Continuous Feedback (FBCK)

FBCK replaces the traditional "feedback only at appraisal time" model with an always-on culture of lightweight, frequent, and diverse feedback. Five distinct interaction types cover every feedback scenario: from informal peer recognition to structured HR memos — all in one module, all contributing to a rich employee feedback history.

Why Continuous Feedback?

Annual appraisals suffer from recency bias — managers remember the last 2 months, not the full year. Employees are surprised by feedback they could have acted on months earlier. Continuous feedback solves this: small, frequent feedback events build a complete picture over time, give employees actionable data while there is still time to improve, and make the appraisal conversation a reflection rather than a revelation.

The FBCK module supports this with five purpose-built interaction types — each with its own privacy model, template support, and workflow. A Pulse Survey captures team mood in aggregate (anonymous). A Recognition post celebrates a win in public. A Formal Memo handles compliance-level documentation. The right tool for the right moment.

Who Can Do What

Stakeholder Roles

The 5 Interaction Types

Each interaction type is purpose-built for a different feedback scenario. They share the same module but have different privacy models, workflows, and audiences.

Feedback Request — Detailed Guide

When to Use It

Use a Feedback Request when you want structured, template-driven input from specific people — peer review, upward feedback, project-end review, or 360-degree assessment during appraisal season.

Sending a Feedback Request

1. Select a Template: Templates define the questions. Choose a template that matches the context — "General Peer Feedback", "Project Retrospective", "Leadership 360", etc.
2. Choose Respondents: Add one or more employees from the org. You can add managers, peers, or skip-level reports. You are asking them to provide feedback about you (or the subject).
3. Set Response Deadline: Give respondents at least 5 business days. A deadline reminder is sent automatically 2 days before.
4. Check Anonymity Setting: The template's anonymity config determines whether respondent names are shown. You cannot override this — it is set by HR when creating the template.
5. Submit the request. Respondents receive a real-time notification (SignalR push) and an email reminder.

Responding to a Feedback Request

1. Open the notification or navigate to My Feedback → Pending Responses.
2. Review the template questions. Responses can be free-text, rating scale (1–5), or multiple choice — depending on the template design.
3. Complete all required questions. Optional questions can be skipped.
4. Submit. Your response is recorded against the request. If the template is anonymous, your name is not stored with your responses — only that a response was received.

Viewing Results

Once the deadline passes (or all respondents have responded), the requester can view the aggregate results. For anonymous templates: individual responses are shown as separate data points without names. For named templates: each respondent's answers are attributed.

Pulse Survey — Detailed Guide

When to Use It

Use Pulse Surveys to take the team's temperature — engagement, morale, reaction to change, post-event sentiment. Unlike annual engagement surveys, pulses are short (3–10 questions), frequent (weekly, bi-weekly, or event-triggered), and always anonymous. The goal is signal, not audit.

Creating a Pulse Survey (HR / Manager)

1. Navigate to Pulse Surveys → Create Survey.
2. Title and description: Be honest about the purpose. "Team Health Check — Week 24" or "Post-Reorganisation Sentiment Check". Transparency increases response rates.
3. Add questions: Keep it to 5–7 questions maximum. Mix rating scales ("On a scale of 1–5...") with optional open text ("What would you change?"). Avoid leading questions.
4. Set target audience: Specific team, department, location, or org-wide. Pulse surveys are automatically anonymous — this cannot be changed.
5. Set open/close dates: 5–7 days is typical. Shorter windows have lower response rates; longer ones are forgotten. System sends a reminder 24 hours before close to those who haven't responded.
6. Publish: All targeted employees are notified via SignalR push and email.

Reading Pulse Results

Results are shown in aggregate only — no individual attribution ever. For rating questions: a bar chart of distribution (how many chose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and a median line. For open text: word frequency cloud and raw anonymised responses listed in random order.

Track pulse results over time — the trend matters more than any single data point. Three consecutive weeks of declining "team morale" rating is the signal; a single dip is noise.

Recognition — Detailed Guide

When to Use It

Use Recognition for any moment of genuine appreciation — a colleague who went above and beyond, a team that nailed a deadline, a peer who stepped in when it mattered. Recognition is always public, always named (never anonymous), and always positive. It is not a feedback mechanism — it is a celebration one.

Posting a Recognition

1. Select recipient(s): One or more employees. Cross-team recognition is encouraged — it breaks silos.
2. Choose category: HR configures recognition categories matching company values. Examples: Innovation, Customer First, Teamwork, Ownership, Integrity. Each category can carry an optional point value.
3. Write your note: Be specific — "Priya stayed late three nights to resolve the client's critical data migration issue before their go-live" is far more impactful than "Priya is great". Specificity makes the recognition feel real and coaches observers on what excellent looks like.
4. Post: The recognition appears on the Recognition Wall, visible to all employees. The recipient receives a real-time notification via SignalR.

Recognition Wall

The Recognition Wall is the social hub of the FBCK module. It shows a feed of all recent recognition posts across the organisation — like a corporate social feed but focused purely on appreciation. Employees can react (like) to existing recognition posts. Managers can see the wall as an instant pulse on team morale and cultural health.

Recognition Categories — HR Setup

HR creates and manages recognition categories. Each category has a name, a description (to guide employees on when to use it), an icon, and an optional point value. Categories should map to your company values — making recognition a direct expression of culture.

