How Do Employees Perceive the Lack of Feedback?

Despite the frequent conversations in recent years around this deadline, feedback is still treated superficially, especially in the relationship with employees. Although businesses assume a culture of feedback, it “is sublime, but completely lacking.”

This is because the way employees perceive the lack of feedback is often ignored, and the mutual exchange of information is misdiagnosed, with disastrous consequences for the entire company — from declining quality to declining performance and, consequently, profit.

According to the latest Office Vibe market study:

• 23% of employees are dissatisfied with the frequency of feedback received from their manager,

• 28% of employees say that it is not common enough to understand how to become better at what they do,

• And 17% of employees feel that the feedback they receive is not specific.

Not only do employees suffer from a lack of real feedback, but also management and business itself — from declining turnover to declining talent retention.

Why is all this happening and what is the meaning of feedback in medical management? What are his roles and the consequences of his absence? Find out all in our guide about the consequences of lack of feedback for employees and managers.

What is (really) feedback?

The term feedback briefly defines a response to an action.

In the professional area, feedback can be seen as a set of information or opinions provided to an individual as a result of his actions. Ideally, they are constructive and useful for the individual to improve their future actions, but also their communication relationships.

In an organization, employees frequently need feedback, especially from managers — and vice versa — to support the qualities and strengths of the recipient, as well as the weaknesses that need to be analyzed and improved.

The word feedback itself evokes a reaction — be it an emotion, a fear, or an attitude. The best managers know very well that it is an essential element of constant development, improved employee performance, and teamwork.

However, the lack of feedback is one of the most difficult things to correct for many companies, because either there is no solid foundation (honest and frequent communication culture), or team leaders are not prepared, or the company does not prioritize this. appearance.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon affects the employee at a professional and personal level, which will negatively influence the performance of the team and implicitly of the organization.

How do employees perceive the lack of feedback in the company?

Constructive feedback must have good and altruistic intentions, be clear, specific, and practical, and focus on future actions.

Lack of feedback always refers to quantity (not being common) and quality (not being effective).

Here are the latest studies on the subject in recent years:

• 89% of HR leaders agree that constant feedback and employee appreciation have a positive impact on companies, according to the SHRM / Globoforce study

• Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more motivated to work at their highest performance, according to Forbes

• Managers are responsible for at least 70% of the level of employee involvement

• Employees who communicate with managers frequently are three times more involved in their work

• Managers who receive feedback on their qualities and strengths have helped increase the company’s profit by 8.9%.

Therefore, the worst consequences of the lack of feedback for the employee are:

• Increasing the level of frustration and conflict for the employee, which can erupt at any time

• Decreased motivation to work and to be active and implicitly, decreased profitability of the company

• Creating a tense and unproductive work environment

• Loss of talented employees

• Endangering the employer brand

But how exactly do employees perceive the lack of feedback in their job?

I’m not good enough.

Employees perceive the lack of feedback as a threat to basic human needs: the need for communication and recognition, stimulation and response from those we work with, the need for security and understanding, the need for control, and so on. When these needs are not met, the feeling of isolation, low self-esteem, and inadequacy appears.

I’m not part of the team / I’m invisible.

The absence of feedback also shows a lack of involvement on the part of the employer, which causes the symbiotic relationship between the company and the employee to be fractured, and he feels alone, unimportant, invisible, or simply confused about the value. to.

The others don’t think they can evolve.

Employees may believe that the lack of feedback from a leader or manager means that he or she does not trust him or her that he or she can grow as a professional or evolve for a variety of (often imagined) reasons.

It means everything is going well.

Of course, one of the most common ways employees may perceive a lack of feedback as auspicious, especially if it is usually associated with criticism and negativity.

But the lack of feedback leads to stagnation and even performance issues.

Employees who breathe a sigh of relief when the manager does not invite them to a feedback session should be aware that the purpose of this communication is beneficial to them and that it can take place in a safe environment. Even as a manager, you would not want an employee who believes that performance means avoiding conflict or new challenges.

Therefore, the culture of feedback deserves to be prioritized when such cases arise, whether we are talking about team or management. We will also talk about the challenges of managers.

Managers’ challenges: what causes a lack of feedback?

Team leaders have an essential and even intimidating role to play in providing employees with feedback that will help them develop their expertise and work more collaboratively and agilely. This is just one of how managers play a key role in organizational success.

But from more regular and effective one-to-one meetings to difficult conversations about employee performance, successful feedback can be a challenge for managers.

