@dhassell Very difficult to measure employee happiness but getting weekly feedback must help a lot. Interesting idea, I wonder how it translates emotionally to the employees, if they really feel included and listened to while writing back to this automated system.

@thibautdavoult I agree, it's quite difficult to measure happiness, but you can definitely feel it in a culture when it's there and when its not. We view employee happiness (or even better, employee satisfaction) as something that naturally emerges when the right conditions are in place, rather than something to focus on directly (similarly, you can't focus directly on profits in your business, but you can end up with more of them by focusing on increasing income and reducing expenses). I believe a lot of Dan Pink's research from his book Drive holds true in terms of what people really want and where they thrive -- that in their work people want to feel connected to a larger purpose, be granted autonomy, and be supported in achieving mastery. Really cool graphic overview here: http://bit.ly/1LcOrNz Environments like these lead to high degrees of satisfaction and even happiness with employees. We see the weekly feedback cadence in 15Five as supporting this kind of environment by giving employees a voice (a feeling of ownership and being connected to the larger purpose), letting managers stay informed without micromanaging (autonomy), and giving managers the insights they need to respond with feedback and encouragement to support their people in improving and succeeding (mastery). As for whether they really feel included and listened to, we hear over and over from our customers that their people share things in 15Five that they don't think they would have shared otherwise. I think two of the reasons for this are that 15Five prompts the employee with the questions that the manager might not regularly ask on his/her own, and second, that it removes some of the social anxiety some people feel in 1:1 or group meetings. One important thing to keep in mind is that we don't think of 15Five existing in a vacuum, but rather as a compliment to 1:1 and team meetings and any other face-to-face or virtual interactions with their manager. Using 15Five just ensures that the right questions are asked, and that everyone is having the important conversations on a regular basis.

@thibautdavoult @dhassell definitely difficult to measure happiness but man incredible to able to give input for your company. We have 1:1 every other week so 15Five has been amazing for us here at Digital Telepathy. We are able to stay in constant communication about our successes, failures, and ways to improve the company as a whole. It's an vital component of our culture. Thanks David, for creating a wonderful product!

@alexisohanian huge compliment for a few guys from our team. I'll relay the message. Thanks so much for your kind words.

@alexisohanian huge compliment to a few guys from our team. I'll relay the message. Thanks so much for your kind words!

@vinspee I completely agree. The reviewers who are most successful with 15Five really engage with their people --- even if they can't or choose not to take action on something, they at least acknowledge the feedback that they receive. Do you think there's anything else we could or should do in the product itself to further encourage this?

@dhassell sorry I'm just getting back to this – I think it might be valuable to allow a submitter to "nudge" a reviewer - like a "hey, I'm expecting you to take action on this - can you follow up with me". IIRC, you have a "request follow up" option, but it would be nice to be able to independently and additionally nudge a reviewer who's slacking on something I think is really important.

@vinspee You can definitely do that right now through @mentons, just like you tagged me here. Do you think more specific functionality for that would be useful outside of that?

yes. Maybe something like "you requested follow up on these last week, did you get the follow up?"

@nickfassler Thanks. We're definitely considering a variety of integrations -- most of the ones you mentioned are a natural fit. We actually have our first on in development so stay tuned for news on that front before too long.

@callmeed That's great to hear -- thanks for the feedback!

@macknuttie That's so great to hear -- that's one of the key benefits we hear over and over again from our customers, and plan to highlight in our marketing going forward.

@natiakers This is great to hear Natalie! I often describe 15Five as a conversation starter as well.

@domydeal Thanks for the feedback! We'll definitely take this into consideration.