Amongst many other life goals, climbing high up the career ladder and being successful in your job is what many of us strive to achieve. This can only be done with consistent and regular feedback. How else will your employees progress if they don’t know their strengths and their weaknesses and how they can continue to improve.
Feedback is about providing helpful information or constructive criticism that can be used to improve a situation in the future. Not only is it essential for your employees' growth but employee feedback is also essential for the wider organisation - having a huge impact on engagement, productivity and performance.
In this blog, we’re going to be looking at a range of statistics that show just why feedback is so crucial for employees, in what form and how often employees want to receive feedback and why employee feedback is so important for employee engagement.
75% of employees believe that feedback is valuable
Employees want feedback. 75% of employees who do receive feedback feel that it is incredibly important to their work. 45% of respondents also value feedback from their peers and customers but less than 30% of respondents actually receive feedback on their work.
Giving feedback shouldn’t just be a tick box activity, it should be an essential part of 1:1s and regular catch ups. Giving feedback is essential for learning, improvement, and confidence and will help your employees to thrive in their job roles.
65% of employees said that they wanted more feedback
Again, employees want more feedback! More than half of your workforce will be craving feedback and they’ll be wanting it regularly. Don’t leave employee feedback to yearly appraisals, give feedback immediately so that employees are in control of their work and projects. Not only will regular feedback improve engagement but it will also motivate your employees and create a positive work environment.
39% of employees report that they don’t feel appreciated at work
If you don’t have any form of employee recognition in place then you need to start. Recognising your employees hard work and efforts is essential for motivation and purpose. 39% of employees don’t feel appreciated at work, which can lead to disengagement and if you try to give any form of feedback while they’re not feeling appreciated, there’s a high chance that it will go straight over their heads and it won’t have any impact. Just remember, a little appreciation goes a long way.
Managers, you should be really getting to know your employees by checking in regularly to talk to them - be that about work, life and any current projects. Find out what communication styles work best for certain employees and when they want to receive feedback. Each and every employee will feel different but it’s important to do what works best for them.
69% of employees say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were more recognised
We’ve just mentioned how it can impact your employees if they don’t feel appreciated. But what would happen if they did feel appreciated? 69% of employees have said if they felt appreciated that they would work harder. Giving your employees regular feedback, discussing current projects and highlighting any accomplishments will make them feel valued and this appreciation will come around in the form of motivation and hard work.
Having an employee recognition tool is great for businesses. Has someone helped you with a tricky task or just completed a huge project? Oak gives you tools to send recognition to any employee in the business which appears on the homepage of your company intranet.
Companies who conduct regular feedback experience 14.9% lower turnover rates
The more you praise people, the more motivated they’ll feel. So when an employee does a good job, let them know straight away. Again, don’t wait until an annual review, by this point the moment will be long gone, the more recent the event the better.
The feedback will be appreciated way more. This is also known as distance bias: the more recent an event, the greater the value of the feedback. Gallup even found that companies who give continuous strength based feedback can reduce their turnover by almost 15%.
43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week compared to 18% of employees with low engagement
The relationship between feedback and engagement is a strong one. Make sure you're using time in weekly one to ones to give your employees feedback which will aid them in growing their abilities, their skills and their career. This will encourage a sense of purpose and really helps encourage employees to achieve their goals.
92% of people believe that constructive criticism is effective at improving performance
Giving constructive feedback properly is an art and with 92% of people believing that it’s effective for improving their performance you need to get to grips with dishing it out, but there are ways to do it properly so that employees take the criticism on board effectively. When giving constructive feedback you should:
- Build Trust: If a complete stranger tries to give you advice, you’re normally a bit taken aback but if a friend gives you advice then you’ll most likely take it on board and appreciate the feedback.
Trust in the workplace will enable conversations around feedback to go well as employees know that you recognise their abilities, who they are and how they work.
They’ll view feedback as constructive and helpful rather than an attack and this sets the stead for future open and honest communication.
- Be specific:
Details, details, details. When giving feedback, explain exactly what it is that needs work - if you just say that their work needs improvement this leaves room for confusion and doubt.
Is it their presentation that needs work? Do they need to make the messaging more direct in their communications? Let them know exactly what it is that needs work. Read the next point before honing in on your employees improvement areas though…
- Give positive and negative feedback:
This is probably one of the most important elements of giving feedback as whilst being specific is good, it is important to deliver criticism in the right way.
No one wants to feel like they’re doing anything wrong. Try and use the sandwich method when giving feedback which involves focusing on a positive first, delivering the criticism, and then closing with another positive.
For example, if their presentation is missing a key point why not compliment the structure, explain what they’ve missed and then compliment the visuals. This will help employees feel that they’re still meeting expectations and achieving their goals so they’ll take the criticism on board in a positive way.
- Do it face to face:
When giving constructive feedback, try and do it face to face as opposed to over email, instant messenger or other the phone. As wonderful as technology can be, it can leave conversations open to misinterpretation without visual cues to guide us.
Face to face conversations is more effective as both parties can discuss everything properly.
- Provide feedback consistently:
Be timely with your feedback, don’t wait for the moment to pass, do it when it’s fresh in someone's mind!
Making feedback a regular part of daily interactions will result in better performance and it ensures employees are used to receiving and responding to feedback which does wonder for the progression of projects and the overall quality of work.
63% of Gen Z said that they want to hear more timely, constructive performance feedback throughout the year.
Are there generational differences in the way people prefer their feedback? In a study by EY, it turns out that Gen Zers are open to continuous feedback on ongoing projects and 63% of people want timely, constructive feedback throughout the year.
80% of Gen Y said that they would prefer on the spot recognition over formal reviews
Similarly, Gen Y prefers on the spot recognition over formal reviews as it’s imperative to growth and their understanding of a job. Gone are the days of annual reviews or bi-annual performance reviews. Gen Y wants instant praise or instant feedback so they can continue to be better in their jobs.
One in five employees are not confident that their manager will provide regular, constructive feedback.
Despite the need for employees wanting regular and constructive feedback, employees don’t feel confident that their managers are going to provide them with any. Shockingly, 32% of employees have said that they have had to wait over three months for their managers to give them feedback.
With all of these statistics in mind if you’re not giving your employees consistent and regular feedback then you might want to think about reconsidering the way you’re giving feedback to your employees. It’ll have a huge effect on productivity, morale and performance across the overall business.
Recommended reading 📖: Employee feedback techniques
How does your company approach employee feedback? Let us know on Linkedin and Twitter.
