Article
5 min read
The Best Employee Feedback Tools
Styrmir Masson
Nov 21, 2019
Chapters
Traditional ‘human resources’ (or ‘HR’) is done.
Gone are the days of old-school approaches to issues in the office and only dealing with complaints via paperwork. As companies adopt a modern approach to better employee engagement, here is your Planday guide to the best employee feedback tools.
What’s changing in people management?
“People & Culture is something that’s growing massively right now. When people typically hear about an HR department, they think of them as paper-pushers, most commonly,” Planday’s Head of People and Culture Mollie Oving told The Planday Blog recently.
“People & Culture is really re-defining that type of department; with everyone looking at us as people who are more proactive, as opposed to reactive. We are trying to build and get ahead of our employees’ needs and provide them a pathway forward in their career.”
So what does this mean for modern workplaces?
Employee engagement metrics: How to measure employee engagement
Measuring happiness and engagement is never easy, whether in work or beyond. But there are ways to find out how your people are feeling, without fear of recrimination or awkwardness on their end.
Here are a few we recommend…
1. Anonymous employee suggestion box
A traditional resource, but still an effective one. (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!) The anonymity will give you a first-hand look at how employee engagement strategies are working out.
2. Employee net promoter scores
This is an overall view of employees, following a survey with a simple, single question such as “how likely are you to recommend working here to a friend?”. From this question, you’ll have a picture of promoters, detractors and indifferent.
(The wikipedia page on NPS is a great resource on this measure.)
3. Employee absenteeism and turnover rate
This is a good guide for staff engagement. A poll by Gallup on staff satisfaction found that a turnover rate should not exceed 10 per cent each year.
Employee engagement software
There are many engagement tech and software solutions to make life easier for management and staff. Here are some of the products we think you should check out:
Peakon gathers employee feedback, analyses it, and provides the insights you need to improve your business in real-time.
This is an all-in-one employee app that helps with communications and training.
Employee evaluation management software. This simplifies employee feedback.
This company provides numerous HR software solutions for everything from onboarding to performance evaluation and beyond.
Real-time performance management software that works in tandem between management and staff.
Employee engagement software, including tools for employee recognition, surveys and communications.
Analytics tools that help evaluate staff engagement and satisfaction, then presents data in an accessible manner.
Insights, diagnostics and goal-tracking tools for employee engagement.
Engagement and feedback software favoured by several tech multinational companies.
Scalable survey software that works across entire organisations before providing customisable reports.
Providers of branded, native internal communications apps.
What to do with it
The feedback your people give you will only be as useful as what you do with it. If there are simple changes and suggestions — like bananas in the kitchen for breakfast or a drink or two on a Friday afternoon — then they should be implemented immediately to show you take feedback seriously.
But sometimes — as in any business — there might be bigger problems. Sometimes it will be the dynamic of relationships within the team and the balance that comes with managing people. Sometimes this will mean taking on feedback about how you work.
You might need to change the way you team build or embrace people changing jobs and careers within the company as a good thing but ultimately, you have asked for the feedback so there is a requirement to take it onboard.
Be the culture you want to see
It’s said that culture is what happens when the CEO is not looking. But the reality is that changes in culture and better retention of staff starts with the people who are working in the business at the moment.
If you want employee feedback to matter, then taking the suggestions of staff seriously — and showing that such feedback is valued — is an important step in the right direction.