1:1 Notes — Detailed Guide

When to Use It

1:1 Notes are the shared notebook for every manager-direct report pair. They make recurring 1:1 meetings more structured and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Action items with due dates create accountability. The history of all notes becomes the written record of the relationship — essential context during mid-year check-ins and annual appraisals.

Creating a 1:1 Note

1. Navigate to 1:1 Notes → Create Note.
2. Set the meeting date. This anchors the note to a specific meeting — you can add notes before the meeting (preparation), during, or after.
3. Add agenda items: Both manager and employee can add items before the meeting. Examples: "Project X update", "Career development conversation", "Feedback on last week's presentation".
4. During the meeting — add discussion notes under each agenda item.
5. Add action items: Any follow-up commitments from the meeting. Each action item has: description, assignee (manager or employee), due date, and status (Open / In Progress / Complete).
6. Mark the note complete after the meeting. It moves to history but remains fully readable.

Privacy Model

1:1 Notes are shared between the manager and the direct report — both can read and add to the note. HR Admins cannot access 1:1 Notes (they are not a compliance document). This privacy boundary encourages honest use.

Appraisal Season Use

Before a performance review conversation, both manager and employee can read their full 1:1 Note history for the year. This combats recency bias — you can see the full narrative of the year, not just the last month. Managers write better appraisal comments when they can reference specific dated examples from the 1:1 log.

Formal Memo — Detailed Guide

When to Use It

Formal Memos are compliance-grade, permanently archived HR communications. Use them for: written warnings, performance improvement notices, policy violation acknowledgements, official commendations, and other communications that require a permanent audit record with employee acknowledgement.

Memo Lifecycle

1. HR creates a draft memo (MHRMEMODRAFT). Select the employee, choose a Memo Template, fill in the content. A draft is private until issued.
2. Internal review (optional): The draft can be reviewed by a department head or legal before issuing. No changes can be made after issuing.
3. Issue the memo. This moves the record to MMEMOISSUED and creates an immutable copy. The employee receives a real-time notification via SignalR and an email.
4. Employee acknowledges. The employee must log in and acknowledge receipt of the memo. Acknowledgement is timestamped and stored permanently. The employee can add a response note if they disagree.
5. Audit record locked. The full lifecycle — draft date, issue date, acknowledgement date, employee response — is permanently preserved for compliance audits.

Memo Templates

HR creates and maintains Memo Templates — pre-built structures for common memo types. Templates ensure legal language is consistent and nothing critical is forgotten. Examples: "Written Warning — First Instance", "Performance Improvement Notice", "Commendation Letter", "Policy Acknowledgement".

Template Management — HR Admin

Templates define the structure of Feedback Requests and Formal Memos. Well-designed templates are the foundation of consistent, useful feedback across the organisation.

Feedback Request Template Design

Example Question Set — General Peer Feedback

1. On a scale of 1–5, how effectively does this person collaborate with others?
2. On a scale of 1–5, how reliably does this person deliver what they commit to?
3. What is one thing this person does particularly well?
4. What is one thing this person could do differently to be more effective?
5. Anything else you'd like to share? (optional)

Anonymity & Privacy Settings

Privacy Model by Interaction Type

Anonymous Feedback — Technical Detail

For anonymous feedback requests and pulse surveys, the system stores a response record containing the answers and a timestamp — but the respondent's UserId is not stored with the answers. The system does record that a specific person responded (to prevent duplicate submissions and send reminders), but this linking record is separate from and never joined to the response content in any reporting query.

Real-Time Notifications (SignalR)

FBCK uses SignalR's FeedbackHub to push real-time notifications to employees' browsers without polling. When feedback-related events occur, the relevant employee is notified instantly — no page refresh needed.

Events That Trigger Real-Time Push

FeedbackHub — Technical Note for Admins

The FeedbackHub is a scoped SignalR hub. Each connected session joins a group keyed to fbck:user:{userId}. Notifications are pushed to the user's group, which means all browser tabs for that user receive the notification simultaneously. The hub uses IHubContext<FeedbackHub, IFBCKClient> injection in BLL for server-initiated pushes from background processes (e.g., reminder job at T-24h).

Analytics & Reporting

Feedback Coverage Dashboard (HR)

HR can see which employees have received feedback in the current cycle and which have not. Employees with zero feedback events in the last 90 days are flagged — useful for identifying isolated individuals who may need a culture nudge or a direct conversation with HR.

Individual Feedback Summary (Manager / Appraisal Context)

Before an appraisal, a manager can pull the full FBCK history for each direct report: all received feedback requests, ratings by category, recognition posts, 1:1 note history (since manager has access), and whether any memos were issued. This paints a complete qualitative picture to complement the quantitative PERM appraisal score.

Pulse Survey Trends (HR / Executive)

View pulse survey results over time as trend charts — track whether team morale has improved or declined since the last survey cycle. Compare departments side-by-side. Identify themes in open-text responses across multiple survey rounds.

Recognition Analytics (HR)

• Recognition Givers: Who is giving recognition? Managers who never recognise their team are a culture signal.
• Recognition Receivers: Who is frequently recognised? Complements appraisal data.
• Category Frequency: Which company values show up most in recognition? Useful for culture audits.
• Recognition Gap: Employees who have not received any recognition in 90+ days.

Integration Map

Setup Checklist — HR Admin

Frequently Asked Questions