As we step into the new year, businesses are gearing up to welcome a fresh wave of talent — our 2024 hires. To ensure the success and longevity of these new team members, providing effective feedback is paramount. According to a survey from Textio, employees with low-quality feedback were 63% more likely to leave their jobs. In this blog post, we’ll explore why feedback is a linchpin for employee retention and delve into key strategies to refine your company’s feedback process.
Why Employee Feedback Matters:
Constructive feedback fosters a sense of connection and engagement because employees feel heard and understood. It also helps employees feel as though they are able to continuously grow professionally, learning more about their strengths and areas for improvement. Finally, with constructive feedback, an employer can address concerns and resolve issues real-time, preventing them from escalating. All of these things improve job satisfaction.
Why Employee Retention Trounces Replacement:
You already know that the cost of hiring and onboarding new employees can be substantial. Employee retention not only saves on recruitment expenses but also ensures a knowledgeable and experienced workforce. And as anyone who has worked in a high-turnover environment can tell you, consistently losing employees disrupts team dynamics, lowering efficiency and making collaboration difficult.
Feedback as The Missing Piece in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
Unsurprisingly, racial and gender bias can often be found at the aggregate level in employee feedback — and this can be a key reason women and people of color leave their jobs. Black employees received 26% more unactionable feedback than non-Black employees. Meanwhile, only 71% of women say that they are clear on what’s required of them to reach their next promotion compared with 83% of men. This lower quality feedback makes them more likely to leave a new company within a year.
How to Provide High-Quality Feedback for High Employee Retention
Give Constructive, Actionable Information: Providing high-quality feedback to employees means giving them constructive, actionable information that allows them to grow in their roles.
Define Success: Clear expectations and definitions of what success looks like helps employees stay engaged and at their current jobs.
Be Aware of Bias: Be aware of how and where unconscious bias may present itself. We use Textio to help us root out and eliminate biased language from our communications.
Lay Out Promotion and Raise Criteria: Be sure every employee is aware of what concrete steps they must take to achieve their next advancement.
Recognize Accomplishments: Don’t hesitate to show appreciation to employees for their contributions. Praise can be a powerful motivator.
Make Feedback a Two-Way Street. This kind of employee interaction allows them to bring up concerns or criticisms that may need to be addressed — which will also help boost employee retention.
As we embark on the journey into 2024, let us recognize that feedback is not just a conversation—it’s the cornerstone of lasting retention. By valuing feedback, addressing the missing pieces, and actively engaging in bidirectional conversations, companies can create a culture where employees not only stay but thrive. The year ahead presents an opportunity for companies to embrace change, learn from feedback, and build a workplace that stands resilient with high employee retention amid the challenges of the modern professional landscape.
