Startups: Pulse Surveys are Dumb.
2. HR is responsible for the feedback, but the problems are rarely HR issues ↬

Even if you’re doing weekly pulse checks, you’re still running valuable feedback through a needless cycle of HR and senior leadership before it gets back to the person that should actually care about it: the manager.

Not only are you running a serious risk of broken telephone. It’s also super inefficient and a waste of time for a number of people. Yes, it’s sometimes more awkward for the employee to deliver feedback directly to their manager, but that awkwardness is part of the vulnerability that makes the relationship strong.

Imagine you’re walking into a meeting with spinach in your teeth. Can you imagine how insane it would be if your employee stood up, walked out of the room and rushed to HR to let them know that you had food stuck between your teeth? Is that seriously less awkward?!

But most importantly, it sends a horrible cultural message: that feedback SHOULD come through HR — and managers aren’t responsible for pulling feedback from their team. Really, surveys are a cover for bad managers who don’t care to take the time to talk to their team.

Instead of doing surveys, you should be coaching your bad managers on asking the right questions and creating the right environment. Or for that matter, spending the time fixing the fact that you’ve hired bad managers in the first place (after all, companies fail to choose the right manager for the job 82% of the time).
['Brennan Mceachran']
['Employee Engagement', 'Startup Lessons', 'Startup', 'Management', 'Hackernoon Top Story']