This article first appeared in The Journal for Quality and Participation, Fall 2002.

By Peter W. Lilienthal

Making it easy for employees to share their feedback is the first step. Being willing to respond quickly to their input builds commitment.

What do the majority of organizations do to demonstrate to their employees that they have a voice? Most organizations still cling to such traditional communication tools as intranets, telephone hotlines, open-door policies, and employee satisfaction surveys. Whether or not they use these often ineffective mechanisms, do they ever let their employees know management is listening? Do they provide positive feedback by making and publicizing changes in response to employee input?

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This article first appeared in The Journal for Quality and Participation, Fall 2002.

By Peter W. Lilienthal

When management demonstrates that employee feedback is genuinely valued, both retention and productivity show marked increases.

It’s a fact. Employees congregate around water coolers. And when they do, they chat about what’s on their minds. Some conversations are about personal lives. But often, much of the discussion is about what’s going on in the workplace. If management could capture its company-related water cooler talk, what comments, suggestions and gripes might it hear?

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This article first appeared in ACCA Docket, September, 2002.

By Arlene Finkelstein, Peter W. Lilienthal, Gerald L. Maatman Jr., Carole A. Spink

If your company is like most organizations, your existing workplace reporting policies and procedures are designed to address regulatory and human resource issues. Although those issues may well be your company’s priorities, they are not necessarily your employees’ priorities. If you were a mouse in the corner behind the corporate water cooler, would you expect to hear discussions about possible financial irregularities, harassment, discrimination, and unauthorized
use of corporate assets?

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