Turning Employee Feedback into Action: A Co-Design Approach to Improving Responsiveness

In many organizations, employee experience surveys are a powerful tool for understanding workforce sentiment. But the real challenge lies in what happens next. How do leaders move from collecting feedback to taking meaningful action that improves both employee satisfaction and key performance indicators (KPIs)?

In a recent project, I worked with an organization that had consistently seen low scores in one particular employee experience KPI: responsiveness. Responsiveness measures how effectively leaders listen to and address employee concerns, questions, and feedback. Despite repeated survey cycles, this KPI had remained stubbornly low.

Understanding the Root Cause

Rather than simply developing a generic action plan, I led a series of co-design workshops that brought together leaders, staff, and other key stakeholders. The goal was to go beyond the numbers and uncover the underlying drivers behind the low responsiveness scores.

Through these collaborative sessions, we identified several challenges: inconsistent follow-up on employee feedback, lack of clarity on ownership, and limited tools or resources to guide leaders in responding effectively.

Creating a Practical Solution: The Responsiveness Guide

The insights gathered during the co-design process informed the creation of a Responsiveness Guide. This job aid was designed to equip leaders with actionable steps to better respond to employee feedback. It includes practical tips, communication strategies, and clear processes to ensure feedback loops are closed.

By empowering leaders with the right tools, the organization is now better positioned to address employee concerns promptly and meaningfully. Over time, this will not only help improve responsiveness scores but also build greater trust and engagement across the workforce.

Why Co-Design Works

This project reinforced a core belief in my approach to research and evaluation: when you design solutions with the people most affected by the problem, you create outcomes that are both relevant and sustainable. Co-design fosters shared ownership, ensures diverse perspectives are included, and leads to solutions that are grounded in real-world needs.

If your organization is facing persistent challenges reflected in survey data, it may be time to take a different approach. Move beyond data collection and into collaborative, actionable change.