It is relatively easy to gather a group of people seeking to smash some goals and achieve specific objectives together. It is common practice to assign tasks to individuals and expect them to complete them within a time frame.
Most companies in contemporary times carry out their tasks this way. By banking on the supervisory personnel’s effectiveness and motivation derived from monthly salaries, wages, and some other perks. While this has worked fine, it has been observed that operating this kind of model has made employees progressively develop a sense of detachment from proceedings at work.
A lack of a sense of belonging affects the workplace psyche in a whole lot of ways. The ability to focus and come up with brilliant ideas is progressively being impeded. According to Glint’s research with over a million data points, employees with a strong sense of belonging are more likely to be engaged than those who do not feel the same way.
Due to this factor and the need to consciously improve workplace ethics, top companies rethink their ideas on diversity and employee inclusion in all its totality. They seek to do this by using hands-on platforms that aim to improve the workplace culture by improving engagements, visible feedback, effective use of reward systems, and analytics that lay bare work performances.
The workplace consists of individuals with different backgrounds and mentalities. Finding a way to manage this is an excellent way to go. This compilation aims to highlight the pros and cons of employee feedback models focusing on some critical areas such as the effects on employee engagement, inclusion, and the development of a good sense of belonging.
Engagement Surveys as Your Feedback Model
The use of engagement surveys in the workplace has been critical to gauge the “mood” of the workplace. Then if your company makes use of surveys in determining employee feedback, you are familiar with this context. There are some benefits inherent in using this approach in facilitating positive employee engagement. However, there are also some drawbacks. Let’s briefly highlight some of them.
Pros:
- The engagement surveys are anonymous, and they help in a long way in helping the employer determine if there would soon be a problem of turnover. It can even go as far as inquiring how long the employee would be staying with the company. Due to these sorts of surveys’ anonymous nature, the answers given would sure be insightful ones.
As much as it is a way to seek ideas; Engagement surveys can be tailored to the needs of the organization. Questions can be asked yearly; to determine how far the company has achieved its already set aims and objectives. And since these surveys require everyone’s input in the organization, that sense of belonging and inclusion is developed.
- The use of engagement surveys may not give an in-depth account of how the workers perceive the company or employee morale. Still, by analyzing the answers given to carefully prepared survey questions, one can have a surface idea and more insights into the surface.
The employees feel heard in the process, and employee satisfaction is guaranteed. This is if the organization acts on the employee feedback it gets from carrying out these surveys and makes the necessary changes.
Cons:
While there are some benefits accrued to conducting workplace engagement surveys, there are also some drawbacks to carrying out this process.
- It requires to follow up: You cannot give out quick surveys as the HR of a company collate the results and choose not to act on them. Employees that participated in the survey would be expecting some form of feedback.
Although this is certain to add to an existing workload, you do not want to make the employees feel ignored. You do not want to stock up the feelings of resentment in the workplace. So, it is only ideal, you collate the survey results and move on to implementing the agreed-upon status quo. - Do note that the use of engagement surveys means that its results have to be implemented. This method takes time, and there is also a need for consistency in the entire process to derive the most benefit.
It would help if you also were careful to word the survey contents in a straight, easy to understand manner. Employees tend to be wary of anonymous surveys, so the least you could do is be as plain as possible.
The 360 Degree Employee Feedback Model
One of the smartest ways of achieving top-notch employee engagement is through the use of 360-degree feedback model. Previously, employees would get feedback from their direct managers, creating a 1-1 feedback process.
However, to factor in the opinions of as many as possible, you need to use the 360-degree employee feedback model— 360-degree feedback factors in the views of employees, other co-workers, and customers.
Pros:
- Creates better Teamwork: With this feedback model, everyone can identify all their strengths, behaviors, and inherent weaknesses they need to improve on. This is so that the team becomes more efficient in creating a happier and productive team.
Assessment is also more complete when you make use of this model. From the different perspectives of the employees, colleagues, managers, and even customers, you get a general idea and a broader picture of the current state of things.
- The lack of frequent employee feedback has always been an issue, particularly in a workplace setting with many diverse folks seeking a sense of belonging and total inclusion. With the 360 degrees feedback model, there is a better chance of doing that; as you get to interact with more people in this regard.
Cons:
- In some instances, it might not be accurate: If all we have is a small group of friends with each other, can we be critical of each other and give unbiased feedback? And even if it were to be in a more prominent company, due to different interests, some colleagues might be more agreeable. In contrast, others might be mean as a result of a different mode of expression. You might have skewed results.
- In some instances, the survey might focus on highlighting the employee’s weaknesses, not necessarily their strengths. And although negative feedback might identify the areas for growth, it cannot be very reassuring.
Although there is a need to have some marked areas for improvement, more should be done on how the apparent areas of strength can be used to the organization’s advantage. Then also, remember the possibility of the survey stocking up the feelings of resentment among co-workers.
The One-on-One Employee Feedback Model
In the one-on-one feedback model, face-to-face discussions are held between the employer, the direct manager, and the employee. Employee feedback is essential in the management of work teams, and one can go on without remembering to also check on individual members and realigning their interests.
It does not have to be a formal discussion, but it should always be identifiable. Says Michael Eisner when he was head of Disney. However, there are some pros and cons of this model, and they are:
Pros:
- With this model, there is a show of interest in the employee. The individual feels a sense of belonging that their duties and overall importance are not overlooked in the work setting. The manager also gets an early warning just in case the feelings of discontent are gradually brewing.
The opportunity to hold each other to account is provided, as everyone wants to air their opinions. Meetings like this can also take up a significant part of your schedule.
Cons:
- These one-on-one meetings are effortless to postpone. And what does this portend in the long run? Which feelings are we communicating? Without proper expression or creating the right environment, it might be tough to achieve a certain depth with the expression in this kind of setting.
These meetings will generate additional work, And it might be challenging, to be honest. Only a few will keep a calm demeanor and not be nervous in front of a direct superior.
In conclusion, timely feedback is valuable and provides the opportunities to rightly motivate employees and drive up commitments in the right manner. The use of engagement surveys, 360 degrees feedback, and one on one models have been highlighted. And as a good human resource manager, knowing when to deploy these different methods, rightly harnessing them for improved employee engagement, a good sense of belonging and inclusion is critical.
