Do you think giving feedback to an employee is a good idea?      Feedback to an employee on their performance means discussing with them how well they are doing their jobs. 

What are the benefits to the employee?  – finding out if their own perception of how well they’re doing the job matches that of their line manager; receiving praise and appreciation; having the opportunity to identify ways of improving their skills so that they can do the job better; being involved in planning their own development; etc.

What are the risks for the employee? – being disappointed with the feedback; being given negative feedback that isn’t constructive (i.e. that doesn’t help the employee to work towards improvement); being misjudged; wasting time if the feedback isn’t given in a helpful way; etc.

What are the benefits and risks to the organisation? –  Benefits for the organisation include: making sure all employees know what’s required of them and are helped to work towards that; involving employees in their own development and that of the organisation; etc.

Risks for the organisation include: employees and their line managers ‘ticking boxes’ (i.e. giving and receiving feedback simply because they have to) rather than using the feedback system constructively, leading to time being wasted and the organisation’s systems being regarded as worthless; etc.

What difficulties might there be for the person giving feedback ? – not knowing how to give negative feedback constructively and without upsetting the employee or making them resentful; not having enough information and basing their feedback only on their own impression, or only on the employee’s measurable output, without taking into account reasons why that output may be low; not understanding the need to give positive feedback; not allowing the employee to comment; etc.

How should the feedback be given, e.g. spoken in front of colleagues or alone, sent to the employee by email, entered on the company intranet? – ideally a private face-to-face discussion, so that the employee can comment and there are no witnesses if they are upset by negative feedback; if an employee has done exceptionally well, they should receive recognition, e.g. by being mentioned in a staff newsletter or on the organisation’s intranet; etc.

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