4 Best Practices on How to Act on Employee Feedback

You received employee feedback. Now what?

A pulsing survey is only as valuable as the willingness to act on the employee feedback to implement positive change. But don’t eat up time and resources just to satisfy your curiosity. And don’t do it just to check off a box on your to-do list.

Only do it because you want to improve your culture, which will eventually lead to improved bottom-line results.

This becomes that much more important when you consider recent research from BlessingWhite, an employee engagement consulting firm. They found that nearly a third of all employees become disengaged when employers ask for feedback but do nothing about it. Fielding a survey without the commitment to act on its findings is a recipe for apathetic employees.

Here are four tips that are your go-to best practices for showing true commitment:

1. Explain the survey: If you want your employees to complete the survey, give them a heads up. Let them know it’s coming, why you’ve decided to implement it, and what you plan to do with that information. Having that understanding helps them get on board.
   

2. Share the feedback: You’re about to hear good news, and you’re also about to hear bad news. You must be ready to share all of that news with your team — a sign that you’re receptive to hearing everything they have to say.
   

3. Schedule review meetings: Don’t expect that you’ll remember to schedule meetings to review survey feedback with your team. Put a recurring meeting in everyone’s calendars to review feedback at least monthly. It’ll keep you honest.
   

4. Do something with the feedback: Listening without action leads to disengagement. A truly committed manager takes advantage of this wealth of knowledge and puts it into action.

Only when you commit time to acting on this feedback will you start creating positive changes in your organizational culture. So start with those four tips, and you’ll be well on your way to having an engaged workforce.

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