Should manager feedback be anonymous?

Yes. Few people will criticize the person who decides their workload and their reviews unless the answer cannot be traced. Report results only for teams above a minimum size, and paraphrase comments that would identify the writer.

How often should you run a manager feedback survey?

Once or twice a year. That gives managers enough time to change something between rounds, and it lets you see the trend for each manager.

Who should see a manager's results?

The manager and the manager's own manager, plus the people team. The team should hear a summary from the manager directly: what they heard and what they plan to do.

Should manager feedback affect pay or promotion?

Keep it for development, at least at first. Once scores feed into pay, managers start managing the score and teams start trading favors. A pattern of poor results over several rounds is something for the manager's own manager to take up directly.

Manager Feedback Survey Template (Free)

Last updated October 14, 2026

A manager feedback survey lets a team rate its manager safely.

A manager feedback survey, also called upward feedback or a manager effectiveness survey, asks the people who report to a manager to rate how that manager leads. It exists because the manager is the largest part of most people's experience of work, and because few people will say these things to the manager's face.

This template has nine rated statements about everyday behavior, such as holding one-on-ones and giving feedback, and two open questions. Results go to the manager as team averages, never as individual answers.

Here is how to use the manager feedback survey template in five steps.

How to use it

1Explain the purpose
2Protect the answers
3Survey every manager at once
4Debrief each manager
5Have the manager report back

Explain the purpose. Tell managers and teams that the survey is for the manager's development, and say who will see the results.
Protect the answers. Report a manager's results only when at least four or five people have answered, and never show individual responses.
Survey every manager at once. Run all teams in the same two weeks, so no manager feels singled out.
Debrief each manager. The manager's own manager walks through the averages and the comments, starting with the strengths.
Have the manager report back. Each manager tells the team what they heard and one thing they will change.

Here is a worked example with invented names.

Take an invented company, Osterlow Engineering. A team of nine rates its manager, Hana Kovac, and eight of them answer.

The highest statement is treats people on the team fairly, at 4.6 out of 5. The lowest is holds regular one-on-ones and rarely cancels them, at 2.1. Four comments mention one-on-ones being moved or cancelled near deadlines.

Worked example

Osterlow Engineering, an invented company: one manager's results

ManagerHana Kovac, team of nine, eight responses
Highest statementTreats people on the team fairly, 4.6 out of 5
Lowest statementHolds regular one-on-ones and rarely cancels them, 2.1
CommentsFour mention one-on-ones moved or cancelled near deadlines
DebriefWith her director, Priya Raman

What Hana changed

One-on-ones fixed on Tuesdays and not moved. The same statement reads 4.0 three months later

Hana goes through the results with her director, Priya Raman, then tells the team what she heard. She fixes one-on-ones on Tuesdays and commits to not moving them. Three months later the same statement reads 4.0.

These mistakes spoil a manager feedback survey.

Showing results for a team of two or three, where everyone can tell who said what.
Using the scores to decide pay or promotion, which turns honest feedback into politics.
Sending the results to the manager with no conversation around them.
Letting a manager try to work out who wrote a comment.
Running it once. One survey is a snapshot, and the second one shows whether anything changed.

People ask these questions about manager feedback surveys.

A manager feedback survey asks employees to rate their direct manager on specific behaviors, such as giving feedback, setting priorities and supporting growth. The answers are combined and shared with the manager as team averages, so the manager can see how their leadership lands.

These glossary terms explain the ideas behind it.

Toxic work environment
A toxic work environment is a workplace where the day-to-day norms, usually set by managers, reliably damage the people in it.
One-on-one
A one-on-one is a recurring private conversation between a manager and a direct report about the work, the obstacles and the person's growth.
Skip-level meeting
A skip-level meeting is a conversation between an employee and their manager's manager, without the direct manager present.
Span of control
Span of control is the number of direct reports a manager has.
Employee engagement
Employee engagement is how committed and involved people are in their work and their company, beyond simply doing the tasks assigned to them.

These pages on this site go deeper.

These templates pair well with this one.

Skip-level meeting agenda template
Five timed parts, an opening script and nine questions for a 30-minute skip-level.
Employee engagement survey template
Fifteen rated statements in five themes, plus two open questions.
One-on-one meeting agenda template
Six timed parts for a 30-minute one-on-one, with their topics first.

Put a score on how your team feels.

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Back to the HR templates, where all 22 are listed.