Most successful businesses have high-performing, engaged employees. Providing prompt and meaningful employee feedback is crucial to getting the most out of your workforce and helping your business thrive. After all, employees who receive fast feedback are over three times more likely to strongly agree that they’re motivated to do outstanding work.
When you provide regular feedback, it will also help your employees develop and improve team dynamics. Around 80% of employees who received meaningful workplace feedback in the last week feel fully dedicated to their jobs. But what does it mean to offer meaningful feedback exactly?
In this guide, learn how to provide constructive feedback, the different types that employers use, and how it helps your employees and your organization as a whole.
Types of employee feedback with examples
Employee feedback can take many different forms. Try to incorporate these key types of employee feedback into your workplace.
Positive feedback: Recognizing achievements
Positive feedback is all about recognizing and praising the good things an employee does. While you may think primarily of celebrating employees for tangible work achievements like hitting a sales goal, don’t hesitate to praise positive behaviors, too. Offering positive feedback encourages the employee to continue doing what they’re doing and hopefully expand on that good work.
Positive employee feedback examples include:
- You always complete your tasks to a high standard while still meeting your deadlines.
- You handled yesterday’s situation with the unhappy client so well. Thanks for keeping a cool head and proposing a workable solution.
- You’re a great team player during collaborative projects.
- Your idea about the new initiative was really creative. Thank you for sharing that.
- Your presentation last week was so informative. I learned a lot and appreciated the graphics you included.
- You always maintain consistent communication, even during busier periods. It’s great to work with someone who is so reliable.
Make a note of the things you appreciate about your employees. Even if it’s something small, like always responding to emails quickly, sharing that positive feedback can help your employees thrive.
Constructive feedback: Addressing improvement areas
The other side of the coin is offering constructive feedback. Notice that we’re not calling it negative feedback, because constructive feedback doesn’t have to be negative. Think of constructive feedback as helping your employees grow and develop by pointing out areas where they could improve.
You do need to be more careful about how you phrase constructive feedback so your employees don’t feel too harshly criticized. Start by bringing up the issue you noticed or behavior you’d like to change using an “I” statement. With an “I” statement, you frame the topic as something you’ve observed rather than an accusation or immediate criticism.
Examples of “I” statement constructive feedback openers include:
- I’ve noticed you haven’t been responding to your emails recently.
- I saw a tense interaction between you and a customer the other day.
- I think you’ve been absent from work more often these past few weeks.
After you make that first statement, invite the employee to share their thoughts. Ask them if everything’s okay and whether they noticed the issue as well. Once you’ve done that, you can dig deeper into the topic. Propose possible solutions and paths forward.
Continuous feedback: Maintaining open communication
Employee feedback isn’t a one-time thing. To get the most out of your employee recognition and feedback efforts, you need to keep checking in with your workers. Track their progress over time. Offer additional positive feedback when they reach new accomplishments, and continually provide suggestions on how they can improve.
Next, let’s get up to speed on some effective strategies when working with team members in identifying areas for improvement.
Best practices for giving feedback to employees
When you’re providing feedback to your employees, there are a few important things to keep in mind.
Be specific and action-oriented
Something general like, “You haven’t been working very hard lately” — or even a positive, “Great job at work recently” — doesn’t give your employee much to go on. Instead, try to make your feedback as specific as possible.
If you can, reference clear examples of the employee’s behavior to help them understand your point. For example, instead of saying, “You’re a bad communicator,” try something like, “I’ve noticed it’s been hard to reach you by phone or email lately. What can we do to make sure clients and coworkers receive timely responses to their requests?”
Similarly, don’t praise an employee with “You’re so hardworking.” Instead, point out the actions they took that you admired, such as “I really appreciate that you took the extra time to find those additional resources for this client.”
Provide examples of this behavior and propose actions to make sure the situation gets, or continues, on the right track.
Provide timely feedback
When most people think about employee feedback, they probably just think of an annual or bi-annual performance review. While formal performance reviews are certainly worthwhile, they shouldn’t be the only form of feedback employers provide.
Instead, try to provide regular feedback to employees, especially when they do something noteworthy — either good or bad. The sooner you provide feedback, the sooner they can incorporate that information into their work.
If your managers or HR team feel too overwhelmed by the minutiae of their jobs to offer timely feedback, try taking some tasks off their plates. HR software like OnPay lets you automate administrative tasks, stay on top of HR compliance, and streamline HR processes. Get started today.
Foster open dialogue
The best feedback isn’t a one-way monologue — it’s a discussion. You want to create an environment where your employees feel comfortable sharing their perspectives, asking questions, and raising concerns.
By making sure to communicate honestly with them and listen when they talk to you, you may learn important information about how to help your employees succeed. Be empathetic and understanding to make it easier for them to open up in your feedback sessions.
Overcoming barriers to effective feedback
Providing effective feedback is not always easy, but you can overcome the hurdles. Two of the most common issues that prevent strong employee feedback are a fear of repercussions and different communication styles.
Your employees might worry about offering feedback on their coworkers for fear of upsetting people or hurting team dynamics. Even experienced managers can feel afraid of the repercussions of sharing constructive feedback.
different styles so they can tailor their feedback to each employee’s needs. It’s a small adjustment, but it can make a big difference in how receptive the employees are to feedback.
To overcome this issue, create a company culture that values feedback. If all your employees know that sharing feedback will not have any negative repercussions, they’ll be much more likely to participate constructively.
Another concern is that some managers and their employees don’t have the same communication styles. Encourage managers to learn more about the different styles so they can tailor their feedback to each employee’s needs. It’s a small adjustment, but it can make a big difference in how receptive the employees are to feedback.
Tips for creating a feedback culture
Ideally, you will create a whole workplace culture of giving and receiving effective feedback. Here are some tips to help make it happen:
- Get to know each other and build trust between your employees
- Encourage employees to provide “reverse” feedback to their managers
- Provide different avenues for offering feedback, such as through a web portal, over email, and in-person
- Offer some anonymous feedback channels
- Make feedback part of your workplace’s routine
- Try to share more positive feedback than constructive feedback
It will take time to build a feedback culture, but the effort will pay off.
The role of feedback in workplace dynamics
Feedback is essential for helping your employees reach their potential. When you offer regular feedback and develop a feedback culture, your workforce will be much more productive. Remember to balance positive and constructive feedback. When possible, focus your feedback on specific actions your employees do or don’t take rather than personal qualities.
If you’re not sure where to start, try some common employee feedback questions, then work up to regular feedback in all directions. Stay consistent, and before long you’ll see that your workforce is more engaged, collaborative, and loyal to your organization.
