Remote & Hybrid Employee Feedback: 6 Tips to Make It More Effective

Nearly every manager will need to give feedback to employees who aren’t always onsite.

More than a third of employees do some or all of their work remotely, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So you can only imagine that feedback with remote and hybrid employees — people who don’t interact with their boss as much as on-site employees — could be extra awkward.

Employee Feedback of the Future

But managers don’t just have to handle potentially awkward conversations now. Feedback with remote and hybrid employees needs to be handled a bit differently than traditional feedback.

“With fewer face-to-face encounters, feedback conversations can seem more awkward than ever,” says Carolyn Stern, CEO of EI Experience, and author of The Emotionally Strong Leader.

The future of employee feedback is here. Here are six tips to help you and your employees working remotely get the most out of it.

1. Measure Remote Abilities

Naturally, you want to cover how well employees handle their job duties. Add to that how well employees handle working remotely. If they’re going to be hybrid, you want to establish expectations and measurements for managing remote work responsibilities.

So make time and place to cover:

• Technology access, use and capabilities
• Managing more than one workspace
• Transitioning from place to place
• Availability when offsite
• Interaction onsite, and
• The balance of productivity between workspaces.

At the same time, find out if employees have the resources they need to make the hybrid work situation efficient.

2. Plan to Be Spontaneous

Plan several feedback sessions throughout the year (annual reviews are a thing of the past). But be prepared and willing to give feedback any time.

“It is not necessary to wait until an employee’s next performance review to schedule a meeting. If a manager has feedback that will help an employee, share it,” says Stern.

Point is, if you have feedback that’ll help employees do their jobs better – or stop doing something that inhibits their performance – then give it immediately. And because you’re dealing with hybrid work, step into a meeting space onsite or get on a video call when you’re off premises.

3. Practice the SBI Model

One way to ensure you’re always ready to give effective employee feedback: Follow the SBI Model – that’s for Situation-Behavior-Impact.

You pick a specific moment or an isolated behavior and how it impacts productivity or relationships. Here’s an example:

• Situation: Be specific about where and when. “I noticed in this morning’s meeting …”
• Behavior: Describe the behavior, not what you or the employee might have been thinking. “… you interrupted Jenny three times while she had the floor.”
• Impact: Identify the specific result of the behavior and include a feeling. “That’s frustrating for me, not being able to hear what she has to say, and it’s frustrating for speakers to not be able to finish their thoughts.”

From there, you can ask the employee for feedback on ways to improve the situation.

4. Check Your Intent

Regardless of when or where you give feedback, the purpose is to help employees improve performance. It’s time to check anger, disappointment and judgment at the door.

So, test your emotions before you move forward on planned or impromptu feedback. Are you thinking about venting or coaching? Do you want to criticize or help? Are you angry or concerned?

Act on the latter of each choice. Pause if you feel the former of each choice. Hold off on making the call or scheduling a Zoom.

5. Focus on Action

Because you don’t see people who are hybrid as much – and perhaps because you work different schedules, too – action and follow-up are even more critical.

Be specific with action-oriented language. For instance, “You’ll want to do X going forward” or “Taking this approach will produce immediate results. First, you’ll need to …”

From there, put the actions that you and employees will take following the feedback session in writing. You might send an email and get written agreement to the exact next steps, when you’ll review progress and the expected outcomes.

6. Make Time for Positive Feedback

The old feedback sandwich approach isn’t ideal anymore. Employees hear two positive notes (the bread) and one negative note (the meat), and they’ll remember the good stuff. And never improve the bad stuff.

But this doesn’t mean you want to skip positive feedback, especially in a hybrid work setting where feedback can happen too seldom.

Just separate the two. When you have feedback that’s focused on making improvements or changes, give it alone. When you have positive feedback, give it immediately, in person (via video, if one of you is remote) and with purpose.