An open and honest dialogue between you and your staff is something most business strive to achieve. But it can be difficult to persuade your staff to be candid. Frankly there are times when you don't want to hear what they have to say and decisions have to be made without their approval. But one device that I found worked quite well was an anonymous internet survey that staff can fill in about how they truly feel about the place they work in.
Here is a link to a company that provides such a service
click here
Now you have to be pragmatic about the responses you get back. Some people will use such a survey as an instrument of revenge. But I think you can spot trends and repeated remarks about certain employees or managers are always worth following up. Look upon a staff survey as a 21st century version of the 'comments box'
