Employee Feedback

By Eileen M. Levitt

Did you know that employee evaluations done properly can boost employee morale, decrease turnover and cut costs? Yes, evaluations are a crucial part of employer-employee relationships and have been shown to boost company spirit, with the end result being a relaxed atmosphere and a company with higher productivity.

Increased productiveness may result from the timely corrective feedback employees receive on their performance during these evaluations. In addition, appropriate and timely feedback can lead to solid work practices and anxiety may actually be reduced because employees know exactly where they stand in the employer’s eye.

So what can you do? When giving feedback to employees, follow these tips to ensure a positive experience for both you and your workers:

• Feedback must be timely. If your input is provided with considerable delay from the time when the respective event occurred, it is far less valuable and is likely to be resented. Inform your employee immediately if he or she acts in a way that deserves either commendation or critique. Rapid positive feedback is generally appreciated, and can even help cement good working relationships.
• Feedback must be communicated effectively. The person receiving the feedback must clearly understand what he or she has been told. Employers often feel uncomfortable providing negative input to their employees--hence, they try to give this advice in such a way as to not hurt the recipient’s feelings. In being overly cautious, however, the employee ends up with feedback that is not clearly understood.
• Feedback must preserve, and if possible, enhance mutual respect. Competent leaders take the time to ensure that communications are clear. They also listen carefully so they understand what their employees are saying. A good employer allows employees a considerable voice in the discussion, and he or she gives appropriate weight to an employee’s explanation. Subsequently, these employers are more likely to earn comparable regard for their opinions from employees. In return, they are more apt to achieve the change in actions and behavior they are seeking. Specific tips for listening effectively include: do not interrupt or paraphrase, ask questions to confirm comprehension, acknowledge feelings, and observe body language.
• Feedback must be factual and accurate. Feedback is much more effective when it concentrates on what happened and how it happened. Feedback that is extremely heavy in advice and opinions is rarely welcome and often inappropriate or erroneous. The data recorded, of course, must also be accurate and factual so that it will be of value in the future. Later on, if interpretation and conclusions during performance appraisal are based on these facts, the evaluations are more likely to be well received.
• Feedback must be sufficiently thorough. The collected data must cover all performance aspects, including those that were performed well, in addition to those where improvement is desirable. In this regard, it is important to keep in mind that collecting and recording data takes time and effort. Therefore, only essential data should be sought and even less should be recorded.

By following these tips on effective feedback, employee performance management should become a productive task that is rewarding for both employers and employees.

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