Employee Engagement
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Continuous feedback loop strategies: top ways to increase engagement

Published on 
May 6, 2022

In a competitive business world, it’s becoming harder than ever to retain your best employees. It’s vitally important to understand how your employees feel, especially as your organization grows and changes.

Many businesses are discovering that the continuous feedback loop model is critical for tapping into such insights, getting everyone on the same page, and enhancing employee engagement

The rewards of getting an effective feedback loop right are immense. But don't worry, we'll help you get there. In this article, we’re sharing what constitutes good continuous feedback loops and suggesting the top strategies for using one successfully. 

{emphasize}Continuous feedback loop strategies to elevate the employee experience

What is a continuous feedback loop?

A continuous feedback process is a system that allows managers to collect opinions, suggestions, and comments from employees regularly.

Officevibe research shows that only 25% of employees feel the feedback they receive is sufficient to help them improve.


So better feedback is sorely needed.

Traditionally, all the feedback was collected using largely informal methods. A company might use email, spreadsheets, or even an old-fashioned suggestion box to gather data.

Those methods still work, but there are better options. You can now take advantage of continuous feedback software dedicated to the ongoing process of gathering and analyzing employee feedback.

Imagine that: one platform where you can identify areas of concern and create an action plan to address them — critical parts of building a better workplace culture where employees feel heard.

Feedback loops allow for continuous learning. They're a simple yet highly effective way to check the pulse of employee sentiment and find out what needs to change.

Once you’re up and running, you’ll love all the benefits your new feedback system delivers:

  • Timely insights into issues that demand attention, enabling you to fix problems fast
  • More engaged employees who love the opportunity to make a difference
  • Improved management/employee relationships, thanks to better, real-time communication
  • Enhanced productivity from a more motivated workforce
  • Greater return on your investment in employee engagement solutions

Enabling a continuous feedback system in your team

As we’ve seen, there are many good reasons for collecting ongoing feedback from your teams. The next step is to get ready for implementation.

Communicate the benefits of continuous feedback

With so many advantages, you may be eager to get continuous feedback loops up and running. Fantastic! But be careful not to let your enthusiasm sidetrack you from making sure that everyone on your team is on board with the idea first.

Busy employees may worry about being given yet another task to complete. So explain to everyone why the feedback loop is important and how it will help them. Once they see the opportunities to share feedback and benefit from a program where their voices are heard, they will become ambassadors for the new initiative.

Scale into your employee feedback loop

Remember, you don’t have to dive into the deep end from the start. You can start small with a simple survey covering the key questions. As everyone gets used to participating in your employee feedback loop, you can add richer questions that provide a more granular response.

In the first instance, you might ask questions such as:

How satisfied are you with the relationship with your manager? 

Later, you might collect more nuanced responses by asking:

How can your relationship with your manager be improved?

You can create a richer data set that provides fundamental insights into problem areas by adding more context to your questions over time.

Continuous feedback loop strategies

There are many different ways to implement continuous feedback systems. Here are some proven strategies that may work well for you:

Schedule weekly feedback sessions 

A popular and productive way to get two-way communications going is to institute a Feedback Friday. Of course, this can also be a Feedback Monday or whatever works for your business. 

During these sessions, you can seek out comments and contributions on topics like:

  • Wins and successes that deserve attention
  • Issues requiring attention
  • Praise for colleagues
  • Ideas and suggestions

In these sessions, managers can provide feedback to employees, too. That's the whole premise of the loop! It's not just one way. At times, these conversations can be delicate and need careful handling. We’ve created some constructive employee feedback examples to help you stay on track. 

one-on-one employee feedback session
Seek opportunities to regularly schedule feedback sessions with your team members.

Create a continuous improvement board

A continuous improvement board may be more familiar with a performance management system, where its common uses track performance and project status. Here’s an idea that works well if you have an office-based team. Set up a board in a prominent place and invite team members to add their thoughts to the board.

They can add Post-It notes with a suggestion, a photo highlighting a problem, or a scribbled ‘thank you’ message. Anything goes within reason. It's an interactive approach to collecting feedback that can surface outside-of-the-box ideas and perspectives.

For virtual teams, you can implement something similar using online whiteboard tools like Miro. Employees then share and vote on the best ideas, giving managers clear direction on what people want.

Create a peer feedback loop

A great way to improve the way teams work together is to create a peer feedback loop. By seeking continuous improvement in collaboration, you can raise the bar and enhance team morale.

And guess what, your people want it:

28% of employees want to have more frequent feedback from their peers.

The State of Employee Experience, From Here On Out

Further, an impressive 96% feel like they collaborate well with peers.
There’s no reason why those healthy connections aren’t also used for
helpful feedback.

Collect feedback from remote teams

Now that remote working is here to stay, it’s vital to engage employees wherever they may be.

Hands down, the world of distributed work is where feedback survey software scores over more traditional approaches. Tools such as Officevibe collect and analyze feedback from all team members, no matter where they work.

