100% of bosses claim to act on employee feedback, but only 67% of employees agree, research by People First, the HR solutions provider, has found.

Exploring the attitudes of 250 bosses and 250 employees in UK firms, the research found just two-thirds (66%) of staff believe their bosses bother to measure their satisfaction, even though 95% of employers claim to.

The research also revealed a growing sense of disconnection among new entrants to the workforce with only 50% of 18-24s believing feedback leads to action.

In addition, only 56% of employers report the results of employee feedback monitoring to the wider company. More than seven-in-ten (71%) of those acting on what employees tell them say they do so at board level only.

“Trouble is brewing because although employers say they put feedback into action, it doesn’t ring true with workforces,” said Mark Williams, Senior Vice President Product, People First.

“This is just not good enough. Feedback needs to translate into action.

“If there is no feedback loop, it can do more harm than good, annoying employees and discouraging them from taking part in future.”

Indicating the importance of principles and beliefs among workers, the research found nearly half the workforce (49%) will accept or reject a job on values. The figure rises to more than three-quarters (67%) of Gen Z respondents.

Eight-in-ten bosses (80%) measure employee satisfaction through employee surveys, while 61% use structured review meetings. More than half (53%) use informal conversations and exactly half use focus groups.

“Companies don’t just need to listen to and understand employees so they can pick up warning signs of disenchantment, they must act on feedback,” added Williams.

“An ad-hoc approach is no good. That’s the same for gauging how employees feel about their own work and the company’s values and for putting that feedback into practice.

“This is an area that companies must tackle head-on in a much more thought-out and systematic manner, taking time to deploy the most effective and appropriate solutions to nurture employees throughout their time with a company.”

Bullying, pregnancy and leaving their company are the most common topics UK workers search for when Googling questions about their boss, research from Viking Direct has revealed.

The research, which looked at the most searched for terms around managers, colleagues and workplaces, also found that employees are turning to online searches to find out what to do if they fancy a colleague and how to deal with complaints and conflicts with their co-workers.

One of the top terms with 170 searches per month was “can my boss watch me on CCTV from home”, while “how to kill your boss” and “does my boss fancy me” both came in at 140 searches a month.

140 people also searched for “how to tell your boss you’re pregnant”, with 90 workers a month asking, “can I sue my boss for emotional distress”.

On a slightly less serious note, 10 people every month searched for “do I have to invite my boss to my wedding”.

Boss searches were encouraging overall though, with 76% of them possessing positive sentiment.

The top keywords people searched for about their bosses were:

1. Bully
2. Pregnant
3. Leaving
4. Raise
5. Fire
6. Hate
7. Romantically
8. Complain
9. Affair
10. Crush
11. Fancy
12. Maternity
13. Notice
14. Sex

When it came to colleagues, office politics dominated, with “how to resolve conflict with a colleague” and “how to work with a colleague who undermines you” both searched for on 50 occasions a month. Meanwhile, 30 people searched for “can I refuse to work with a colleague”.

Surprisingly, UK workers were less positive overall about their colleagues than bosses, with only 59% of searches backed by positive sentiment.

These were the most common terms employees Googled about colleagues:

1. Like
2. Complaint
3. Crush
4. Fancy
5. Complain
6. Hate
7. Conflict
8. Attract

Viking also measured the sentiment behind searches based around employees’ thoughts about their work or workplace. Interestingly, this was revealed to have the most negative sentiment, with only 45% positive and 31% negative – twice as high as that for bosses and colleagues.

Bob Huibers, Marketing Executive at Viking Direct said of the research:

“It’s really interesting to see the wide range of questions that office workers are turning to search engines to find the answers to. While office gossip used to be restricted to the water cooler, it seems we’re eager to ask Google about burgeoning workplace romances.  

 “From a more serious perspective, there were some more significant and extremely important topics being Googled, showing that UK employees have a greater appetite than ever for improving their HR and employment law knowledge and are likely to avoid the traditional route of speaking to a manager or HR department. With all the resources now available to us online, this can only be seen as a positive, empowering shift.” 

With 90% of employees still wanting their daily experience of work improved, are bosses totally disconnected from what matters?

93% of UK employers think it’s important to be liked, but 90% of their staff want their day-to-day experience of work improved, research by People First, the HR solutions provider, has found.

Exploring the attitudes of 250 bosses and 250 employees in UK firms, the research revealed how employers lack an accurate picture of how staff feel and the way it affects their work.

84% of bosses think their staff are happy and 76% believe most of their employees are fully engaged in what they do. But only 64% of staff find work makes them happy and just 42% are fully engaged or absorbed in what they do to earn a living.

“Likeability is good in a boss,” said Mark Williams, Senior Vice President Product, People First.

“But with so many staff wanting their experience at work improved, you have to ask if employers really understand their workforces. There’s obviously a happiness gap where managers believe morale is better than it really is. They are clearly failing to measure staff engagement regularly.”

The research found men are more likely to say their work really engages them (48%) than women (37%), reflecting the longstanding difference in support and career development offered to women, as well as the well-publicised gap in pay between the sexes.

And lack of understanding plays a role in another difference between bosses and workers. Whereas 39% of employers believe most staff quit a job for emotional reasons, only 17% of employees say that’s the main cause of them handing in their notice.

The research also found more than half of UK employees (56%) regard being rewarded for excellent work as important to their experience at work, while 51% want more opportunities for flexible working.

“Poor productivity is a British disease which we can cure through better understanding of what motivates employees and gets them into the flow where time flies and work is more enjoyable and fulfilling,” added Mark.

“That’s why it’s important to rely on more than gut feeling about how happy or engaged staff are. Regular check-ins must replace the dated annual appraisal as only with regular conversations can an employer see the true picture of their employees.”

“There are so many different aspects to any job, such as training, career development and flexible working, that making assumptions about what employees want is misguided. As an employer you need to know what makes your staff happy to work hard and what makes them leave.”