Why employees rarely speak openly in staff surveys and feedback forums

Our expert answer: Most organisations say they want honest feedback from their employees. Corporate run surveys, engagement programmes, 'lunch and listen' where people can 'speak openly'. The intention is genuine. Leaders want to understand what's working and what isn’t. Yet when the results come back, something feels incomplete. Feedback is polite or neutral, or responses are cautious. The difficult issues that everyone knows exist somehow aren't mentioned. This isn’t because employees have nothing to say. In most companies people have very clear views about how things work, where communication breaks down and what could be improved. The reason they stay silent is usually something else entirely. Silence, or feedback shaped around what employees believe leaders want to hear, is usually a sign that people lack confidence that speaking openly will be either safe or worthwhile. Honest feedback only emerges when employees trust that their perspectives will be handled constructively, that anonymity will be respected and that leadership will respond transparently to what they hear.

Over the past decade, Shelagh Milligan  has led in-depth listening campaigns for organisations in complex environments, using an Organisational Insight Framework. This work involves far more than facilitating conversations. It requires the ability to create the conditions where employees feel able to speak openly, often about difficult or sensitive issues, and the judgement to interpret what is heard across multiple layers of an organisation. Underpinned by the Organisational Insight Framework, listening campaigns generate rich, structured insight across all levels, from frontline staff to senior leadership, enabling the identification of patterns that connect operational realities, cultural dynamics and leadership perspectives, often invisible when viewed in isolation. That insight is woven together and analysed to reveal the dynamics that shape how your organisation actually functions.

Why organisations run employee listening exercises

Organisational listening is a meaningful investment, typically most valuable at pivotal moments in an organisation’s journey. It is particularly useful for leaders taking on a new role who want an accurate, unbiased temperature check of the organisation, or for those preparing to hand over leadership and wanting to understand the environment they are leaving behind, or when there are signs that communication, collaboration or morale may not be functioning as effectively as they once did.

For many employees, these conversations provide a rare opportunity to speak openly about their experiences in an environment where they feel genuinely heard. Unlike the standard corporate feedback exercises that often rely on surveys or tightly structured sessions, the discussions are unhurried and conducted with care, allowing people the space to share perspectives they may never previously have voiced. As a result, insights often emerge that would never surface through a conventional “tick-box” process. It’s not unusual for conversations to become emotional, particularly when employees are reflecting on challenges or frustrations they have carried for a long time.

Employee listening campaigns have become increasingly common, particularly in large organisations, as the link between employee experience and organisational performance has become better understood. When people work well together and feel able to contribute openly, the benefits extend far beyond workplace culture, shaping productivity, collaboration and overall performance.

In many ways, it’s similar to fine tuning an engine: the major components are already in place, but small adjustments to how people communicate, collaborate and make decisions can significantly enhance how the organisation performs as a whole.

Listening exercises can help leadership understand:

• how staff experience organisational culture

• whether communication is working effectively

• what operational issues may be affecting morale

• how employees perceive change.

  
  

In theory, listening exercises provide a structured way to gather insight directly from the workforce. When they work well, they can reveal patterns that are very difficult to see from senior leadership positions.

For example, during one listening campaign I ran in a large technical organisation, employees across engineering, maintenance and projects repeatedly mentioned frustration with how design change information was being shared. Individually the comments sounded like minor communication complaints. But when viewed together, they revealed a broader pattern: design updates were being circulated through several parallel channels, meaning different teams were sometimes working from slightly different versions of the same information. From a senior leadership perspective the process appeared to be functioning normally. On the ground, however, it was creating unnecessary delays of up to a month along with rework and growing tension between teams.

Listening campaigns can also help organisations identify connections between seemingly unrelated issues, for instance how communication breakdowns between departments might affect safety processes, project delivery or operational efficiency. Another listening campaign run by Aye Media saw several employees raising concerns about what, on the surface, appeared to be minor interpersonal tensions within a particular team. Individually the comments sounded like personality clashes rather than organisational issues. But as more conversations took place with more staff, a clearer picture emerged. The behaviour of one individual was creating an atmosphere where colleagues felt uncomfortable raising questions or challenging decisions. Over time that reluctance had begun to affect how information moved through the team. This was a senior manager too, not someone it would be easy to complain about. Technical concerns were sometimes left unspoken, small issues went unchallenged and communication between certain departments became strained. What first appeared to be a personal matter was actually heavily influencing project delivery and operational confidence in ways that senior leadership had not been aware of.

But, listening exercises only work when employees feel safe enough to speak honestly. And that's where many organisations encounter difficulties.

Why employees hesitate to speak honestly

Employees can be cautious about sharing candid feedback for all sorts of reasons. The most obvious is anonymity. Even when surveys or listening sessions are described as confidential, employees may worry their comments could be traced back to them. In smaller teams or specialist roles it is often surprisingly easy to identify who may have written a particular response.