Using feedback software also offers the added benefit of extra features built right into the app, like:

  • the ability to answer feedback, opening up a back-and-forth exchange where employees can choose to stay anonymous or not
  • in-app guidance that helps you respond to tough feedback with tact
  • custom polls where you can write your own questions to dig deeper into a specific issue
Product shot of the Custom Polls feature in Officevibe
With Officevibe, you can create custom poll questions to dive deeper into specific issues.

💡 Tip You don't always have to start from scratch! Use these employee feedback examples to help you navigate different situations you might face as a manager. After a while, you'll be adding your proven real-life examples to the mix!

Building a continuous feedback loop

Here’s the good news. Creating a loop that produces results is easier than you might expect. You will be well on your way to better performance management if you follow these simple steps:

1. Gather feedback from employees

Use any of the methods we have discussed to poll your team and get employee feedback

Remember that the quality of your feedback depends very much on the questions you ask. Rather than choosing queries that can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ aim for open-ended questions. These will bring you much more valuable responses.

2. Analyze the feedback

Once your employees have taken the time and trouble to give constructive feedback, it's up to you to put the data to good use. 

Evaluate the responses carefully to look for trending problems or unexpected results. If several raise the same issue, that’s a strong indicator of trouble brewing. If you respond quickly and nip the matter in the bud, that can positively impact team morale. 

3. Make informed decisions based on employee feedback

This is where the rubber meets the road! The most successful organizations use continuous feedback data to make better decisions and improve performance management.

These decisions must then translate into action as quickly as possible. The faster you implement new processes, the quicker you will see the impact on your bottom line.  

Plus, acting promptly on positive or negative feedback shows your people that their opinions matter. It also encourages them to contribute ideas to future surveys and feedback opportunities.

4. Gather feedback once again 

What makes this system so powerful? It’s the loop, of course. So once you’ve completed one feedback loop, it’s time to start all over again.

We recommend you schedule automated surveys regularly to get the best results. That way, there’s no risk of the process getting forgotten or pushed back. 

5. Provide feedback to employees

In the most influential organizations, continuous feedback is a two-way process. Managers should also be comfortable giving constant feedback to team members, too.

[ov_cta id="5116629"]

If you’re not sure how to communicate your concerns, don’t worry. We’ve put together eight handy employee feedback tips that encourage people to listen to what you have to say.

How Officevibe accelerates the continuous employee feedback process

We created Officevibe precisely because we saw the value effective continuous feedback loops can offer. We’re proud of what we’ve built—and with good reason. Officevibe’s employee engagement survey data tells us that:

  • 90% of employees who use Officevibe are happy with their direct manager’s level of transparency.
  • 82% believe their direct manager cares about their opinion.
  • 4 out of 5 are clear on how to meet their goals and objectives, and
  • 83% believe their direct manager cares about their well-being

Why is Officevibe so successful? Quite simply, it's an employee feedback tool that makes it easy for managers to gather feedback, and in a human way. Plus, people love having a safe way to share their honest opinions, including the option to provide anonymous employee feedback.

Managers get easy-to-follow reports to help them understand how their people feel. Officevibe measures 10 key metrics, which we then break down into 26 sub-metrics.

All this makes the engagement data not just accessible but actionable, too. That means feedback quickly translates into improvements, creating an accelerating ongoing improvement loop.

Leverage a continuous feedback loop and win

When all other factors are equal, the companies with the best teams win. So it makes sense to do whatever you can to retain your best employees and attract outstanding new talent.

Implementing a continuous feedback loop is perhaps the most effective way. Rather than making a single round of improvements, you commit to making your organization better and stronger week by week.

When you do this well, the resulting compounding effect produces exponential improvements. And that means a real opportunity to get ahead in your market.

According to Mercer's Global Performance Management Study, only 2% of companies have a culture where feedback quality and quantity differentiate the company. That means you have a massive opportunity to do better and become a beacon for top talent.

Your competitors may be implementing employee feedback loops already, planning to reap big rewards in the months and years ahead. Can you afford to be left behind? Clearly not.

And in any case, why take the risk? You can get started with Officevibe today and enjoy the benefits almost immediately.

Assess your organization's employee experience in minutes

What's in this article
This is some text inside of a div block.

In a competitive business world, it’s becoming harder than ever to retain your best employees. It’s vitally important to understand how your employees feel, especially as your organization grows and changes.

Many businesses are discovering that the continuous feedback loop model is critical for tapping into such insights, getting everyone on the same page, and enhancing employee engagement

The rewards of getting an effective feedback loop right are immense. But don't worry, we'll help you get there. In this article, we’re sharing what constitutes good continuous feedback loops and suggesting the top strategies for using one successfully. 

What is a continuous feedback loop?

A continuous feedback process is a system that allows managers to collect opinions, suggestions, and comments from employees regularly.

Officevibe research shows that only 25% of employees feel the feedback they receive is sufficient to help them improve.


So better feedback is sorely needed.

Traditionally, all the feedback was collected using largely informal methods. A company might use email, spreadsheets, or even an old-fashioned suggestion box to gather data.

Those methods still work, but there are better options. You can now take advantage of continuous feedback software dedicated to the ongoing process of gathering and analyzing employee feedback.

Imagine that: one platform where you can identify areas of concern and create an action plan to address them — critical parts of building a better workplace culture where employees feel heard.

