Not Salary or Bonus, this is what really Motivates Employees to Increase Efficiency by 12%

Employees need feedback like people who have lost their way need GPS

According to Mrs. Sylvia Hepler, founder and president of Launching Lives, LLC, where she works as Career Development Specialist, giving advice to managers and CEOs: “These days, employees expect feedback more than ever.” According to a report by PwC, nearly 60% of employees said they expect to receive feedback on a daily or weekly basis — this number rises to 72% among employees under the age of 30.

There must be a reason why employees want to receive feedback. According to Aon’s Global Employee Trends Survey, wage is not the most important driver of employee productivity, it’s career opportunities. In fact, feedback is considered to be one of the most effective forms of training to support employees in developing skills, expertise, and thereby developing a career path. Receiving timely and positive feedback motivates employees to improve performance. As a result, this could improve efficiency by 12%.

The benefits of regularly giving feedback are not only increasing in efficiency, but also strengthening employees’ commitment with the company. “When an employee thinks that his/her manager provides meaningful feedback, he/she is more likely to stay engaged by 3.5 times compared to employees who do not receive meaningful feedback.” In addition, “Employees who receive daily feedback from their managers are three times more likely to stay engaged than those who receive feedback once a year or less” according to Gallup.

Especially, in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic with many working models being applied and the salary and bonus funds of companies still in a state of “tighten the purse strings”, the regular exchange and receipt of feedback will strengthen the connection between managers and employees.

So, as a manager, what suggestion will you need to become an expert in giving feedback?

“Right person, right time” and “3P” formula

To help managers choose the right approach and time to respond to employees, Ms. Nguyen Thi An Ha, Head of Strategic Partnership at Talentnet – Vietnam’s leading HR consulting firm, advises: “Similar to love, giving feedback could be “fruitful” or not, depending on two factors: “right person, right time”. “Right person” is the suitability in various human aspects with the person you are giving feedback to, such as communication, language, personality, mindset, etc. “Right time” means choosing a time that is suitable for the purpose. Particularly, if employees are required to make immediate improvement to the current project, the manager needs to give weekly 1-on-1 feedback. If the goal is listening to aspirations, designing a long-term development career path for employees, evaluating attitudes and abilities in a whole process, then twice a year is ideal.
 
In addition, the “3P” approach including Purpose, People and Process will also help enterprises achieve optimal efficiency when responding to employees.

The first “P” – Purpose requires a manager to set a clear and appropriate purpose for each employee in advance. Throughout the feedback session, it is necessary to focus on the core problem, avoiding turning to another purpose. Because just a few minutes of going off topic both sides will go down an unstoppable spiral of question, emotion and confusion.
 
The second “P” – People is considered the most important “P”, since “human-centered” is the trend and strategic direction to help enterprises develop sustainably. Specifically, in the feedback session, the manager should remember the “two-way street” rule. That is, you should not only speak by yourself, but also remember to listen to employees. A study has revealed that the messages received through communication or presentation will be influenced 55% by body language, 38% by voice and only 7% by the content shared by the speaker. Therefore, during the feedback process, managers should focus on employees too. In addition, in necessary situations, showing support or sympathy would be highly appreciated.

The last “P” – Process requires a manager to clearly define a transparent approach to manage and evaluate employees’ performance. This is because an employee will need to know what the next steps are and be able to effectively manage their own work as outcome of the feedback session.

“Just like people who have lost their way need GPS, employees need feedback to know where they are and what next steps to take in order to reach their destination. Not any state-of-the-art device, a line manager is the “GPS” that helps employee see their ways clearly, thereby improving performance and actively contributing to the company’s bottom line”, Ms. An Ha shared.