5 ways to encourage more upward feedback

Upward feedback is essential to every frontline organization. How better to truly know the ins and outs of your business than to take the time to listen? This could mean everything from safety concerns and process improvements to customer insights—it’s all valuable. Plus, upward feedback can inspire a two-way conversation where all individuals have the freedom to express themselves, which is crucial to the organization’s success and your team’s happiness.  

However, it’s not always easy to encourage upward feedback from your team. Maybe your workforce doesn’t love your feedback channels. Maybe, in the past, your organization hasn’t taken action on the feedback they’ve received. Your team could also be afraid of the repercussions that may come after providing potential negative feedback. Data shows that 34% of U.S. employees don’t speak up when asked because of fear of retribution.

No matter the reason, it’s time to take action if you’re seeing upward feedback lag. 

While collecting employee feedback can be challenging, especially in a frontline organization, it’s all about the approach and methods you take to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s working, what you can improve and which strategies you can eliminate.

Here are 5 ways to encourage more upward feedback from your staff:

1. Start with open-ended questions

We’ve recommended focusing on more specific insights when collecting employee feedback at scale, but if you’re seeing a lull in responses, it might be time to try the opposite approach to allow for more open conversation. Whether it’s feedback related to management, the overall employee experience, protocols and processes, or any knowledge gaps the team may face, you can start the conversation with open-ended questions. 

For example, instead of asking, “What do you think about our recent changes in end-of-day cleaning procedures?” you could ask a broader question like, “Are there any policies or procedures in place you would like to see changed?” 

Here are some other examples of open-ended questions: 

• What is holding you back from getting your day-to-day responsibilities complete?
• What new program would you like to see rolled out or completely removed across the organization?
• What products do you think our customers would benefit from most?

While more specific questions are easier to process and act on, these open-ended questions can uncover issues or problems—or amazing ideas—that you might never otherwise see. 

2. Reward feedback

We all know the phrase “What’s in it for me?”—and your employees could very well feel this way when asked to provide upward feedback. So, finding ways to reward your staff when they provide feedback is a great way to encourage more. 

One way to reward feedback is to gamify it. If your communication and feedback channels allow you to do so, award points to your workers for sharing ideas and concerns. Not only does this drive participation in your channels, but it can also improve your team’s mood and morale. 

3. Close the feedback loop

Your staff will never provide upward feedback if they don’t know what’s being done with it. Because of this, it’s essential to close the feedback loop. Many organizations miss this mark when it comes to the great ideas their team provides. 

And that’s a major mistake because acting on the feedback you collect is crucial. Let’s stop and consider that 90% of workers said they’re more likely to stay at a company that takes and acts on feedback. Thankfully, according to Qualtrics, employees are reporting being asked for their feedback more often (48% in 2025 vs. 35% in 2024).

While opening the door for conversation may be the first step in the feedback loop, it also means showing the employee how the idea was used and its impact on the organization. 

Let’s say an employee came forward with an idea to change your return policy. You put their idea to paper, and then you let them know how you plan on updating this policy with their idea—great. But a big part of closing the feedback loop is keeping your staff informed after the fact. What did customers think about the change? What was the response from senior leadership? How did this change impact customer loyalty and revenue? Sharing this information with the workers involved is a great way to help them feel empowered and committed to driving more business outcomes. 

4. Take the fear of repercussions out of the scenario

Sharing upward feedback can be scary for your team – especially if this feedback leans negative. Ensuring staff members know they won’t receive any repercussions from providing upward feedback can help build psychological safety in the frontline workplace, which is a huge component of any successful feedback loop. This will take time. You’ll need to do more than just say “no repercussions”—you’ll need to walk the talk to show your workforce you mean it. 

That also means ensuring you have the right feedback channels for the right types of feedback. Consider secure or anonymous channels when collecting sensitive or personal feedback, and avoid public-facing channels when gathering feedback about managers or peers. However, those public channels, like forums, will be crucial to more extensive crowdsourcing campaigns to solicit big-picture ideas or best practices. 

5. Make it consistent and frequent

A big part of encouraging upward feedback is asking for it. Your frontline staff has a lot to say, and you’re limiting your business if you ask them to share this feedback only once a year. Studies show that more than half (58%) of employees wish their company conducted employee engagement surveys more frequently.

Encourage upward feedback throughout the year. Employees can have the next big idea at any time, so be sure they’re encouraged to let their manager or team lead know as soon as it strikes. This also means having the proper, real-time feedback channels to capture and process ideas and concerns quickly and efficiently. 

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Once you know how to encourage upward feedback from your workforce, you’ll see a surge of new ideas, comments and concerns that get unearthed. And that’s precisely what you want. You never know what new idea will be the catalyst that inspires the right change or update your organization needs to succeed.