Feedback loops allow for continuous learning. They're a simple yet highly effective way to check the pulse of employee sentiment and find out what needs to change.

Once you’re up and running, you’ll love all the benefits your new feedback system delivers:

  • Timely insights into issues that demand attention, enabling you to fix problems fast
  • More engaged employees who love the opportunity to make a difference
  • Improved management/employee relationships, thanks to better, real-time communication
  • Enhanced productivity from a more motivated workforce
  • Greater return on your investment in employee engagement solutions

Enabling a continuous feedback system in your team

As we’ve seen, there are many good reasons for collecting ongoing feedback from your teams. The next step is to get ready for implementation.

Communicate the benefits of continuous feedback

With so many advantages, you may be eager to get continuous feedback loops up and running. Fantastic! But be careful not to let your enthusiasm sidetrack you from making sure that everyone on your team is on board with the idea first.

Busy employees may worry about being given yet another task to complete. So explain to everyone why the feedback loop is important and how it will help them. Once they see the opportunities to share feedback and benefit from a program where their voices are heard, they will become ambassadors for the new initiative.

Scale into your employee feedback loop

Remember, you don’t have to dive into the deep end from the start. You can start small with a simple survey covering the key questions. As everyone gets used to participating in your employee feedback loop, you can add richer questions that provide a more granular response.

In the first instance, you might ask questions such as:

How satisfied are you with the relationship with your manager? 

Later, you might collect more nuanced responses by asking:

How can your relationship with your manager be improved?

You can create a richer data set that provides fundamental insights into problem areas by adding more context to your questions over time.

Continuous feedback loop strategies

There are many different ways to implement continuous feedback systems. Here are some proven strategies that may work well for you:

Schedule weekly feedback sessions 

A popular and productive way to get two-way communications going is to institute a Feedback Friday. Of course, this can also be a Feedback Monday or whatever works for your business. 

During these sessions, you can seek out comments and contributions on topics like:

  • Wins and successes that deserve attention
  • Issues requiring attention
  • Praise for colleagues
  • Ideas and suggestions

In these sessions, managers can provide feedback to employees, too. That's the whole premise of the loop! It's not just one way. At times, these conversations can be delicate and need careful handling. We’ve created some constructive employee feedback examples to help you stay on track. 

one-on-one employee feedback session
Seek opportunities to regularly schedule feedback sessions with your team members.

Create a continuous improvement board

A continuous improvement board may be more familiar with a performance management system, where its common uses track performance and project status. Here’s an idea that works well if you have an office-based team. Set up a board in a prominent place and invite team members to add their thoughts to the board.

They can add Post-It notes with a suggestion, a photo highlighting a problem, or a scribbled ‘thank you’ message. Anything goes within reason. It's an interactive approach to collecting feedback that can surface outside-of-the-box ideas and perspectives.

For virtual teams, you can implement something similar using online whiteboard tools like Miro. Employees then share and vote on the best ideas, giving managers clear direction on what people want.

Create a peer feedback loop

A great way to improve the way teams work together is to create a peer feedback loop. By seeking continuous improvement in collaboration, you can raise the bar and enhance team morale.

And guess what, your people want it:

28% of employees want to have more frequent feedback from their peers.

The State of Employee Experience, From Here On Out

Further, an impressive 96% feel like they collaborate well with peers.
There’s no reason why those healthy connections aren’t also used for
helpful feedback.

Collect feedback from remote teams

Now that remote working is here to stay, it’s vital to engage employees wherever they may be.

Hands down, the world of distributed work is where feedback survey software scores over more traditional approaches. Tools such as Officevibe collect and analyze feedback from all team members, no matter where they work.

Using feedback software also offers the added benefit of extra features built right into the app, like:

  • the ability to answer feedback, opening up a back-and-forth exchange where employees can choose to stay anonymous or not
  • in-app guidance that helps you respond to tough feedback with tact
  • custom polls where you can write your own questions to dig deeper into a specific issue
Product shot of the Custom Polls feature in Officevibe
With Officevibe, you can create custom poll questions to dive deeper into specific issues.

💡 Tip You don't always have to start from scratch! Use these employee feedback examples to help you navigate different situations you might face as a manager. After a while, you'll be adding your proven real-life examples to the mix!

Building a continuous feedback loop

Here’s the good news. Creating a loop that produces results is easier than you might expect. You will be well on your way to better performance management if you follow these simple steps:

1. Gather feedback from employees

Use any of the methods we have discussed to poll your team and get employee feedback

Remember that the quality of your feedback depends very much on the questions you ask. Rather than choosing queries that can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ aim for open-ended questions. These will bring you much more valuable responses.

2. Analyze the feedback

Once your employees have taken the time and trouble to give constructive feedback, it's up to you to put the data to good use. 

Evaluate the responses carefully to look for trending problems or unexpected results. If several raise the same issue, that’s a strong indicator of trouble brewing. If you respond quickly and nip the matter in the bud, that can positively impact team morale. 

3. Make informed decisions based on employee feedback

This is where the rubber meets the road! The most successful organizations use continuous feedback data to make better decisions and improve performance management.

