{"id":8637,"date":"2021-08-02T10:22:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T14:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=8637"},"modified":"2026-02-12T04:39:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:39:40","slug":"feedback-vital-employee-engagement-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/feedback-vital-employee-engagement-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting on feedback is vital for employee engagement. Here\u2019s how to do it right"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPeople & Leadership<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tActing on feedback is vital for employee engagement. Here\u2019s how to do it right\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Headshot\t\t\t\tCharlotte Penny<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever been asked your opinion and then ignored completely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what so many employers are unwittingly doing when asking workers for feedback, and then not acting on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a fact that engaged workers are more productive and loyal workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of engaging with employees is listening to them when they give you feedback. It shows you are open to new ideas from everyone at every level of the organization, and that you respect employees by having a two-way dialogue with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some considerations on how you can listen to your employees and act on their feedback appropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Transform your workforce with Sage<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

No matter the size of your team, Sage offers HR solutions to help you lead, manage, and engage your people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFind out more<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ask your employees for their opinion regularly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Asking workers what they think at one point in time is fine, but it\u2019s not an accurate representation of your employees\u2019 sentiments all year long, and it only gives people a chance to feedback once a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People Companies<\/a> have ditched the annual engagement survey for regular pulse surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progressive organizations understand it\u2019s important to have a continuous dialogue with employees, whether they set up more regular feedback sessions such as \u2018feedback Fridays\u2019, have a dedicated feedback email address, or ask managers to regularly talk to their teams and record their feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies who do this well also ensure that part of a manager\u2019s job is to gauge employee sentiments and feedback to the leadership teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask the right questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are asking your employees for their feedback, make sure you ask them the right questions. Really think about what you want to get out of your surveys and limit your questions appropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business software company HubSpot<\/a> keeps its employee net promoter score surveys short and sweet at three questions long, which take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The logic is to ensure that it\u2019s as easy and as painless as possible for employees to make their voices heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fully understand your data<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to fall into the analysis paralysis trap when looking at the data from employee surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having shorter surveys with carefully selected questions can help. However, it is important that those analyzing the results know what they are looking for and how to translate feedback into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implement a process that allocates enough time with a dedicated team to work on this and ensure that the leadership team are involved. This is an important project, which requires the correct allocation of expertise and time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Take an interactive tour of Sage People<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Discover how Sage People can transform the way you hire, manage, engage, and retain your workforce in this self-guided interactive product tour.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBegin Tour<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Communicate your results fully<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are asking people to take the time out to fill out surveys, then you need to take the time to communicate the results with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about how you present the results. This is a big deal, so sending out an email is not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have someone from the leadership team present the results using digestible information in person. Give people a chance, there and then, to ask questions and provide comments or even more feedback that can be fed back into the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be transparent with all the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s great to highlight successes, simply ignoring negative feedback is equally frustrating for employees who are clearly looking for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Act on the feedback<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tell your employees what you\u2019re going to do. There may be some quick wins and changes that can be made immediately, and there may be some that require a longer time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provide a plan and keep your employees updated of milestones through company apps, portals, emails and meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There may be some feedback that you cannot act upon, so you need to tell your employees why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demonstrate that you have really considered the feedback and explain why you cannot act on that request, or provide an alternative, to show your employees that you are actively listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of creating a listening culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Engagement is not all about surveys. It is about encouraging your employees to speak up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When employees feel valued, they won\u2019t just complain about what is not working, they will also provide innovative ideas and solutions, which could be beneficial to your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also avoids the trap of just presuming you know what your employees want, and how they feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz Ellis, Cluster HRD at Danone UK and Ireland elaborates: \u201cOne trap that businesses can easily fall into is that they make assumptions about what their employees think, want and need…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seems like an obvious truth that, to really understand what matters to your staff, you have to have a continuous dialogue, ask questions and be prepared to really listen to the answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a simple insight, but it can get lost in the busy-ness of everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not easy to capture every idea or opinion, but if you create an environment in which employees feel comfortable speaking up and managers can identify good ideas and know what to do with them, then you are valuing and nurturing your company\u2019s biggest asset for growth: your people.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Deliver engagement through experiences<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Download our eBook “Delivering engagement through experiences” to find out why it’s time to change focus and where HR leaders can turn to drive productivity in their workplace.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload now<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Subscribe to our Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Get our latest business advice delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Working\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the point in asking employees for feedback if it is not acted upon? Here\u2019s some top tips on how to effectively listen and act on employee feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1660,"featured_media":3153,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[166,138],"business_type":[41],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[411],"persona":[99,98],"imagine_tag":[],"coauthors":[616],"class_list":["post-8637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-leadership","tag-hr-software","tag-leadership","business_type-growing-business","industry-human-resources"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-us","author_name":"Charlotte Penny","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/12\/artofhiring.jpg","imagine_tags":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice US","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1660"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34872,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8637\/revisions\/34872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/3153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=8637"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}