IF YOU'VE ever implemented an employee feedback survey that has been ignored, misunderstood or even sabotaged, the following steps are sure to set you on the path to qualitative and constructive feedback.

Concentrate on what counts. When your survey delves into every imaginable issue, it becomes confusing. Keep the questions focused on employee satisfaction and you’ll get the results you’re after.

Avoid using leading questions. Instead of asking employees how satisfied they are with an aspect, simply ask them to rate their level of satisfaction from 1 to 5.

Double-barrelled questions are a no-go. If the question contains an ‘and’ or an ‘or’, it’s usually dealing with two topics at once. This opens your results to inaccuracy.

Share the survey results with your employees, no matter how hard this may be. Dissatisfied employees are undoubtedly talking among themselves already. Rather play open cards: tell them you’re aware of the issues and you will propose solutions.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! If the feedback is generally satisfactory, don’t be compelled to make unnecessary changes.

Include open-ended questions. While quantitative feedback is important, qualitative feedback gives unhappy employees the chance of explaining exactly what it is that’s bothering them.