These decisions must then translate into action as quickly as possible. The faster you implement new processes, the quicker you will see the impact on your bottom line.  

Plus, acting promptly on positive or negative feedback shows your people that their opinions matter. It also encourages them to contribute ideas to future surveys and feedback opportunities.

4. Gather feedback once again 

What makes this system so powerful? It’s the loop, of course. So once you’ve completed one feedback loop, it’s time to start all over again.

We recommend you schedule automated surveys regularly to get the best results. That way, there’s no risk of the process getting forgotten or pushed back. 

5. Provide feedback to employees

In the most influential organizations, continuous feedback is a two-way process. Managers should also be comfortable giving constant feedback to team members, too.

[ov_cta id="5116629"]

If you’re not sure how to communicate your concerns, don’t worry. We’ve put together eight handy employee feedback tips that encourage people to listen to what you have to say.

How Officevibe accelerates the continuous employee feedback process

We created Officevibe precisely because we saw the value effective continuous feedback loops can offer. We’re proud of what we’ve built—and with good reason. Officevibe’s employee engagement survey data tells us that:

  • 90% of employees who use Officevibe are happy with their direct manager’s level of transparency.
  • 82% believe their direct manager cares about their opinion.
  • 4 out of 5 are clear on how to meet their goals and objectives, and
  • 83% believe their direct manager cares about their well-being

Why is Officevibe so successful? Quite simply, it's an employee feedback tool that makes it easy for managers to gather feedback, and in a human way. Plus, people love having a safe way to share their honest opinions, including the option to provide anonymous employee feedback.

Managers get easy-to-follow reports to help them understand how their people feel. Officevibe measures 10 key metrics, which we then break down into 26 sub-metrics.

All this makes the engagement data not just accessible but actionable, too. That means feedback quickly translates into improvements, creating an accelerating ongoing improvement loop.

Leverage a continuous feedback loop and win

When all other factors are equal, the companies with the best teams win. So it makes sense to do whatever you can to retain your best employees and attract outstanding new talent.

Implementing a continuous feedback loop is perhaps the most effective way. Rather than making a single round of improvements, you commit to making your organization better and stronger week by week.

When you do this well, the resulting compounding effect produces exponential improvements. And that means a real opportunity to get ahead in your market.

According to Mercer's Global Performance Management Study, only 2% of companies have a culture where feedback quality and quantity differentiate the company. That means you have a massive opportunity to do better and become a beacon for top talent.

Your competitors may be implementing employee feedback loops already, planning to reap big rewards in the months and years ahead. Can you afford to be left behind? Clearly not.

And in any case, why take the risk? You can get started with Officevibe today and enjoy the benefits almost immediately.

Equip HR and managers with tools to engage, recognize, and drive performance.

Related content

When you hear "performance review," what comes to mind? As a manager, do you think of it as a once-a-year task that's just part of your checklist? Or perhaps, do you think of it as a laborious process with no clearly useful output?

Rest assured; the performance review process can be utilized strategically and absolutely be done in a way that is structured, effective, and impactful.

In this article, you'll find your ultimate guide to employee performance reviews. We'll walk you through the essential steps involved in conducting effective performance reviews and provide guidance on what a successful review should look like — before, during, and after. When done right, they can contribute to employee growth, development, and higher business performance.

Here is everything you need to conduct successful employee performance reviews

What is an employee performance review?

Let's first cover the basics. At its core, a performance review is a structured process that evaluates an individual's job performance and provides constructive feedback. Performance reviews are an essential part of the performance management process and support goal-setting, monitoring, and accountability.

Traditionally, a performance review has been an annual event, but in the modern workplace, with continuous performance management gaining traction, performance reviews have taken different forms — be it regular check-ins or ongoing feedback to foster employee development and improvement. In this new era of performance management, managers become more like coaches who empower their employees to reach their full potential.

👉 Find our guide to the modern way of conducting performance reviews with insightful tips and case studies to get inspired.

Why are employee performance reviews important?

Performance reviews don't have to be complicated, just as long as you don't undervalue their power either. They offer numerous benefits for both individuals and organizations at every level. They:

  • Improve communication
  • Identify strengths and weaknesses
  • Facilitate goal setting
  • Enhance employee engagement
  • Strengthen employee-manager relationships

By investing in performance reviews, you pave the way for continuous improvement and foster a more positive work culture.

Key elements of an effective performance review

Performance reviews play a crucial role in driving employee growth and development while contributing to higher business performance. To conduct impactful performance reviews, it's essential to incorporate key elements that foster a supportive, collaborative, and ultimately thriving environment.

Here are the key elements of an effective performance review process:

Frequent review cycles

Break away from the anxiety-inducing annual performance review and normalize conversations about performance. Implementing regular review cycles allows for ongoing feedback, ensuring employees stay on track and have the opportunity to grow continuously.

For example, quarterly or monthly check-ins provide timely feedback and help address any performance gaps promptly.

Two-way conversations

Performance reviews shouldn't be one-sided. By involving employees in two-way conversations, you demonstrate that their opinions and insights are valued, fostering a sense of ownership and engagement.

