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Photo by Jason Stephens from New York, USA on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Onboarding

Part of HR technology reviews

Reviewing employee feedback on a new HR system

Collect task-specific employee feedback on a new HR system, investigate barriers and check whether the response improved the task.

Editorial responsibility: Charlotte Campbell · · 4 min read

This is an editorial pen name used by the publication, not a claim of an independently verified personal identity. Original editorial credit: Desk People Systems.

Review feedback on a newly introduced HR system by asking which task an employee attempted, where they struggled and what happened next. A satisfaction rating shows sentiment; a description of an unclear request status or failed task gives the team something to investigate. Neither alone establishes every employee's experience.

Name one owner for the review and set its dates before go-live. Plan a round once employees have completed their first real tasks, such as a leave request or a pay change, and a follow-up once the resulting fixes are in place.

Ask about a recent task

Invite employees to describe what they tried to do, what they expected, what appeared and whether they finished without help. Give people who cannot sign in or use the feedback form another route, such as a phone call or a conversation with HR. Ask managers, HR and downstream teams about their parts of the task, but report their responses by role.

A short sentiment question with optional free text may help, for example: “How easy was it to complete your last leave request in the new system?”, followed by “What, if anything, got in the way?”

Seek feedback from people who use the system differently, including relevant work patterns, devices and approval roles. Record who was invited, who responded and which tasks they discussed. Do not present a convenience sample as the view of the whole workforce.

Turn comments into checkable issues

Remove unnecessary personal details when sharing themes. Group comments by task and problem in a single issue log, then compare them with support requests, workflow states and resulting records.

“My change disappeared” might mean a lost submission, pending approval or an unclear status label. Each calls for a different check.

Theme / First question

Could not start
Was sign-in, device access or guidance the barrier?
Unclear status
Was the request submitted, approved or completed downstream?
Needed help
Which step required it, and why?
Wrong record
Which value is authoritative, and who can correct it?
Difficult to use
Which task and access method were affected?

If feedback suggests an accessibility barrier, check the affected screens against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 and involve people who use the affected access method. W3C guidance encourages involving people with disabilities throughout design and development so teams can learn how they use the web and understand the assistive technologies and adaptive strategies they use.

Common feedback themes and initial investigation questions

  1. Could not startWas sign-in, device access or guidance the barrier?
  2. Unclear statusWas the request submitted, approved or completed downstream?
  3. Needed helpWhich step required it, and why?
  4. Wrong recordWhich value is authoritative, and who can correct it?
  5. Difficult to useWhich task and access method were affected?

Protect feedback and check the response

Tell employees why feedback is collected, who will read it and how to report a personal record error securely.

Feedback and record corrections fall under the Privacy Act 1988, regulated by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). The Act treats public and private employee records differently: for Australian Government employees, the Australian Privacy Principles apply to personal information in current and past employee records.

For a private sector employer, handling of employee records is exempt from the Privacy Act if it is directly related to the current or former employment relationship. Feedback used for another purpose, such as sharing it with the vendor, may fall outside that exemption, so have the privacy owner assess the collection and sharing arrangement.

Employees can request access to the records that workplace laws require employers to keep, and the OAIC points them to the Fair Work Ombudsman for those. Route a reported record error to the person who owns that record, and confirm the correction in the system.

Do not promise anonymity if role, location or comment details could identify someone.

Give each material issue an owner, action and way to check the result in the issue log. Tell employees which themes were addressed and which remain under investigation. Check the task and final record after a change; an updated help article alone does not resolve a broken workflow.

Keep feedback about the system separate from judgements about the person who reported it.

Privacy and data handling under the Privacy Act 1988 (Australia)

Private sector exemption
Employee records directly related to employment are exempt from the Privacy Act
Government employees
Australian Privacy Principles apply to current and past employee records
Record access rights
Employees can request access via the Fair Work Ombudsman

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