"Anonymous" employee surveys?

SlavOz on 26/08/2022 - 17:23

Does anyone else find these completely degrading and pointless? They are not anonymous, despite what you're told. Maybe they can't see individual responses but the whole purpose of it is to measure the satisfaction level of each team. So if your team scores low, they'll start to ask why, scrutinise the managers etc. So I think most people are smart enough to just tick the "Very Satisfied" box for every question and move on.

I remember at my last job, they called my team in because our responses were "too low", so we had to justify why we all consistently scored low on "how happy are you with our diversity training or amenities" questions.

It's clearly not a process designed for honesty or critical thinking…what's the point if they just strong-arm everyone into voting positively?

Education & Work

Comments

  • Hybroid on 26/08/2022 - 17:26
    +9

    That's not how it works for us. We see the collated results of the Peakon surveys and company takes active steps to target the dissenting areas. It's worked well and we've had real meaningful change in some instances.

    • SlavOz on 26/08/2022 - 17:44
      +1

      active steps to target the dissenting areas

      So still not a platform that fosters open criticism and honesty.

      • Hybroid on 26/08/2022 - 17:49
        +11

        Of course it does, that's the point. You rate questions from 1-10 and can add text with further context on your thoughts around it and why you scored it as such. The results are then shared openly across the board and the lowest scored areas are focused on to understand employee's sentiment/issues while ensuring they maintain the highest scored ones too.

        There's a huge breadth of topics from pay to line manager support to expected workload to training/development opportunities to work culture to company values etc. There are absolutely no issues with being open and honest. There's even been specific drop-in feedback sessions to target specific ones so people have a chance to express their views further. Not every company silences their staff, some genuinely want the feedback to improve.

      • jatyap on 26/08/2022 - 19:14
        +6

        I don't think he means "targetting the people who dissent". Rather, I believe he means, "focussing on specific areas where there is dissent or negative criticism, in order to attempt to improve upon them".

        I'd have to say I'm happy I work in a company that does that as well. In fact, in our company we regularly challenge our leaders during discussions, and as long as the points are valid, they are happy to take suggestions, or respond with their reasoning on why certain policy is being applied.

  • Hellfire on 26/08/2022 - 17:29
    +5

    I've been in a couple of orgs that had this and it can either be good or bad depending on the culture. At one place we got blamed for the low scores because we didn't "understand" the questions or scoring system.. And nothing was ever done.

    At another place management actively tried to address the issues and things actually improved.

  • GoldenDragon888 on 26/08/2022 - 17:32
    +2

    I remember the chairman of the board came in to give us a dressing down for our responses. Mainly as the managing director got a savaging in the survey.

  • Colin2905 on 26/08/2022 - 17:34

    It was a long time ago, but I recall Fredo Frogs being handed out to entice us to complete the EOS. I assume that the response rate was a KPI for some manager.

    • jv on 26/08/2022 - 21:18
      -1

      I assume that the response rate was a KPI for some manager.

      No, it's because most people in your previous survey said their blood sugar level was low…

  • SF3 on 26/08/2022 - 17:39
    +1

    It's for confirmation bias.

  • DashCam AKA Rolts on 26/08/2022 - 17:42
    +7

    What's just happened? I find myself in total agreement with @SlavOz on this.

    • scrambledeggs on 26/08/2022 - 17:48

      There's a first time for everything, I guess

    • bobbified on 27/08/2022 - 14:28

      You've just lost your SlavOz virginity!

  • scrambledeggs on 26/08/2022 - 17:47

    I know for a fact these surveys aren't really that anonymous. The results are technically anonymous, but if you answer 10 questions, "reptile 12" is against every one of your responses. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who is who.

  • Darude Sandstorm on 26/08/2022 - 18:41

    I always downvote. If I'm never not looking for another job I may give higher votes.

  • whatwasherproblem on 26/08/2022 - 18:48
    +4

    It's clearly not a process designed for honesty or critical thinking…what's the point if they just strong-arm everyone into voting positively?

    I agree with you actually, but the Satan lawyer position is this: self-awareness and 'reading the room' are always good skills that you want to nurture in employees (and, in particular, punish the employees that mess it up). If one of your peons doesn't understand that they shouldn't rock the boat even in a no-stakes situation like an pseudoanonymous internal poll that doesn't matter, then you want to determine that they're going to behave like such before letting them anywhere near company social media, press releases, liaisons, and so on. So a poll is useful for this sort of fact-finding, too.

  • Ughhh on 26/08/2022 - 18:58

    If it's hand written answers, you can probably identify the author of each survey too.

  • AustriaBargain on 26/08/2022 - 19:20
    -7

    Why would you be unhappy with diversity training? Australia has a long history of casually overt racism and discrimination, so diversity training has to be a good thing.

    • Daabido on 26/08/2022 - 19:46
      +6

      What if you just don't want to, because you're not responsible for those that came before you, or you've done it before. Is unhappy on the same spectrum as pissed off?