Encourage open dialogue and create a space for employees to share their perspectives, offer suggestions, and actively participate in the review process.

Focused on improvements

Modern performance reviews shift the focus from dwelling on past mistakes to emphasizing growth and development. By adopting a forward-thinking approach, you inspire a growth mindset and create a culture that supports continuous learning and development.

Encourage employees to reflect on their experiences, learn from them, and set goals for improvement.

Transparent and honest

Transparency and honesty are paramount in fostering trust between managers and employees. Establish clear communication channels to ensure employees understand how their performance is being assessed and how feedback will be provided.

Transparency also involves clearly communicating the evaluation criteria and ensuring employees have access to the necessary resources for improvement.

Fair and objective review process

A fair and objective review process is essential for employee morale and engagement. Use standardized evaluation criteria that are consistently applied across the organization. This helps maintain fairness and ensures that employees feel their performance is evaluated on an equal basis.

Objective evaluations foster trust and provide employees with a sense of confidence in the review process.

How to prepare for a performance review

To conduct an effective performance review, managers need to prepare in advance. Here are the key prep steps to get ready:

1. Align on performance evaluation criteria

Performance evaluations require a clear understanding of the criteria and metrics used to assess employee performance. It's essential for managers and employees to have a shared understanding of what constitutes good or poor performance.

For example, you might establish criteria such as meeting project deadlines, demonstrating strong communication skills, or displaying proactive problem-solving abilities. By aligning these criteria, you can ensure fairness and consistency in your evaluations.

2. Gather employee data and examples

To provide meaningful performance feedback, gather relevant qualitative and quantitative data, as well as examples that illustrate an employee's performance.

There are different methods of performance evaluation, all of which can be pooled to build a comprehensive performance picture. Qualitative data can come from employee self-evaluation, peer reviews, or supervisor assessments. Whereas quantitative data can come from sales figures or other productivity metrics.

By collecting a range of data and examples, you'll have a well-rounded view of the employee's performance that considers all factors — not just numbers.

3. Use a performance review template

Templates exist for a reason. They provide a pre-existing structure from which you can build on and customize. They also save you time!

Performance review templates provide a set of targeted questions that guide you through each aspect of the review, ensuring you cover all relevant areas with your employee. Using a template saves prep time and helps maintain consistency across each team member's evaluation. It also ensures that no important topics or questions are overlooked.

Officevibe includes performance review templates designed to make the review process even more streamlined, effective, and data-driven.

A preview of Officevibe's employee performance review template
Use performance review templates in Officevibe.

4. Prepare a meeting agenda

Before the performance review meeting, create a detailed agenda to guide the discussion. Outline the specific topics you want to cover, such as achievements, areas for improvement, and future goals. Consider including specific examples or projects to discuss during the meeting.

Having a clear agenda helps keep the conversation focused and ensures that all important points are addressed. It also shows employees that you have taken the time to prepare and value their performance.

👀 Check out our one-on-one meeting agendas that cover most manager-employee scenarios, including performance reviews, performance improvement plans, career development, and more!

5. Schedule your performance review meeting

Set a date and time for the performance review that works for both you and the employee. Choose a time when you can give your undivided attention and create a comfortable environment for open and honest conversation.

Avoid scheduling the review during particularly busy or stressful periods to ensure you can devote sufficient time and attention to the discussion. Scheduling the meeting in advance demonstrates your commitment to the employee's growth and development.

By following these steps and adequately preparing for the performance review, you set the stage for a productive and valuable discussion with your employees. Effective preparation ensures that you have the necessary information, structure, and focus to provide meaningful feedback and pave the way for future growth.

[ov_cta id="5122598"]

How to conduct an employee performance review

Now that you're prepared, let's explore how to conduct an effective performance review. This is the time to engage in a productive conversation that supports employee growth and development.

The following guidelines provide the performance review framework you need to promote employee development, foster positive relationships, and drive organizational success:

1. Set a positive and constructive tone during the review

Approach the review with a supportive and coaching mindset. It's critical to create a safe space for open dialogue, which fosters collaboration much better than when employees don't feel like they have input. Remember that the goal is to empower employees in their future performance by emphasizing what they are capable of rather than reinforcing what they may not be doing well enough.

2. Share positive feedback and recognition

Similar to the compliment sandwich approach, balancing positive feedback with areas for improvement can go a long way. Make sure to share your own feedback and words of acknowledgment to strengthen your manager-employee bond. Additionally, pass on any feedback you received from other colleagues or leaders, which could help the employee feel valued and appreciated.

3. Offer constructive feedback

Discuss any performance challenges or areas of underperformance directly and constructively. By framing things in a constructive way and using specific examples to illustrate your points, you provide more actionable solutions for growth. Navigate difficult conversations with empathy and a focus on finding solutions together.

Need the inspiration to find high-quality feedback? Here are 22 constructive feedback examples and tips to help you deliver feedback that gets results.

4. Give specific examples

By providing specific examples, you can ensure clarity and facilitate productive discussions. Make sure to back up your feedback with concrete examples to make it more impactful and actionable. Contextualizing feedback with current and past performance examples, helps employees understand the specific behaviors or situations that need improvement or reinforcement.

