As you can imagine as Human Resourcing professionals, we come across some interesting, challenging and quite frankly some mind-boggling situations and incidents.
We recently came across a case where an employer had requested some honest feedback from their employees, this resulted in an employee providing an extensive dossier that repeatedly referred to their boss as a tw@t.
This incident really got us thinking about several things, of course there are the obvious alarm bells around how anyone would things it appropriate to speak to their boss in that manner. However, there are also other thing that came to mind such as:
- How could this situation have been prevented?
- How should an employer seek feedback from employees?
Gaining Feedback from Employees
What can all employers do……?
It is important that feedback from employees is gained frequently and through more than one method. Gaining feedback from employees and engaging them to offer constructive comments and ideas is just as important as giving feedback.
We highly recommend that all employers/managers do some, or all of the below:
- Regular team meetings
- Morning huddles/toolbox meetings
- Regular 1 to 1 meetings e.g. fortnightly, especially with senior team members
- Bi-annual or annual all staff meetings/company updates
- Casual get togethers
- Annual feedback survey – with carefully constructed questions
By gaining regular feedback and giving employees a range of opportunities to open up, employers are less likely to encounter a shocking outburst that they had no idea was on the horizon. Following the above recommendations will also foster excellent communication, positive workplace culture and respect for management.
It is also important that where appropriate management respond to feedback and address matters that can be addressed. There is nothing worse for an employee than them feeling that their feedback is being received by deaf ears.
If you would like to know more, call us 5613 1846 / info@humanresourcing.com.au