey uses questions like these taken from Marcus Buckingham ‘s book, First Break All the Rules.

1. Do I have the equipment and materials I need to do my job?
2. In the last seven days, have I received praise for doing good work?
3. At work, do my opinions seem to count?

Check out our Cronk Tool Box and choose from our key assessment tools to get started!