5. Address performance challenges

During the review, address any performance challenges or areas of underperformance directly and constructively. There are many ways to approach poor work performance issues, just remember to lead these conversations with empathy and a focus on finding solutions. By addressing challenges head-on, you can work together with the employee to identify strategies for improvement and growth.

Granted, some conversations are a little bit more difficult than others. Hey, managers are only human. Read our difficult conversation tips to ensure the message (and solution) isn't getting lost in translation.

6. Listen actively

During the performance review, practice active listening to show genuine interest in the employee's perspective. Pay attention to their thoughts, concerns, and aspirations. By actively listening, you create an environment where employees feel heard and valued, fostering trust and engagement.

Active listening is definitely one of those skills that can help anyone in all areas of life — not just at work! So read our tips on how to practice the art of good listening.

7. Define the next steps

Collaborate with the employee to identify actionable next steps. This could look like:

  • Creating a development plan
  • Setting clear goals for improvement
  • Adjust existing performance targets as necessary

By involving employees in the process of defining the next steps, you empower them to take ownership of their growth and development.

Remember, conducting a performance review is not just a one-time event but part of an ongoing performance management system. Ultimately, ensuring continuous feedback and regular check-ins throughout the year helps set, align, and adjust employee goals when appropriate, which contributes to employee growth and success.

What to do after a performance review

The performance review doesn't end with the meeting. Here's what you can do to ensure continuous improvement and growth.

1. Follow up on the next steps

After the performance review, it's crucial to stay involved and provide ongoing support. Follow up on the next steps that were identified during the review. Schedule frequent one-on-ones and other touchpoints to monitor progress and measure results. This demonstrates your commitment to the employee's growth and helps ensure they are on the right track toward achieving their goals.

🤔 Not sure how often to schedule one-on-ones? Find your best formula for one-on-one frequency.

For example, if one of the next steps identified during the review was for the employee to improve their time management skills, you can schedule a follow-up meeting a month later to discuss their progress. During this meeting, you can ask specific questions about their strategies for improving time management, inquire about any challenges they may have encountered, and provide additional guidance or resources if needed.

By following up on next steps, you show that you are invested in your employees' success and provide an opportunity for course correction or further development.

2. Keep the performance conversation going

Embrace the beauty of continuous performance cycles by conducting regular check-ins and one-on-one meetings. These ongoing conversations provide opportunities to discuss progress, address challenges, and provide timely feedback. By maintaining an open line of communication, you can support employees in their growth journey and ensure that performance remains a priority.

For example, you can schedule bi-weekly or monthly one-on-one meetings with your employees to discuss their ongoing projects, address any obstacles they may be facing, and provide guidance or feedback. These meetings create a space for employees to share their achievements, seek guidance on their work, and discuss any new challenges that may have arisen, to assess at your next employee performance review. By keeping the performance conversation going, you demonstrate your commitment to their development and create an environment where continuous improvement is encouraged.

Officevibe supports continuous performance management. This feature provides tools and resources to facilitate ongoing feedback, goal tracking, and one-on-one meetings!

Effective performance review phrases to use in your next review

Crafting meaningful feedback is key to a successful performance review. Here are some examples of performance review phrases, be them appraisals or constructive, to inspire your next review:

  • Creativity: "Your innovative thinking has led to impressive solutions, pushing our team to new heights."
  • Communication: "Your clear and concise communication style has greatly improved team collaboration and project outcomes."
  • Accountability: "You consistently take ownership of your responsibilities, delivering results with a high level of accountability."
  • Productivity: "Your exceptional time management skills and efficient work habits have significantly increased productivity within the team."
  • Collaboration: "Your collaborative approach fosters a positive team environment, encouraging open communication and idea-sharing."
  • Coaching: "Your dedication to mentoring team members has empowered them to grow and excel in their roles."
  • Areas of improvement: "To further enhance your performance, focusing on improving your presentation skills will help you engage stakeholders more effectively."
  • Problem-solving: "Your analytical thinking and resourcefulness have consistently resulted in creative problem-solving and successful outcomes."

Again, following up on any performance feedback with specific examples will make the feedback itself more impactful by giving it context. This will also show the employee you gave the feedback thought. For example, you could pair praise about problem-solving with something along the lines of: "Last month, when we had an issue with project X, you managed to fix this by doing A, B, and C and that ensured we could deliver on time! Thank you."

⭐️ Find more examples of employee feedback that creates an impact, especially relating to more sensitive issues like the need for additional training or failing to meet deadlines, and best practices for delivering them.

Use performance management software

Theoretically, you can master your performance review approach all on your own. Logistically, however, there are ways you can make the entire performance management process infinitely easier for yourself (and your employees).

Performance management software like Officevibe turns the review process into a fun and dynamic aspect of the employee experience. With data-driven features such as goal setting, continuous feedback, and performance tracking, it simplifies, streamlines, and enhances the entire performance review process, making it fair, efficient, and engaging for both managers and employees.

By utilizing performance review software, you can maximize the benefits of performance management, foster employee development, and cultivate a positive work culture.

