6 Reasons to Provide Feedback to Employees

As a leader, one of your biggest challenges is getting the best performance from your employees. 

But, here’s the issue–many businesses struggle with employee engagement, and one of the reasons behind it is the lack of consistent feedback. Without clear feedback, employees can feel lost, underappreciated, or unsure of how to improve. 

This lack of direction can lead to: 

• Low morale
• Missed opportunities for growth
• Even high turnover rates

When employees don’t know where they stand or what they need to work on, they can become disengaged, ultimately affecting your business’s bottom line. 

As a leader, you want to see your team succeed, but without effective feedback, you are not empowering them to reach their potential. 

The solution is simple: start providing feedback. 

Giving constructive feedback leads to higher engagement, better performance, and a more productive workforce. 

Let’s dive into 6 key reasons why feedback is important in the workplace.

What Exactly is Feedback?

Feedback in the workplace is information provided to an individual or group regarding their performance. 

This can include praise or criticism that influences behavior and performance. One type, operational feedback, is internally generated about company performance and may be filtered down to individuals.

However, feedback is often scarce. About 23% of employees receive feedback only once a year, during annual evaluations, and 21% never receive input from their manager. The lack of structured feedback is compounded by the fact that only 20% of small business employees get feedback when they need it. Despite feedback being a crucial tool for change, many small businesses fail to provide it effectively.

Why You Should Provide Feedback to Your Staff?

Here are six benefits of feedback in the workplace:

1. Initiates a Conversation

The act of providing feedback initiates a conversation between you and your staff. Knowing that you are truthful with them and that they can talk to you aids in the development of trust with your employees and colleagues. In doing so, you leave the door open for your employees to approach you to talk further, whether that is socially or about any issues at work, for example, both of which are positive.

2. Act as a Tool for Continuous Learning

Not all of us are always correct. Giving constructive comments to your employees to let them know where they may improve assists in their personal growth, which we know is vital to them. Accepting input from an employee, on the other hand, helps you to improve as a leader and manager, which will benefit you in the long term.

3. Desired by Your Staff

Feedback is highly valued by employees, with 75% considering it important for their work. Moreover, 65% of employees express a desire for more feedback. This highlights the importance of giving feedback to employees, which is essential for fostering engagement and improving performance within your team.

4. Inspirational

Positive feedback is usually welcomed by your staff. It is beneficial for them to understand what they are doing correctly, since this might drive them to do it again or strive for greater success. Receiving constructive criticism is also motivating since it tells your staff exactly what they need to do to meet that goal and better in the future.

5. Demonstrates Employee Worth

Feedback, both good and negative, reassures employees that what they are doing is important. It is critical for them to understand that their contribution is recognized not just by their immediate management but also plays a role in the overall success of the firm. Nobody likes to waste their time doing something that isn’t meaningful or helpful, so it’s critical to provide feedback not only when things are going well, but also when there is space for improvement.

6. Makes Everything More Clear

Developing a practice of providing frequent feedback is critical to ensure that you and your staff are on the same page when it comes to assignments, work, and projects. By offering regular feedback during a project, for example, everyone on the team will know if the project is on track or if someone else’s experience may be used. Feedback should not be a one-way street. Managers should also welcome employee input. If an employee needs training or has a problem, they should be able to communicate with their management so that they may take action on their behalf.

The Bottom Line 

Giving feedback to your staff is an important element of being a manager since it may result in positive change. Personal growth is important to three-quarters of the small company workforce in the United States, and feedback plays an important role in attaining that. Your staff will be unable to progress in your workplace unless you know what they are doing correctly and incorrectly, making feedback critical to your small business.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the purpose of effective feedback?

The purpose of effective feedback is to provide specific and constructive information about an individual’s performance, behavior, or work. It aims to offer guidance, insights, and suggestions for improvement.

2. What qualities should good feedback have?

It must be timely, behavior-focused, observation-based, specific, and reasonable. 

3. What is the most powerful positive feedback?

Impact feedback is the most effective to start with because it focuses on explaining the outcome of someone’s behavior. It doesn’t go into details, make assumptions about their intentions, or place blame.

4. What is the golden rule of giving feedback?

The golden rule of feedback is that it must lead to positive action. Feedback should help the person improve, not make them feel bad about themselves. If the feedback doesn’t result in growth or improvement, it defeats the purpose. While it sounds simple, many managers often miss this point.

5. How to handle unfair feedback?

If feedback feels unfair, stay calm and look at it from a neutral perspective. Ask for clarification, seek advice from a trusted colleague, and respond politely without getting defensive. If needed, ask for specific examples to understand the issue better.