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How to Use Employee Feedback to Better Your HR Practices

While performing a role in Human Resources, how many times have you carried out a task that involved scrutinizing the performance of an employee? Whether you carried out a performance review, updated an employee’s record or had to type out a written warning, you’re probably very familiar with being on the ‘giving’ end of feedback.

But it’s not often that the tables are turned. When did you last ask your colleagues to give feedback on your team so that you could improve the quality of the work the HR department contributes to the overall running of the business?

Well, if you’ve rarely asked for employee feedback, the bad news is that you might be in for a shock. But, the good news is that you’re going to learn a lot about how the current HR practices are being received, and what you can do to improve things further.

How can employee feedback improve your HR practices?

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In exactly the same way customer feedback works in the retail world, asking for feedback from employees will help you to identify issues you’d be otherwise oblivious to. It will prompt you to see things in a new light, and could even reveal some exciting opportunities for growth.

Below are a few examples of the kinds of thing you might expect to hear when asking for feedback on HR practices, as well as a few suggestions on how you can use this feedback.

 

The problem: “I don’t feel like HR know what’s going on – I booked time away from the office and they called to ask where I was!”

The solution: Invest in human resources software like this if you want to be able to track and record the whereabouts of a growing team. It’s hard to know where everyone is at all times, and relying on things such as Google calendars alone is not going to enable you to have an accurate overview. Software, however, will allow you to improve your HR practices as it will show you who’s booked time off and who’s actually sick, meaning you won’t unnecessarily call employees to ask why they’ve not come into work! You can also use the software for all other aspects of employee management, including managing their personal records, their qualifications, their pay records and more.

The problem: “I always seem to get paid the wrong amount every month. Last month my salary was deducted for a reason I couldn’t understand, and this month I’ve paid an awful lot of tax”.

The solution: Use payroll or accounting software to ensure that employees are automatically being paid exactly what they should be paid. It’s also a good idea to have a dedicated accountant for the company if the business is big enough to justify the expense, responsible for administering payslips, liaising with employees to clear up confusions, and working with the Revenue to rectify problems or changes. Remember that you can always motivate employees without pay raise.

 

The problem: “I don’t feel like anyone cares about my training or development here”.

The solution: Employees who are feeling discontent due to what they feel is a lack of training are a worry for businesses – these people are likely to leave to be trained at another company, and could end up costing your business a lot of time and money trying to replace them. Ward off problems like these by, again, using software to ensure that you have a good overview of skills gaps or under-utilised skill-sets. Also, suggest that the business pays for face to face trainers to help employees use up their training budgets, and consider buying some e-Learning modules too if there are subjects that could be successfully delivered in an online medium.

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