Start getting employee feedback with these tips

Marlies Pellikaan

Thinking about collecting feedback from your employees? You do not have to go far for the best ideas on how to improve your organisation. In this article, you will learn the main factors to consider when starting to gather employee feedback. Things like, how to communicate the start of the project? How do you invite employees? Read our tips for a successful set up.

Start getting employee feedback with these tips

Communication at the start of the survey

For your employees, it’s important to explain why you want to go the route of collecting their feedback. Go into topics like benefits the company will reach when their feedback is given, and give an indication of when gathering feedback is working. From the perspective of the employee, try an answer the question “What’s in it for me?” Let everyone know what to expect, and start promoting the survey as soon as possible. The more you communicate, the better. You’ll definitely see an increase of respondents to the survey. Lastly, but not to be forgotten, remember to always thank your employees for their cooperation!

Communicate clearly about the purpose, schedule and deadline for completing the survey. Also make it clear that confidentiality is guaranteed (if applicable) and what channels and opportunities there are to ask questions about the survey. Finally, ensure there’s a plan to communicate the results when available.

How to gather feedback from your employees

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Communication

There are many ways to communicate about the survey, here are some possibilities:

  • E-mail
  • Intranet
  • Introductory movie
  • WhatsApp/mobile message
  • Letter or flyer
  • Article in staff magazine
  • Posters
  • Work consultation

Perhaps you have fun ideas to promote the process in a creative way? Feel free to get started and choose what fits your organisation.

Communication during the survey

Let your employees know what the first results are, and what steps will be taken towards the development of improvement plans. It’s always good to provide a clear schedule. This way the expectations during and following the survey are satisfied. This also has a positive effect on participation in the subsequent process.

Invitation to participate

If you decide to outsource the survey project to an external agency, in most cases inviting respondents to participate is taken off your plate. Everyone will receive a digital or written invitation to participate. If you send out the invitations yourself for an online survey, make sure you have a properly functioning email system. For example, test the e-mail with the link to the survey – this is a simple but often overlooked step. Also, consider about the end users and their ability to pause or resume completion of the survey (automatically saving their results).

Want more tips for a successful feedback path?

Make sure you start a flying start of your feedback path by thinking carefully about the topics above. Our free checklist provides more practical tips for you to follow your feedback.

Free Download: The complete checklist for gathering employee feedback

About Effectory

Based in Amsterdam, Effectory is Europe’s largest independent employee survey provider, with over 20 years of experience in helping organisations become sustainably successful. We believe the key to sustainable success, is through gathering and listening to employee feedback. To facilitate this, we offer a variety of feedback tools which enable companies to learn from their employees and improve from within. In 2016, Effectory conducted over 600 employee surveys globally, with +1.5 million respondents in over 40 languages. Effectory is mission-driven, and we pride ourselves in having engaged, passionate employees with a very open, honest and trusting working culture.