Real-Time Feedback vs. Annual Surveys: Which Actually Works?

Employee feedback is the heartbeat of your organisation. But the way you gather it? That’s often where the problem begins.

For years, the annual engagement survey has been the go-to method for capturing sentiment across companies. But in today’s fast-moving, people-first workplaces, is that still good enough?

Here’s why more and more companies are trading in the once-a-year approach for continuous, real-time feedback and seeing better culture, performance, and retention as a result.

1. Annual surveys give you a lagging indicator.

By the time your HR team has analysed the results of an annual survey, the data is already outdated.

A spike in stress during Q1? You won’t know until Q3.

A dip in motivation after a re-org? By the time it shows up, you’ve already lost good people.

The problem: annual surveys are rear-view mirrors. What you need: a live dashboard.

2. Real-time feedback helps you catch issues early.

Continuous feedback gives managers and leaders a live pulse on how people are feeling — today, not six months ago.

It allows you to:

✅ Identify and address problems early

✅ Respond quickly to team sentiment

✅ Build trust by showing that feedback actually leads to action

With tools like Frankli, feedback becomes part of the everyday, not a once-a-year panic button.

3. Fast feedback improves culture, retention, and performance.

When people know they’re being heard, regularly, they’re more likely to stay, grow, and perform.

Here’s what real-time feedback enables:

• A stronger culture: based on trust and two-way communication

• Better performance: because blockers are spotted quickly

• Higher retention: because people feel seen and supported

Annual surveys can tell you what went wrong. Real-time feedback helps you prevent it.

Feedback doesn’t need to be formal. It needs to be frequent. It needs to be actionable. And above all, it needs to be timely.

Annual surveys are a start, but they’re not enough.

If you really want to understand your people, you need to listen continuously, act consistently, and embed feedback into your everyday culture.

That’s exactly what Frankli is built for.

Ready to move beyond the annual survey model?

Let’s talk about how Frankli helps teams build feedback habits that actually stick.