Employees may or may not be happy, but feedback from employees should be a continual process, said Gaurav Sharma, Vice President and HR Head at Balancehero India.
Feedback mechanisms are naturally forward-focused because it connects current actions to future results. It also helps in breaking inefficient habits, reinforces positive behaviour and enables teams to work more effectively towards goals.
Sharma said, the young generation has "loads and loads of passion," and they really want to perform. We need to provide a purpose for them to get engaged.
Speaking about his own initiative, Sharma said, "We launched the programme Sahayak, which provides digital literacy to the employees." We also have an "open hour" where anybody can reach out to the management. Trust needs to be built. Until and unless trust builds, employees will not come forward, he added.
Neeraj Paul, Chief Happiness Officer at GGS (GUS Global Services)said,"we have different mechanisms like chai pe charcha, open houses and focus group discussions to achieve open discussions. We also started work on well-being driven by mind, body and soul to achieve well-being. Schemes like Sanjivani and Aashayein provide free graduation for those who passed intermediate.
He agrees with Sharma and adds, "When we talk about what employees are thinking, building trust is very important."
This is the time of connected revolution, which means every employee is connected to others. To build trust among employees, intentions should be there. We provide tools to our employees to ask anonymous questions and our management addresses them. That's why we are able to maintain a retention rate of more than 90 per cent, Sharma said.
In a closing remark, Sharma said, because of remote working, employees became very vocal about their individual problems, he repeats that feedback is a continual process, and it can't be limited to a single event.
Paul concluded by saying that it is very important for not only HR but the entire management to keep checking how employees are feeling.