How Employee Feedback Can Provide Facility Management Insights

Whenever you hire a new employee, it’s important to ask them targeted questions. Are they a team player? Do they have good time management? Questions like this help you get a sense of who they are and how well they will fit as a part of your staff. But for many companies, this is the extent of their in-depth employee questioning.

This is a huge misstep for employers and managers, as eliciting feedback from both new and tenured staff is an excellent way to gain valuable insights about your office culture and processes.

As the facility manager, it’s important for you to give your team the opportunity to share constructive feedback on a regular basis. A great way to collect these insights is to formulate an employee survey that asks for input about the current situation and suggestions for ways to improve the office. Not only can a survey bring to light office shortcomings that you need to address, but it can help boost staff morale and cultivate an inclusive culture.

To get valuable insights, you need to ask intelligent questions. The following six questions are a great way to launch critical thinking and healthy debate.

1. What can your manager do differently to support you?

According to Psychologist Michelle McQuaid’s survey, 65% of employees in the U.S. would choose a better boss over a pay raise. This shows that many employees value a good leader above all. Directly asking people what management can do better is a great way to get a handle on what in-house operations may need an update. Additionally, implementing a streamlined request management tool that allows them to individually log issues ensures that management is aware of any technical difficulties that may be hindering employee happiness or productivity.

2. Does the workspace promote a positive working environment for you?

Most people have different working styles, so getting an idea of how each employee works can help establish a more productive workplace. With a question like this, you may get some seemingly negative feedback, but this will hopefully lead to positive changes in your office.

3. What’s your favorite part of your job?

You don’t want feedback to feel like a chore, but rather something that can help your employees reflect on what they love about coming to work every day. Plus, knowing what people like rather than simply what they dislike can help you learn what you’re doing well rather than just what you should consider changing. As a facilities manager, this feedback can be especially helpful, as it can inform what members of the staff can help with operations-related projects like moves, events and

As a facilities manager, this information can be particularly helpful. It can surface special talents of staff who could help with operations-related projects that you need support on. For example, staff who enjoy organization and processes could be leads for a team during a move or event.

4. What office processes can be improved or changed?

This feedback could be as simple as suggestions for finding a better way to keep the office kitchen clean, or something more complex like improving efficiency by implementing different apps or technology. Whether the insights are big or small, they all highlight ways that individual employees feel your office is falling short of the mark. Quick-win insights can be particularly helpful too, as sometimes managers are so focused on the big picture that they don’t notice the little things that could make a huge difference to an employee’s well-being.

5. Do you feel the office supports inclusivity and health?

You never want your staff to feel oppressed or uncomfortable while doing their jobs. If your office isn’t making changes to promote health or diversity in the workplace, then it may be time to look at how employees are being treated. Are women being promoted? Do you encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle? Are there options for every diet in your cafeteria? Ask employees this question to gauge how they feel about your company and if they feel like they are an integral part of the team.

6. What would improve your overall satisfaction as an employee?

This question let’s an employee give honest feedback, even if every other answer has been positive. Sometimes people love every aspect of their job, but may still have one or two things they think could change. Plus, by allowing employees to think outside of the box about their job as a whole, you might receive the most insightful answers of the whole survey.

Make sure you make your employees feel heard before, during and after a survey. It can be easy to let your emotions play into your reactions and answers, or to dismiss answers that you feel are unreasonable. Instead, leave your ego at the door and endeavor to build an office that encourages open conversation and constructive feedback among all.

By genuinely taking all employee feedback into consideration, you are actively fostering an environment of inclusion and respect. The valuable insights you gain along the way are just an added bonus.

For more advice on how to make your employees feel heard, head over to our blog and read up on all things about the workplace and facility management.

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