The comment response feature in surveys allows administrators, HR employees or managers to initiate an individual exchange with an employee, while respecting their confidentiality and anonymity.
Before activating this feature, it is recommended to define its strategy and ideal use within the organization to ensure a constructive process. To guide you through the definition of your organizational approach to comment response, here are some tips and best practices.
Determine the roles that will have access to the comment response feature
It is recommended to start with restricted access to become familiar with the comment response feature and define the basis of your organizational approach.
For example, you could start with comment response access for administrators and HR employees, who can establish an initial standard for responding to employee comments, which can later be expanded to include managers.
Target the types of comments and your individual exchange needs with employees.
First, define when you want to respond to comments in order to prioritize important elements for your organizational approach. Here are some examples:
To better understand a comment, delve into an employee's idea, or target the nature and scope of an issue.
When you perceive that a detail or element is missing that would allow you to make a concrete and relevant change.
To refer an employee to a tool, an internal policy, or a resource person who can help them through the issue they perceive and express.
To clarify an organizational challenge that does not allow for an immediate solution, while reassuring the employee that their comment will be taken into account when the context allows for a change.
To help you promote best practices and understand the elements that are important and motivating for employees in order to enhance their work experience.
In all cases, it is important to adopt an open approach when responding to an employee's comment. The goal is to invite the employee to be in problem-solving mode and to generate constructive ideas so that the resulting actions are relevant and sustainable.
Tip! The comments report allows you to read and classify comments using custom tags.
Don't hesitate to add your own custom tags to track important comments.
Communicate in advance to employees and managers.
It is important that employees are aware of and understand the intended use of the comment response feature.
Here are some things to keep in mind when communicating the implementation of this feature:
Clarify your objective
It is essential to explain why you are activating this feature and how you plan to use it within the organization.
Don't hesitate to let employees know what types of comments you plan to respond to over time and why you might need to do so.
Share the importance placed on comments
In your communications, remind employees of the importance the company places on employee feedback.
Their comments, whether positive or constructive, are essential to help you target actions that will make a real difference for them.
Explain the concept of confidentiality
In fact, don't hesitate to let employees know that the responses from HR or managers may sometimes seem general or impersonal, and that this is normal since comments are anonymous.
Some best practices for responding to comments by managers.
If you grant managers access to the comment response feature, be sure to clarify what types of comments you expect them to respond to.
They should respond to comments on which they can have an immediate impact or for which a team discussion could be relevant. In this context, the manager's goal is to demonstrate the importance placed on the employee's comment and to ensure that the issue is addressed during a team discussion to generate relevant ideas and solutions.
They should also respond to comments on which they cannot act immediately or that are beyond their control. In this context, the manager's goal is to defuse potential frustrations and prevent a comment on which they cannot act immediately from being repeated survey after survey.
Refer the employee to resources or people who can provide the required help or support.
It may happen that comments raised by employees exceed the manager's zone of control and action. In such cases, the manager can acknowledge the employee's need while ensuring that the appropriate people are informed.They can also use the comment response feature to have an individual exchange with the employee to address sensitive or personal issues that cannot be addressed in front of the whole team during a meeting.
Note: It is important to remind and inform employees that it is normal for HR professionals and managers not to respond to every comment.
Some comments will be addressed in a group or team during feedback meetings, for example.
The comment response feature is an additional tool to engage and support a conversation with employees on important topics for them.
Managers can access documentation about response strategies directly from the platform (on the comments module):
