UK businesses are missing out on valuable insights from almost half (48%) of their workforce with over a quarter of introverted workers (27%) feeling that their company doesn’t give them the opportunity to be heard. That’s according to new research from employee experience company Qualtrics.

The research, which was carried out with more than 1,000 workers in the UK, has found that, of the 48% of the UK workforce who are introverts, over half (55%) don’t believe that their organisation cares about their opinions. This is in spite of the fact that almost two-thirds (61%) of introverts believe that they have ideas which would benefit the wider organisation.

The research also indicates serious concerns with the way that companies approach employee feedback. Furthermore, the research shows that issues surrounding voicing feedback are not exclusive to introverts, with 46% of extroverted employees feeling that their previous feedback has been ignored.

Speaking on the findings, Laura Harding, EX XM Scientist at Qualtrics said

“It’s a stark realisation that existing avenues for employee feedback simply aren’t working. With businesses facing difficult challenges in an increasingly uncertain economic climate, there isn’t room to be ignoring the contributions of such a large number of workers.”

Harding continues “The frustration of being left voiceless can be very detrimental to employee retention; if an introverted member of the team feels underappreciated, then what is their incentive to stick around? Businesses owe it to their staff to ensure that there are adequate processes, tools and technologies in place to help every employee voice their opinions – not just the ones who shout the loudest.”

To find out more about Qualtrics’ Silent Worker research, visit https://www.qualtrics.com/uk/lp/silent-worker/