With the COVID-19 outbreak forcing employees to work remotely and employers amending their working policies, communication has become vital to ensure employee engagement and proper workflow. At such times when many are going through tough times juggling in between their job and personal responsibilities, amid the fear and curiosity of the pandemic, the employees need support from their employers the most.

Talking to the employees about their concerns, and helping them overcome it has become a priority for many organizations to ensure better employee engagement and to make the workforce feel valued. As a part of employee care and concern, many employers have started seeking employee feedback to know their pain points and create strategies to help them overcome it.

Why Employee Feedback Is Important?

Communication is one of the crucial employee engagement strategies. Studies have proven that most employees prefer having open communication with their co-workers and employers. Having honest discussions has proven to improve the way employees engage with each other and at the workplace, building a healthy workplace culture.

A Salesforce report showed that employees who were given a chance to communicate openly and honestly were five times more likely to be engaged and feel empowered at work, thus, reflecting in better productivity.

Implementing a strategy where employers seek feedback and listen to them can build healthy teams, boost employee engagement, and foster workplace wellness. This instillation of trust and concern builds employee loyalty and makes them feel valued and cared.

Tools To Support Employee Communication and Feedback

Having a two-way communication channel is a great strategy where employees can express their concerns and voice their opinions, while employers can respond to their questions and get answers from their workforce too.

Here are the primary tools that can be implemented to seek employee feedback and communicate with them, thus improving employee engagement and workplace culture.

Employee Surveys

Employee surveys are the most popular employee engagement strategies used by many organizations to seek feedback. Pulse surveys are shorter surveys that can be conducted frequently to seek real-time feedback from employees. Be it via chatbots, emails, mobile apps, or other communicative modes, employers can conduct regular feedback from the employees. The data can then be compiled to design an actionable plan to resolve employee concerns and meet their needs.

Online Questionnaires

Employers can either hold one-on-one discussions or have a team conference with the respective teams. Since most are working remotely, employers can host an online questionnaire to discuss employee concerns and seek feedback. If there are many employees or if there are time constraints to hold personal discussions, employers can also give print questionnaires, which can be filled in by the employees. The input can be put together for further assessments and planning.

Internal Communication Tools

Since most companies are functioning remotely, it is essential to have a strong intranet to support internal communication between employees and employers. Apart from being mobile responsive, it should also be an effective two-way communication tool. Using a mobile app or a messenger tool that can be easily accessed by employees could be considered. Add push notifications and reminders as features to make it more appealing and engaging.

Employee Engagement Platform

A good employee engagement platform must connect and engage the entire workforce, including the employees and employers efficiently. By investing in a comprehensive platform, the shortcomings to seek employee feedback, and lack of direction to resolve them can be easily worked upon.

By bringing on board corporate wellness programs, employers can improve employee engagement, and also instill the feeling of trust and care in the workforce, especially during such uncertain times. Employers can consider the cultural beliefs and restrictions to plan norms that can boost employee behaviors and engagement.

Also, with businesses returning to work amidst the COVID-19 scare, employers are considering many things to ensure employee health and safety, while boosting organizational productivity. Right from the digital health solutions to the HR policies and social distancing norms, everything has to be re-evaluated and re-designed to seek employee feedback, assure health and wellness, while enhancing employee engagement and impacting the overall employee experience.