Another factor is history. If staff have previously shared feedback that appeared to disappear into a report with no visible outcome, they may question whether speaking openly will make any difference. It feels like giving without receiving. But there are also more personal reasons that should be considered. An employee may have secured a role that finally fits around childcare responsibilities, or allows them to care for a loved one. Someone else may have spent years trying to join a particular organisation or industry. In those circumstances, even a small risk of upsetting the wrong person can feel far more significant than the potential benefit of raising a concern or challenge.

It's also entirely possible for employees to trust the organisation in principle while feeling far less confident about the people immediately around them. A single difficult relationship with a manager or team leader can be enough to make someone cautious about speaking openly, particularly if that person has influence over day-to-day work, opportunities or progression.

For many employees, protecting a hard-won sense of stability will always outweigh the uncertain outcome of raising a concern.

In those circumstances, silence shouldn't be interpreted as agreement.

What actually encourages honest employee feedback

In companies where listening campaigns are genuinely effective, several conditions are usually present.

First, the purpose of the exercise is clearly explained. Employees understand why feedback is being gathered and how it will be used. Second, the process is often facilitated independently. External facilitators can create a sense of distance from internal reporting structures, making employees far more comfortable sharing candid perspectives. Third, leaders respond visibly to what they hear. Even when changes cannot be made immediately, explaining the reasons openly helps employees see that their input has been considered. This feedback loop is critical. When staff see that their voices lead to discussion, reflection or action, they are far more likely to engage in future listening exercises.

What leaders often discover

When organisations create conditions for genuine dialogue, the insights that emerge are often far more nuanced than expected. Employees frequently reveal connections between operational issues that were previously viewed in isolation. Communication challenges in one part of the organisation may be affecting delivery elsewhere. Decisions made at senior levels may be interpreted very differently on the ground. These insights rarely appear in standard reporting structures, which is why listening exercises can be so valuable when done well.

Listening is only the first step

Running a listening campaign is not the same as solving organisational problems. The value of it lies in the response afterwards. Employees pay close attention to what happens next and many can feel impatient for action, particulary if they've given honest feedback. If the process ends with a report that just...disappears, trust can be weakened rather than strengthened.

But when leaders engage openly with the feedback and explain what can change, what can't and importantly the why, listening exercises can become a powerful catalyst for improvement. In most organisations, clarity and transparency often matter just as much as the changes themselves.

About the author

Shelagh Milligan is the founder of Aye Media, a communications consultancy specialising in stakeholder engagement, organisational listening campaigns and communications. With more than 25 years’ experience working with organisations across the UK, Europe and North America, including programmes in engineering, infrastructure and nuclear decommissioning, she helps leadership teams understand how communication, culture and operational realities interact inside large organisations.

Aye Media works with organisations across Ayrshire, Glasgow and throughout Scotland, as well as internationally, running effective listening exercises using an Organisational Insight Framework to translate complex feedback into meaningful organisational insight. If you're interested in discussing what a listening campaign could bring for your organisation, get in touch with Shelagh here.

What staff have said about the Organisational Insight Framework

“It was incredibly cathartic talking to Shelagh. I came in intending to mention a few things, but certainly not everything I ended up sharing. I honestly don’t know how she managed to draw it all out of me- I’d never spoken about some of those things to anyone before.” David B, Project Manager

“Thank you for taking the time to recognise that I wasn’t comfortable sitting in a windowless meeting room and suggesting we go for a walk outside instead. It made a huge difference. My best ideas usually come when I’m doing something else, walking, thinking, or even in the shower, and Shelagh immediately recognised that I’d be more relaxed that way.” Suzanne J, Engineering

“I genuinely thought it was just me who felt this way but Shelagh made me realise that whether it was just me- or everyone- my opinions and experiences were completely valid and that they mattered. It’s not even a huge issue, just a small frustration that has a big impact on my day-to-day work, but it felt good knowing it would be taken seriously.” Jamie M, Engineering

“Respect to the Lead Team for choosing this route to gather feedback. For once it actually felt like someone was on our side, or at least listening to our side, and genuinely speaking for us. It wasn’t just a one-off meeting either, Shelagh told us we could contact her afterwards if we remembered something we wished we’d said. That’s a huge difference compared to the usual tick-box exercise sent from head office.” Andrew K, Waste

“We’ve done plenty of personality tests and ‘how do you work best’ workshops before, I’m actually sick of them. The only reason I got involved in this was because Shelagh came along to the electricians’ 6am briefing with a box of warm cookies and just asked if she could listen in. She didn’t talk at us, in fact she barely said anything at first. She just sat there, listening to us talk about the game at the weekend. No one has ever done that before. You could tell she genuinely cared and wanted to help. A few of us stayed behind afterwards and ended up having a really good conversation.” Peter S, Electrician