How do you measure the impact of employee feedback and insights on your talent management outcomes?

You won't be able to define your metrics until you've clearly identified the business problem you are trying to solve. Before you jump to collecting data, define the question. Are you trying to measure the impact of a specific initiative, for example, or increase employee retention?

HR should ensure that they communicate regularly with their talent, both formally and informally. Regular updates on company news, policies, and procedures should be provided in a clear and concise manner. HR should also create channels for talent to provide feedback and raise concerns, and respond to them promptly and appropriately. By being responsive and transparent in their communication, HR can create a culture of trust and openness with their talent, which can help improve engagement and retention.

By regularly seeking feedback and taking action on it, HR demonstrates its commitment to listening to employees and valuing their opinions. This helps to create a culture of transparency and openness, which in turn can improve employee morale and engagement. Analyzing employee feedback and insights can provide valuable information about areas for improvement within the organization, allowing HR to make data-driven decisions that benefit both employees and the business as a whole.

Action items should have a designated owner, or team, as well as a timeline, to make sure they don’t fall through the cracks. Always make sure action items are well defined and broken down into next steps, even if the next step is a “Spike” (investigative or scoping) action to determine what the rest of the follow up steps need to be.

Receiving employee feedback is a critical step towards building a culture of transparency and accountability in any organization. However, simply having a feedback system in place can often be a superficial attempt at whitewashing internal issues. As an impact investor, I believe that the true value of employee feedback lies in the tangible outputs that a company generates in response to that feedback. These outputs should be measured, practical, transparent, and aligned with the company's goals and values. For example, employees can demand outputs such as access to skill-building opportunities, professional certifications, board memberships in the community, and opportunities for profit-sharing or equity ownership.

One way to keep new hires engaged, and get useful insights from them, is to have a 90- and 120- day check-in with HR post hire instead of a 30- day check-in. At 30 days, new hires may still be hesitant to share honest feedback.