Feedback? Check. Action’s Up Next.

You’ve got workforce feedback in-house, flowing through your WorkHound dashboard. But what now? 

In order to reap the benefits of continuous feedback and trust from your workers, you’ll need to take action. That may be as simple as responding to acknowledge the feedback or answer a question, or as complex as considering a companywide change. 

No matter your response, it’s the simple act of taking some action — and spreading the word — that’s essential. But don’t just take it from us. Read on to see what experts across the industry have to say.

Why Gathering the Feedback Isn’t Enough

If you ask your employees for their thoughts, but then don’t take action on what they say or ignore it altogether, it’s likely your feedback channel will dry up quickly. That’s because drivers become more likely to share their thoughts, concerns, and needs over time as they provide feedback and then see that feedback taken into consideration through the company’s actions.

You can’t “set it and forget it” when it comes to a feedback tool. You have to cultivate a feedback program that starts and ends with feedback, and has action sandwiched in the middle. There’s a reason for that: You’re establishing trust, which lowers turnover and boosts retention.

“WorkHound has helped us emphasize the value of listening,” says Jason Crowell, Director of Recruitment at Custom Commodities Transport. “Listening combined with action builds trust. Trust fosters engagement. And engagement is the secret sauce for driver discretionary efforts, ownership in the brand, and eventually, retention.”

An Active Response to Feedback Starts With Truly Listening

When establishing a feedback program, it’s important to establish who will be responsible for regularly reviewing the feedback. If it flows into the dashboard from workers but sits unattended, they may feel — somewhat understandably — that they’re yelling into the abyss. 

Quickly reading through feedback and determining a course of action is essential. While not all feedback will be urgent, there’s an urgent nature to all feedback. This is because your workforce needs to know they’re heard.

“Read everything that comes in,” says Debbie Monson, Driver Engagement Manager at J & M Tank Lines, Inc. “Address everything. Communicate it to who you need to communicate it to. Let the driver know that you’ve read it and that you’re addressing it.”

Real-time Feedback Can Yield a Real-time Response

There are so many different options when it comes to gathering feedback from your employees, but most of them have clear deficits. If you’re surveying your employees on a quarterly or even bimonthly basis, you’re capturing their needs and wants at that point in time — but not getting the whole picture about what they need during the ins and outs of their everyday lives.

A feedback tool like WorkHound operates differently, capturing that feedback in real-time, which can allow you also take action more quickly. That can prevent an employee from seeking greener pastures when something goes wrong.

“If a driver is angry about something or has a problem, WorkHound gives us the opportunity to address it quickly,” says Dale Hippensteel, Director of Employee Care and Retention at S&H Express. “With a quick response and a quick reaction from our management team, we can make a driver happy in a short amount of time.”

It all comes back to trust. To retain your existing employees and entice new drivers to join your team, you need them to trust you. Action is the driver of that trust.

“We’re taking suggestions, we’re hearing problems, we’re solving things,” Hippensteel adds. “WorkHound is a huge piece of the puzzle for trust-building.”

Shining a Light on Actions Will Yield More Feedback

It might seem like enough to ask for feedback, review the feedback, and take action related to that feedback. But you can take it one step further!

When you’re solving a problem for a single employee, you’re building trust with that employee. If you regularly take time to share examples of actions you’re taking based on worker feedback with your whole organization, you’re building a culture of trust.

“Whatever your feedback is, you’ve got to act on it,” says David Broyles, Director of Driver Services at Averitt Express. “And you’ve got to share that action with the people who are providing the feedback in order for them to stay engaged.”

Ready to let feedback — not assumptions — drive your company actions? Sign up for a free demo to learn how WorkHound can help!