When an Employee Raises a Concern, What Happens Next Matters

Imagine an educator approaching their room leader with a concern about handover.

A few things have been missed recently, and they're worried it's making an already busy day harder for the team.

The room leader listens and says, "Thanks for telling me. Leave it with me."

Two weeks later, the educator hasn't heard anything. Maybe the room leader followed it up. Maybe they're still waiting for an answer. But the educator doesn't know.

And that's where another problem can start.

When an employee raises a concern, start by thanking them, ask questions to understand what's happening, agree on the next step and make sure you follow up. You don't have to agree with everything they say or promise an immediate solution.

Encouraging people to speak up is only half the job. The other half is what happens when they do.

Why your first response matters

When someone brings you a concern, they've often been thinking about it longer than you realise.

They might have rehearsed what they're going to say, wondered whether it's worth raising or worried about how you'll react.

Research on employee voice and silence points to two common concerns: Will speaking up make a difference? And could there be consequences for me? Not everyone consciously weighs those questions every time, but they're worth keeping in mind. Elizabeth Morrison's review of employee voice and silence explores this research.

I've written about encouraging early conversations in Come to Me When You're Knee-Deep, Not When You're Drowning.

For this article, let's assume someone has already done the difficult part. They've come to you. What happens next?

Your response won't necessarily solve the issue, but it can influence whether they feel comfortable speaking up again.

Acknowledging a concern isn't the same as agreeing with it

Say a colleague approaches you and says, "I don't think the new roster is fair."

You've spent hours trying to make it work. You've considered staffing, leave requests and competing needs. So your first instinct might be to explain why you made the decision.

That's understandable. But while you're explaining yourself, you could be missing something useful.

In research by Ethan Burris, managers responded less favourably to some employee suggestions that challenged existing practices than to suggestions supporting the status quo. The findings came from a restaurant setting and experiments, so they won't describe every manager or workplace. They are a reminder to check our first reaction when someone questions a decision.

You can acknowledge the concern without agreeing with their interpretation or promising the outcome they want:

"Thanks for raising it. I want to understand what's concerning you before I respond."

You haven't agreed that the roster is unfair. You've made room to hear their perspective.

How to respond when an employee raises a concern: four practical steps

I've put these steps into a free manager's guide, Before It Becomes a Problem. They're simple enough to remember when you're busy or caught off guard.

1. Thank them

It sounds basic, but it's easy to jump straight into explaining, questioning or defending.

Start by recognising that someone has raised something:

• "Thanks for telling me."
• "I'm glad you brought it up."
• "I appreciate you letting me know."

You're not endorsing every detail. You're showing you're willing to hear it.

If the concern is about a decision you made, give yourself a moment before responding. "I'm not sure I see it the same way yet, but I'd like to understand."

I've certainly had moments when I haven't responded as well as I should have. I wrote about one in The Moment Before You React Is Where Your Leadership Lives. It's something I still learn from.

2. Ask before assuming

You rarely have the full picture when a concern first reaches you. There may be something important you haven't heard, or a difference between what happened and what someone thinks it means.

Try questions such as:

• "What have you noticed?"
• "Can you walk me through what happened?"
• "How is this affecting you or the team?"
• "What would help right now?"

Sometimes someone wants a decision. Sometimes they want support or simply to make you aware of something. It helps to ask what they're hoping for, without treating that as the only factor that determines your response.

If the concern involves safety, serious misconduct or a reporting obligation, you may need to act or escalate even if the person doesn't want further action. Follow the appropriate pathway rather than promising to keep it informal.

And watch the distinction between facts and interpretations. "The handover sheet wasn't completed" is something you can check. "Nobody cares about handover here" is an interpretation. You can take the frustration seriously without treating that interpretation as an established fact.

3. Agree on the next step

"I'll look into it" and "Leave it with me" often sound helpful. But what do they mean to the person who raised the issue?

Will you check today? Talk to somebody else? Are you responsible for the decision? When will they hear from you?

A useful next step has three parts: what happens, who is responsible and when you'll check back.

For example:

"I'll speak to the roster coordinator tomorrow and come back to you by Friday."

You haven't promised to change the roster. You've made a clear agreement about the next action.

What if you can't fix the problem straight away?

Some concerns won't be solved during one conversation. You might not have the staffing, budget, authority or information to make the change someone wants. The wider system might be part of the problem.

Be honest about those limits:

• "I can't change the roster this week, but I can raise the concern at Thursday's meeting."
• "That decision isn't mine. I'll take it to the person responsible and let you know what I hear."
• "I don't have an answer yet. I'll check and come back to you on Wednesday."
• "We can't fix this quickly. What would help us manage the immediate impact while it's being reviewed?"

Good communication doesn't create extra staff or remove unsafe workloads. But it can stop an already difficult situation becoming more frustrating through silence or broken promises.

4. Close the loop

This is the step that's easiest to forget.

Someone raises a concern. You speak to the right people, check the facts or put something in motion. From your perspective, you've been working on it. From theirs, nothing has happened because they haven't heard back.

Closing the loop means going back to the person, even if:

• The answer is no: "We've looked at it and can't make that change right now. Here's what I can explain about why."
• It's taking longer: "There's no decision yet. I'm following it up and I'll update you next week."
• You can't share details: "I've passed this to the appropriate person. I can't discuss individual details, but I can explain the process from here."
• The concern wasn't substantiated: "I've checked what I can. Here's what I've found and why we're taking this approach. I'm glad you raised it."

Only share what you know is accurate and what you're authorised to disclose.

You don't need every answer. But people deserve to know what happens next.

When a concern needs formal reporting or escalation

Not every workplace issue should be handled through an informal chat. Threats, violence, bullying, harassment, discrimination, serious misconduct, risks to patients or children, and health and safety hazards may require an immediate response or a formal process.

Follow your workplace's reporting and escalation procedures. Don't investigate matters yourself unless that's your role, and don't promise complete confidentiality when information may need to be shared with people responsible for responding.

There are also specific obligations in Australia:

• In Victoria, employers have duties to identify and control psychosocial hazards under psychological health regulations that commenced on 1 December 2025.
• Some Victorian professionals, including nurses, teachers and early childhood workers, must report certain child protection concerns when the mandatory reporting threshold is met.
• Registered health practitioners and employers of practitioners may have mandatory notification obligations in specified circumstances, with different thresholds depending on the situation and reporter.
• Under Australia's general protections laws, certain workplace complaints and enquiries are protected rights. Fair Work Commission guidance explains the prohibition on adverse action for exercising protected rights.

The right response depends on the circumstances. Where needed, get advice from your manager, HR, a professional body or the relevant regulator. This is general information, not legal advice.

Small responses help shape workplace culture

We often say we want a team where people feel comfortable speaking up.

But that doesn't happen simply because we tell everyone our door is open. It's shaped by how we respond when somebody actually walks through it.

Do we listen? Ask questions before assuming? Be clear about what we can do? And come back when we said we would?

We won't get every response right. If you were abrupt or defensive, you can acknowledge it and try again:

"I was short with you when you raised that yesterday. That wasn't fair. Can we start again?"

Think about the last concern somebody brought to you. Do they know what happened next?

A free guide you can use with your team

If you'd like to put these steps into practice, download Before It Becomes a Problem. It's a free two-page manager's guide with practical questions and the four steps: Thank, Ask, Agree on the next step, Close the loop. No email or sign-up required.

If your managers and team leaders would benefit from practising these conversations together, that's what we work on in Speak Up, Set Limits, Build Trust. Get in touch and we can talk about what would help your team.