According to a study by Leadership IQ, 51% of people say they get too little constructive criticism from their boss.

Many people don’t get enough feedback at work. Useful feedback helps us get better, learn faster and it can also make us happier and more likely to say good things about our company. The authors of this study report that “employees who said they didn’t get enough feedback were 43% less likely to recommend their company to others as a great organization to work for.”

Now before you get too excited by what may seem like carte blanche to doll out “constructive” criticism like it’s going out of style, just remember: constructive feedback takes some effort. You need to pay attention and be sensitive to the fact that it’s also tough for people to receive. That’s probably why so many of us simply don’t do it or spend time cooking up elabo really rate feedback sandwiches.

For those that do get feedback from their bosses, here is what they need, according to the study:

• When their boss does praise excellent performance, the feedback doesn’t provide enough useful information to help them repeat it.
• When their boss criticizes poor performance, they don’t provide enough useful information to help employees correct the issue.

Mark Murphy, Chairman of Leadership IQ, drives the point home:

“Managers are neglecting one of the most fundamental aspects of their job; providing feedback. Especially in these stressful times, employees are desperate for feedback and interaction with their boss. And when they don’t get it, their job performance suffers. But perhaps worse than the lack of interaction, is the finding that when managers actually do give feedback, more than half of employees say that the feedback is useless. The whole point of feedback is to improve poor performance or reinforce great performance. And this study shows that’s just not happening.”