From Feedback to Follow-Through: How GadellNet Turns Worker Voice into Leadership Action

​B Corp Month is a moment for reflection, but also transparency.

Behind every Certified B Corporation is a set of choices, including how a company listens, how it leads, and how it evolves. While the B Corp logo signals a shared commitment to people, communities, and the planet, it also represents something less visible: the internal systems that ensure those commitments are consistently put into practice.

For GadellNet Consulting Services, that practice begins with a simple but powerful idea: listening to employees is not enough. What matters most is what happens next.

Designing Feedback That Leads to Action

At GadellNet, worker feedback is not treated as a periodic exercise or a cultural “nice-to-have.” It is built into the company’s governance structure and decision-making processes, aligning closely with B Lab’s Fair Work standard FW3.2. This standard asks companies to meaningfully consider employee input when making decisions that affect them.

The company has designed its feedback systems with intention, ensuring that employees have multiple ways to share perspectives while also protecting anonymity and building trust.

Through recurring pulse surveys administered via 15Five, employees are regularly asked to share their experiences, concerns, and ideas. These structured surveys are complemented by an always-open “Incognito” inbox, which allows team members to raise more sensitive issues or escalate concerns without fear of identification. But what distinguishes GadellNet is not just how feedback is collected, it is how carefully it is handled.

Responses are aggregated at the department level, with minimum group sizes to preserve anonymity. Raw comments are accessible only to the executive team, while managers receive synthesized insights that guide action without exposing individuals.

As Jenn von Sothen, VP of HR, explained, “When we implemented the platform, the obstacle we had to overcome was ensuring folks believed it was anonymous. We showed leaders exactly what we can see.”

That transparency over the limits and protections built into the system helped build the trust necessary for honest, actionable input.

From Data to Decisions

Collecting feedback is only the first step. GadellNet has built a structured process to ensure that employee insights directly inform leadership decisions. Each feedback cycle follows a deliberate rhythm, including collection, analysis, prioritization, action, and communication.

The Chief Financial Officer serves as the neutral steward of the process, a choice that reinforces accountability and ensures that feedback does not become siloed within HR or middle management.

“If everyone owns it, then no one owns it,” noted CFO Amanda Schroeder. “Creating an owner for employee feedback gave us more pointed action and impact.”

Once feedback is collected, it is analyzed using a combination of AI-supported theming within 15Five and a manual review of every comment. This dual approach ensures that both high-volume trends and minority perspectives are considered, recognizing that outlier insights can often signal emerging issues or overlooked opportunities.

From there, the executive team prioritizes actions based on impact, urgency, and scale. Issues affecting a large portion of the workforce are addressed first, while smaller or more localized concerns are scheduled into future action plans.

Closing the Loop

One of the most defining features of GadellNet’s approach is its commitment to closing the feedback loop. Too often, employee feedback disappears into what Ashley Pyle, CXO, described as “the ether.” GadellNet has intentionally designed against that outcome.

After each cycle, employees receive acknowledgment that their feedback has been heard, along with clear communication about what actions are being taken, or why certain decisions were made.

These “you said; we did” moments are shared across team channels and all-hands meetings, reinforcing trust and demonstrating that employee input has real influence.

When Feedback Shapes Policy

The impact of this system is visible in the company’s policies and practices. When leaders explored implementing an unlimited PTO policy, employee feedback surfaced a potential risk: without clear expectations, some team members might take less time off, not more. Rather than moving forward with a standard unlimited model, GadellNet introduced a minimum-usage expectation, a decision designed to protect employee wellbeing and normalize rest.

Similarly, feedback about the company’s bonus structure revealed confusion and perceived inequities. In response, leadership developed and implemented a transparent, company-wide profit-sharing program, with clear eligibility criteria and payout calculations.

Employee perspectives have also shaped the company’s approach to emerging technologies. When surveys revealed mixed sentiment around artificial intelligence, ranging from curiosity to concern, GadellNet responded by creating training opportunities, publishing a company-wide point of view, and establishing an AI steering committee to guide future decisions.

As Pyle explained, “It was important to understand how our employees felt about AI… we used that to form our point of view and set up training.”

These examples illustrate a key principle of FW3.2 in practice, a system that only works when worker feedback is not simply considered—it is operationalized.

Building a Culture of Trust

Implementing a system like this is not without challenges. Early on, some employees questioned whether anonymity protections were truly effective. GadellNet addressed this directly by increasing transparency about how data was handled and who had access to it.

The company also adjusted its survey cadence, shifting from biweekly to approximately every three weeks. This change allowed more time for analysis and meaningful action between cycles, strengthening credibility and follow-through.

Over time, these adjustments helped build a culture where feedback is not confined to formal systems. As one team member observed, the frequency and consistency of feedback collection has made seeking input a natural part of daily work, extending beyond surveys into conversations, one-on-ones, and team interactions.

At the same time, GadellNet is careful not to let anonymous channels replace direct communication. The “Incognito” inbox is positioned as a safeguard, not a substitute for healthy dialogue between employees and managers.

A Continuous Process

For GadellNet, aligning with B Lab’s Fair Work standards is not about checking boxes—it is about strengthening the systems that support its people. Looking ahead, the company plans to continue evolving its approach, using worker feedback to navigate new technologies, refine internal processes, and stay aligned with emerging standards.

The B Corp logo is not just a symbol of what this company has achieved. It is a signal of how it chooses to listen, to act, and to improve, again and again. Read GadellNet’s full case study to learn more about how they are prioritizing people to maximize operations, efficiency, and well-being.