Beyond Work Setting: Why Emotional Intelligence Matters in Feedback
Key Takeaways:
- Feedback conversations are rarely simple. Whether they happen across a desk, through a screen, or somewhere in between, they require self-awareness, empathy, and the ability to manage emotion in real time.
- Our research found that emotional intelligence was a stronger predictor of feedback comfort than work setting. Individuals with higher emotional intelligence (EI) tended to be more comfortable giving and receiving feedback whether they worked remotely, in person, or in a hybrid environment.
- Higher EI may help level the playing field across work settings. Differences in comfort giving feedback became much smaller as EI increased, suggesting that emotional and social skills can support effective feedback conversations regardless of where people work.
In a previous blog, we explored the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and feedback comfort, finding that individuals with higher EI tend to be more comfortable giving and receiving feedback. These findings pointed to an important idea: EI may help people approach feedback with greater confidence, openness, and skill.
Building on this work, our latest research takes the conversation a step further. As organizations continue to navigate in-person, remote, and hybrid work arrangements, we wanted to better understand whether EI supports effective feedback conversations, no matter where work happens.
Researchers have long suggested that how people experience feedback depends on context. Face-to-face conversations are generally seen as a richer interpersonal communication medium1 because they allow people to draw on immediate social cues, including tone, facial expression, and body language. Online interactions, by contrast, can introduce different challenges, such as a greater sense of distance and fewer visible cues to help people interpret how a message is being received.2 Hybrid employees, meanwhile, may need to navigate both communication environments and the unique demands that come with each.
These differences matter because feedback is not just an exchange of information. It is also an emotional and interpersonal experience. In person, delivering or receiving feedback may feel more intense due to the immediate social cues involved and the limited opportunity to pause before responding. By contrast, delivering or receiving the same feedback through digitally mediated channels, particularly when it’s text-based or asynchronous, may change this intensity but can also limit access to the nonverbal signals that help people gauge how a message is being received. Where feedback happens matters, but it may not matter equally for everyone. Emotional intelligence may help explain why some people feel more prepared to navigate feedback, regardless of whether the conversation takes place in person, online, or somewhere in between.
Emotional Intelligence as a Resource in Feedback Interactions
While work setting can shape how feedback unfolds, it may not tell the whole story. Feedback is not just an exchange of information; people need to make sense of the message, regulate their reactions, and choose how to respond3. This process makes feedback both emotional and social in nature.
EI may help explain why some people feel more comfortable with feedback than others. At its core, EI reflects emotional and social skills, including self-awareness, self-expression, empathy, relationship building, and adaptability4. These skills can support how people navigate interpersonal exchanges by helping them manage their reactions, read social cues, communicate clearly, and remain open to feedback, even when conversations are difficult.
Together, these ideas suggest that the key question may not be which work setting is best for feedback, but whether EI helps level the playing field across settings. This led us to our central question: Does EI shape the relationship between work setting and feedback comfort?
Measuring Emotional Intelligence with Emotional Quotient-Inventory™ 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0®)
To examine whether EI influences feedback comfort across different work settings, we used the Total EI score from MHS’ Emotional Quotient-Inventory™ 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0®). The EQ-i 2.0 is a well-established assessment of emotional and social functioning measuring skills that influence how people perceive and express themselves, build and maintain relationships, cope with challenges, and use emotional information effectively.
Emotional intelligence and feedback comfort across work settings
We analyzed data from 2,947 working North American adults who completed the EQ-i 2.0, reported how comfortable they felt giving and receiving feedback, and indicated whether they worked primarily remotely, in person, or in a hybrid environment.
Using statistical models, we examined whether work setting, EI (EQ-i 2.0’s Total EI score), and the interaction between the two were related to comfort giving and receiving feedback. Put simply, we wanted to understand whether emotional intelligence changed the relationship between where people work and how comfortable they feel engaging in feedback.
Insights from MHS research
The results told a consistent story: EI was strongly associated with feedback comfort across work settings. Individuals with higher EI tended to report greater comfort both giving and receiving feedback, regardless of whether they worked remotely, in person, or in a hybrid environment.
Key findings included:
- EI consistently predicted feedback comfort. Work setting itself was not related to comfort receiving feedback. Whether people worked remotely, in person, or in a hybrid environment, their comfort receiving feedback was largely similar.
- Work setting mattered more for giving feedback, particularly among individuals with lower EI. Among individuals with lower EI, comfort giving feedback varied somewhat by work setting, with remote workers reporting slightly higher comfort than in-person workers. However, these differences became much smaller as EI increased. Individuals with higher EI reported similarly high levels of comfort giving feedback regardless of whether they worked remotely, in person, or in a hybrid environment.
Taken together, these findings suggest that EI may help reduce differences in feedback comfort across work settings. While the environment can shape how feedback conversations unfold, individuals with higher EI may feel better equipped to engage in those conversations regardless of where they work.
Bottom line: Strong feedback conversations are not shaped by work setting alone; they depend on people having the emotional and social skills to give and receive feedback with confidence, clarity, and care.
Turning insight into action: What organizations can do with these findings
Our findings suggest that feedback comfort is shaped by more than work setting alone. While remote, hybrid, and in-person environments each bring different challenges, EI appears to play an important role in how comfortable people feel engaging in feedback conversations.
Look beyond work setting as the main barrier. When feedback conversations aren’t happening as effectively as they should, it’s easy to point to remote or hybrid work as the problem. Our findings suggest the story may be more complex. EI appears to play an important role in feedback comfort, regardless of where employees work.
Invest in EI development. Feedback is a skill, but it also relies on emotional and interpersonal capabilities. Coaching, mentoring, leadership development, and targeted learning opportunities can help employees build the self-awareness, communication, empathy, and relationship skills that support productive feedback conversations.
Recognize that giving and receiving feedback are different experiences. Receiving feedback appeared to be relatively similar across work settings. Giving feedback, however, was more closely tied to EI. This suggests that organizations may benefit from helping employees develop the confidence and skills to deliver feedback clearly, constructively, and with care.
As organizations continue to navigate evolving ways of working, one thing is clear: feedback culture depends not only on where people work, but on how equipped they are to have meaningful feedback conversations.
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References
1 Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H. (1986). Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design. Management Science, 32(5), 554–571. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.32.5.554
2 Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(3), 321–326. https://doi.org/10.1089/1094931041291295
3 Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: Enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(8), 1315–1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354
4 Bar-On, R. (2006). The Bar-On model of emotional-social intelligence (ESI). Psicothema, 18(Suppl), 13–25.