      • AustriaBargain on 26/08/2022 - 19:48
        -5

        It doesn't matter if you're not responsible for generations before you, you are responsible for how you treat other people today. You're getting paid for the training anyway so why should you care. If you don't already have any ill-will towards other races or people with disabilities or people who are just different to you, then why should you care?

        • Daabido on 26/08/2022 - 19:53
          +5

          I treat people fine, all day every day, no matter their race or disability. I care because it is a waste of time and resources.

          • AustriaBargain on 26/08/2022 - 20:00
            -3

            @Daabido: And your employer should just take your word for it?

            • onetwothreefour on 26/08/2022 - 20:06
              +2

              @AustriaBargain: They would know about if he didn't.

              There won't be much benefit forcing someone to do a course they don't want to do.

    • SlavOz on 26/08/2022 - 20:13
      +2

      Diversity training just fuels identity politics. It rarely adds any value, least of all to the people who it's supposed to "help". I'm more than happy to take part in practical programs that actually have a purpose beyond a corporate PR page.

      Australia does have a terrible history, but we are no longer racist. If you think we are, you should be trying to stop the immigrants from coming to this racist country where they will (supposedly) be mistreated.

      • [Deactivated] on 27/08/2022 - 18:25
        +1

        I have no issue with diversity training. A few months ago we were sent to a cultural awareness program relating to Australia’s indigenous peoples.

        I was amazed that there are still people alive from the stolen generations. I had no idea it was so recent. We definitely didn’t get taught that in school when I was growing up. All we got was first fleet and captain cook and that song about bound for botany bay.

        There was a lot more we learnt than just stolen generations but that really stuck with me.

  • onetwothreefour on 26/08/2022 - 20:04
    +1

    I have 5 people who report to me and one year I scored negatively when it asked a question about "your direct manager" only one person in my team answered negatively for this question which was me but from the results it was assumed that someone in my team did it. Since that day I've always scored that question positively so some of the questions are setup for not honest answers.

  • jv on 26/08/2022 - 21:15
    -1

    Does anyone else find these completely degrading and pointless?

    no

  • jv on 26/08/2022 - 21:16
    -1

    So if your team scores low, they'll start to ask why

    Oh… Now I see why you asked.

  • PoKGuy on 27/08/2022 - 08:36

    I just sugar coat my response. ;)

  • 2esc on 27/08/2022 - 09:08

    With arge business or teams staff feedback may have its value but in smaller businesses or teams it can actually cause more division between management and employees if the surveys are too targeted.

    Managers are human and take criticism personally.

    In our organisation the surveys have improved over the years more about the overall organisation and less about individual departments. Our survey responses are more honest now where years ago even though supposedly anonymous the questions asked could easily identify where the feedback was coming from.

    Some people say be upfront with your opinions on everything but even in the best workplace that would not be wise.

    Personally if I had problems with my organisation there are some bosses / coworkers I would prefer to approach and others I would find work arounds. Example one boss I had in the past once I worked him out I wouldn't even dream of approaching under particular circumstances get him at the right time and he was great.

  • kraigg on 27/08/2022 - 09:13
    +1

    For a while our organisation was using SharePoint to do "anonymous" staff surveys. So each survey could be tracked down to the logged in user's email address, in other words, not anonymous at all.

  • sueos on 27/08/2022 - 10:02

    When we did these ‘Employee Satisfaction’ surveys the manager would stand behind us to make sure we ticked all the right boxes! It’s a joke.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/08/2022 - 12:11

    I do them. Where we score poorly they implement an action plan. It works ok. The constant that never changes is feelings towards executive managers. That always scores poorly for visibility, engagement and approachability.

    We had poor scores one year for leave availability and that was fixed for our team. For inclusivity and diversity we had high scores and our manager was asked to support other leaders.

    It’s anonymous as we all get given the same link and are able to do it on any device even non work.

    I guess there will always be people that are cynical and there are also probably some organisations that aren’t honest about anonymity.

  • FimpBARGAIN on 27/08/2022 - 13:48
    +1

    We used to do them when I worked for a large company.
    After 2yrs of terrible feedback they demoted our manager. Great result! Except they demoted him down into the team who couldn't stand him…

  • Amazingly on 27/08/2022 - 14:26
    +2

    I always rip through these surveys fast.

    Less time spent the better as I’ve no interest in writing things that can give away who I am.

    Just rate the top score as I don’t want any repercussions.

    Many might say it’s a cop out but I’m generally happy with my job as long as I’m left alone to do what I’m good at.

  • Rayzorback on 27/08/2022 - 18:54

    My workplace offers a 2 hour payment to complete the survey….. and as an added bonus I get a say in just how bad some of them can be.

  • freefall101 on 28/08/2022 - 11:24

    Quit your job. You’re there voluntarily, if you don’t send them a message no one will.

    First it’s the face masks, then it’s the woke training, if you don’t take a stand it’s a slippery slope to slave labour.

  • CrowReally on 30/08/2022 - 12:12

    "My company has a documented procedure whereby they can prove they've checked in on employee welfare and satisfaction. Why do they do this???"

    • Amazingly on 31/08/2022 - 08:58

      Harder to blame them for work stress and go on compo for it?

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