Elevate growth, engagement, and success with Officevibe

Mastering the art of employee performance reviews is essential for managers looking to drive growth, engagement, and success within their teams. By following the key steps outlined in this guide, you can conduct effective performance reviews that inspire improvement, empower employees, and contribute to overall organizational success.

Remember, performance reviews should be a collaborative and continuous process that prioritizes growth, feedback, and open communication. Embrace the opportunity to support your employees' development and create a culture of excellence!

MONTRÉAL — Nov. 25, 2024 — Workleap, a leading Canadian software company behind products that empower 20,000 companies in more than 100 countries to build better employee experiences, announces its fall platform release introducing new solutions and integrated features into an all-in-one simple-to-use platform. This release marks a new milestone in Workleap’s ongoing commitment to transform the employee experience by empowering HR leaders to drive organizational performance and achieve business goals.

Workleap’s comprehensive platform helps HR lead organizations to thrive in the modern setting of hybrid, remote, and distributed work environments. The consolidated solution for understanding employee engagement, driving performance, and developing employees is the best add-on to your existing HRIS and HR technology, allowing companies to add simple experiences across the employee lifecycle. Bringing these functions together in one platform, Workleap enables HR professionals to create a more responsive, agile and employee-centric work environment.

What's New

  • Workleap Performance streamlines performance management reviews and enables HR teams to guide managers to provide meaningful feedback, align teams with business goals, and easily track progress—all in one place.
  • Workleap Pingboard, an intuitive org-chart, visualization, and company building solution, will be integrated within the Workleap platform before the end of the year.
  • Integrated tools to help HR: Easily visualize employee engagement data within your org chart, streamline onboarding and learning workflows, accelerate content creation with AI designed for HR, and launch custom surveys across the employee journey.
  • Unmatched value: Game-changing bundled pricing lowers the barrier for HR teams of any size to enhance the employee experience.

Why It Matters

Hybrid work has completely reshaped the role of HR. It’s no longer just about managing employees—it’s about building the right frameworks, fostering authentic connections, and leveraging tools that drive meaningful outcomes,” said Simon De Baene, Co-founder and CEO of Workleap. “At Workleap, our mission is clear: make work simpler. The Workleap platform brings together the tools HR teams and leaders need to focus on what matters most—creating workplaces where people feel supported, connected, and empowered to grow. By continuing to invest in our platform, we’re accelerating innovation with solutions like Workleap Performance—designed to be simple, effective, and built to keep HR and leaders ahead as the future of work evolves.”

To learn more about Workleap’s employee experience platform, visit workleap.com.

About Workleap
Workleap is the best add-on to your HRIS to build better employee experiences. The all-in-one Workleap platform empowers organizations to make work simpler by unifying onboarding, engagement, performance, and development —in one platform.

Workleap is a Montréal, Canada-based company building the operating system for hybrid work—unifying the experience to streamline talent management and scale productivity tools across 20,000 companies in more than 100 countries.

Media Contact
Jaclyn Pullen
PANBlast for Workleap
workleap@panblastpr.com

At Workleap, we believe that strong employee experiences stem from three core HR actions:  

  • Understand how your employees feel to make them feel heard.  
  • Help managers to connect their teams and drive them to perform.  
  • Develop your employees, grow their careers, and help them deliver for your business.  

HR work should be human work, supplemented by the right tools.    

It sounds simple (and appealing, no?), but the reality is, finding a simple software solution to unify and streamline this work is like finding a needle in a haystack.   

Refreshingly simple employee experience software  

According to HR.com's State of Today's HR Tech Stack and Integrations 2024 report, 37% of respondents are juggling five to eleven (or more) paid HR solutions in their tech stacks. Your job is certainly complex — but the last thing you need is to manage endless tools and increase costs.  

Workleap's employee experience platform brings the simplicity you're looking for — one solution to unify and streamline everything you need understand your people, connect teams, drive performance, and develop careers. 

Engagement surveys, anonymous feedback, performance management, new employee onboarding, learning management, and career progression — yes, all of this, in one place! It seamlessly integrates with your existing HRIS, adding a layer of simple (and consistently used) experiences. 

And with such a breezy setup, you finally have the breathing room to collect the right inputs, take time to analyze and reflect, and plan concrete actions.  

Hybrid work has completely reshaped the role of HR. It’s no longer just about managing employees—it’s about building the right frameworks, fostering authentic connections, and leveraging tools that drive meaningful outcomes. At Workleap, our mission is clear: make work simpler. The Workleap platform brings together the tools HR teams and leaders need to focus on what matters most—creating workplaces where people feel supported, connected, and empowered to grow. By continuing to invest in our platform, we’re accelerating innovation with solutions like Workleap Performance—designed to be simple, effective, and built to keep HR and leaders ahead as the future of work evolves. - Simon De Beane, CEO and Founder at Workleap 

A main takeaway from the HR.com report is that employee experience is the top priority that businesses want to address with their tech stack. Over half of respondents don't have any capabilities at all!   

We know you know it's time to boost your employee experience. And here's how you do it.   

Understand your people. Make them feel heard.  

Listening is a basic human skill — but in the HR context, it's taken to a whole new level. 

