How Education & Training Organisations Use Employee Feedback to Create Great Cultures

Only 46% of UK employees in the Education & Training sector feel they're consulted on decisions that affect their jobs or work environment¹.

Given how much time and energy employees put into their working lives, feeling out of the loop around decisions that affect them is bound to lead to a negative workplace experience.

Not only that, employee feedback is an invaluable resource for education & training organisations looking to boost business success and get the best out of their people. By listening to employees, organisations can identify areas for improvement and implement changes that lead to increased productivity and employee satisfaction. When staff feel heard and valued, they are more engaged and motivated to contribute their best work. Ignoring employee feedback can result in disengagement, low morale, and ultimately, a negative impact on the bottom line.

3 ways recognised education & training companies are implementing employee feedback

When it comes to listening to their employees, education & training organisations recognised by Great Place To Work are excelling. In fact, at organisations in the sector recognised on our UK's Best Workplaces™ List, 87% of employees feel that management involves them in decisions that affect their jobs or work environment. Here are some of the ways these companies are implementing employee feedback:

Improving training and development offerings

Research shows that organisations that invest in learning boost their peoples' sense of connection and purpose²– two vital ingredients to building a thriving, engaged workforce. But training and development isn't one-size-fits-all and can be tricky to get right in education & training organisations, where taking time away from the demands of one's job can prove difficult – making this an area where employee feedback is critical.

At UK's Best Workplace Childbase Partnership, employee feedback gained through our Trust Index™ survey has been instrumental in enhancing their development offering. After analysing the comments left by employees in the survey, they launched a new, interactive learning platform to meet the desire for easier access to a greater range of training. The platform has since been upgraded further based on additional feedback, and employees now praise the "fantastic" in-house training opportunities on offer.

Enhancing work-life balance through a 4-day work week

Happy have featured on our UK's Best Workplaces List 3 years running – a testament to their commitment to fostering a workforce that lives up to their name. After taking part in the 4-day work week trial in an effort to improve work-life balance, employees at Happy commended how management took their feedback into account when making the reduced hours permanent. As one employee shared:

"We felt safe to share our worries with others and our managers. This led to the whole company acknowledging that we needed to be kinder to ourselves, and plenty of support was offered. We decided to have 6-monthly productivity reviews at team level, as a regular check-in on workload, wellbeing and to highlight and work on any issues to improve our overall happiness."

Embedding employee feedback into company strategy

Looking to employees for input on how the organisation runs or what could be improved shouldn't be a one time thing. At Best Workplaces like Bright Horizons Family Solutions, listening to employees is an inherent part of company strategy.

Their 'Be Heard' employee forum allows nominated champions from each nursery to meet to discuss ideas and issues they and their team may be facing. These are fed through regional champions to senior leadership, who can implement changes based on this feedback. These have included "£20 million investment in practitioners' salaries over the past two years, the introduction of mental health ambassadors, talent and leadership development programmes, travel season ticket loans, a new lighter summer uniform, and more procurement control given to nursery managers."

Through embedding employee feedback into the way the organisation runs, Bright Horizons allow their people to contribute to not only to improving their own working lives, but also the level of service and care they can offer.

The benefits of implementing employee feedback

Recognised education & training organisations are already reaping the benefits of employee feedback, leading to higher levels of engagement, increased retention and a more successful bottom line. In fact, 86% of employees at organisations in the sector recognised on our UK's Best Workplaces List want to stay at their organisation for a long time, and 87% say people are willing to give extra to get the job done (compared to the sector average of 58% and 68%, respectively¹).