Although there may be issues with both the quality of feedback that employees receive and the frequency with which they receive it, both need to be adjusted to make feedback truly effective. Great feedback doesn’t help employees who receive it only at that annual performance appraisal, or if they receive it every day without specific information.

Why is there a lack of regular or effective feedback from employees? Often due to limiting beliefs, fears, lack of resources, or unfounded excuses:

“Feedback feels like a critique.”

Probably one of the biggest confusions about this form of professional communication is that many see feedback as a negative and critical remark.

But the feedback is neither negative nor positive — it does not refer to a personal opinion but to the objective response to an action that an employee performs (or not), to an analysis.

Authentic feedback can also be a positive appreciation, such as “you did a very good job today!”, Or it can be a mix of positive and negative appreciations, just to improve things in the future and to motivate the employee.

“There is no culture of feedback.”

If managers are not properly trained to provide constructive feedback, this barrier shows that there is a problem at the company level. In a successful company, the culture of feedback should be a priority at all levels, part of the duties of any employee in a management position.

However, a good manager knows how to give feedback to his team regardless of whether or not he is an ad litteram part of his job description.

“It’s not time to give regular feedback.”

Unfortunately, this is one of the most common excuses of managers, especially when they do not understand or accept the major importance of feedback for the company.

After all, we are talking about a method of communicating and guiding employees towards better performance, which, implicitly, also increases the company’s success.

Of course, feedback rounds can take time, from 10 minutes for one employee to one hour for another employee — but there is enough time to provide feedback. This action should even be considered a KPI for the evaluation of managers because it would help to mobilize managers and support those who need additional training.

“It’s hard to give feedback.”

There are also managers or team leaders who avoid conflict and awkward situations, especially when the things discussed are more sensitive or refer to negative, albeit constructive, criticism.

But this is the role of a manager (and any colleague in a company): to show leadership qualities and get out of the comfort zone, to help employees become better.

This motivation that feedback is difficult to give occurs even when there is not enough training from the company on how to provide it in the most harmonious way for all involved.

Why is feedback important?

You may already know why feedback to candidates is a simple tactic to grow your employer brand. But how about things offered to employees? Why do I want it?

First of all, feedback is essential for employee satisfaction because it provides opportunities for growth and learning. No one knows each other well, and the opinions of the knowledgeable team can help employees who want to grow professionally and reach their potential.

Managers who provide regular feedback to them and validate the results and efforts of employees, therefore, support an organizational culture of continuous development of the company’s talents.

Feedback also improves communication and conflict management skills, especially at the professional level. These benefits are reflected in better communication and respect for the values ​​and goals of the team and the company.

In short, feedback is important to employees because:

• Validates the efforts of the employee, who feels useful and valuable

• Motivate the employee to achieve their goals within clear time limits

• It offers comfort and safety, giving the feeling of belonging to a group with common goals

• It helps the employee to understand their work and do it better if needed

• Supports the development of the employee’s hard and soft skills

• Increases employee productivity and performance

• Eliminates the risk of burnout or stagnation

For companies, feedback matters because:

• It is a tool for retaining employees (talent)

• Increases the level of employee involvement and therefore productivity

• It creates a pleasant environment and harmonious, conflict-free working relationships

• It is a useful tool to make better decisions as a manager and important for the evolution of the company

• Improves the quality of leadership and, implicitly, team results

• Increase employer branding that attracts new talented candidates

• It supports the growth of turnover through all these benefits

• Decreases staff turnover rates, which can be extremely costly

In addition, most employees prefer to receive feedback of any kind (positive and negative reviews) than not at all. After all, how else could employees find out that they meet the expectations of their bosses or employers if they do not receive regular, clear, and effective feedback?

How can companies adopt a culture of genuine feedback?

Leaders and organizations must prioritize this method of communicating with employees. It all starts with an open and flexible mindset, but also with some important management and HR techniques that can normalize the process of providing and receiving feedback. For example, you can do this by:

• communication training for leaders and managers,

• creating a safe and secure environment to provide AND receive feedback,

• confidentiality of information received or provided,

• establishing several communication channels,

• high frequency of short and relaxed feedback sessions, ideal in informal settings

• setting together the expectations and objectives discussed

• focus on positive appreciation and encouragement, trust and openness, etc.

In the absence of adequate feedback for employees, they will interpret things as they are — and most do not reflect good things about themselves or their managers.

And this phenomenon can be the biggest obstacle in leading a successful team in a successful company. That’s why the culture of good feedback should remain a top priority for companies of all sizes