Continuous employee listening involves:   

  • Providing a safe space for employees to answer questions and provide feedback   
  • Acknowledging and analyzing employee responses  
  • Actioning on employee feedback and communicating changes  

Ensuring your people feel heard is a key element of employee listening. As McKinsey senior partner, Carolyn Dewar, says: “You need to genuinely listen and learn, because the organization will sense if you are asking questions but not interested in the answers.” 

While there are many moving parts, continuous listening should be top priority because it goes hand in hand with one of HR's key metrics, employee engagement. In fact, highly engaged employees are three times more likely to say they feel heard at their workplace (92%) than highly disengaged employees (just 30%).   

Good news is, there are tools out there that help you collect constant feedback, regardless of location or time zone.   

How Workleap helps amplify your listening skills   

In a recent Workleap webinar, we brought in HR experts to break down effective listening. (Here's the link to the guide they created for attendees.)  

During the webinar, we talked about the how: How can HR leaders hear and analyze the perspectives of hundreds (or thousands) of employees? Their answer? Find yourself a really good survey and feedback tool.   

Cue: Workleap Officevibe’s engagement surveys and anonymous feedback.  

Both tools offer a safe space and an easy user experience to increase employee participation rates, which means greater insights for you! More recently, we updated our pulse survey tool to enable flexible listening. Now, you can deactivate or add custom questions to help you measure what matters to your organization. 

My team and I enjoy using Workleap Officevibe because we can instantly view our department's engagement temperature while continuously addressing learning and implementing strategies based on employees' voices. - Sivakumar Muniandy, Head of Singapore Contact Centre Operation, AIA Shared Services 

To close the loop, we recommend sharing updates with your people on what you're hearing and doing to address their needs. Open communication is key!  

Connect teams and drive performance 

Patrick Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, captures the power of alignment and connection perfectly when he wrote: 

“If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.” 

When your people are connected, you’re a force to be reckoned with. Without this, the business goes nowhere. People work inefficiently. Decisions are made more slowly. Alignment ensures everyone works in lockstep. And that can make a big difference on revenue. 

What can you do, as an HR leader of a hybrid organization, to connect your teams from the comfort of your home office? Read on.  

How Workleap helps you connect and drive performance 

When you crack the code for driving alignment, you'll discover endless opportunities. There are many ways to get individuals and teams together and moving in the same direction.   

One way is through performance management. Once organizational goals are defined, then all other individual and team goals can feed this North Star.   

The reality is, however, that many HR pros are struggling to find a performance management solution that blend the flexibility needed to adapt to changing needs with the simplicity and user-friendliness that fosters widespread adoption and efficiency. 

With our new Workleap Performance product, you can finally have a flexible and customizable framework to build performance cycles that fit like a glove. You can easily customize questions and evaluation criteria that align with your organizational goals, mission, and values — while still ensuring a consistent and fair process across managers and teams.   

Another way to align people — that's especially valuable for hybrid or remote workforces and incredibly easy to implement — is by helping people connect with the right collaborators across their company. A tool as simple as a dynamic org chart and employee directory can foster faster relationships by showing who you need to speak with to progress your work.   

With Workleap Pingboard you can instantly improve alignment by fostering connections between employees, streamlining resource planning, and improving internal communications.   

Foster continuous learning and development  

Employees care about learning, development, and growth opportunities. This isn't new news.   

We've seen the data, too. When an organization provides these opportunities, great talent flocks and they stick around. According to the LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report 2024, organizations with strong learning cultures have a +57% retention rate and +23% internal mobility rate.   

Talent development starts from day one and it can be tackled with a strong onboarding process. Fresh training and courses will keep people engaged and growing.   

But we know the behind-the-scenes work of an L&D program — planning, managing, and tracking — can be time-consuming, hard to scale, and frustrating to maintain.   

How Workleap helps you develop talent at scale  

The secret to scaling your learning, development, and growth programs is leveraging AI, tried-and-tested templates, and other tools that remove the heavy lifting, so you can focus on the big picture: building a culture of continuous learning.   

Workleap Onboarding, Workleap LMS, and Workleap Skills all offer templates, automation, and AI to streamline manual admin processes and reduce busywork.  

Need to create new safety training? Hop into Workleap LMS and leverage AI to create a course outline in minutes with a few simple prompts. Want to integrate this course into your new hire's onboarding plan that you just built in Workleap Onboarding? Easy peasy! 

Unifying these product experiences isn’t just great for you — it also helps new hires transition smoothly from onboarding to role-specific training.  

When onboarding, training, and career plans are easier to create and manage, you'll see higher engagement — from your HR team, managers, SMEs, and employees. 

All you need to build impactful employee experiences 

With Workleap's unified platform, you have all you need to tackle the key areas of the employee experience:  

  • Understand how your employees feel to make them feel heard with Workleap Officevibe 
  • Help managers connect their teams and drive them to perform with Workleap Pingboard and Workleap Performance.  
  • Develop employees, grow their careers, and help them deliver for your business with Workleap LMS, Workleap Onboarding, and Workleap Skills 

Let's get back to the work we love to do, simply.