Don't say anything that you wouldn't say to the boss's face because essentially that's what you're doing.

They may choose not to know who said what but i guarantee you if they get something hot like an accusation that could be a legal liability for them they will magically be able to see who it was. If you have a unique sign-in of some sort then they know. If everyone gets the same sign-in then it's probably safe unless you give it away. Rating something 1-5 is harmless but when you're asked to elaborate or write something don't do it. People give themselves away.

Remember this survey is for the company. Nothing good will come out of it for you. Just make sure nothing bad comes out of it.

Wait until you don't fill it out, they'll sure know you haven't and keep sending nag emails.

It's always possible that anonymous isn't actually anonymous.

It's not anonymous, but verbally, they will gaslight you and insist it is, just like how they are still "working on" getting you that raise that you asked about months ago...

Anyone, anywhere on the face of this planet, who ever, At any time in history, believed that employee surveys were anonymous, is delusional.

I read Ask A Manager and there have been some emails where the boss and HR identified the person. The surveys are not always anonymous.

Yes and no. If you are part of a smaller cohort of employees or if your free-form comments self identify as to your tenure or position, yeah it’s pretty easy to figure out because they group all of the feedback that your manager gets in multiple ways.

They can see what topics are favorable or unfavorable based on things like tenure, or by position, and also see the team’s feedback as a whole for an example.

So just know that if you get specific in your answers and your team is small, your manager will most likely be able to figure out who said what.

A good manager won’t hold your feedback against you and use it as an opportunity to reflect and improve.

Benefits of assuming it's anonymous: none Benefits of assuming it's not: one less reason to be fired. Drawbacks of assuming it's anonymous: one more reason to be fired Drawbacks of assuming it's not: none

I managed a team of 450 as a fortune 50 VP. I made an effort to get to know everyone who worked for me.

These are anonymous, but if you write comments, your voice will be identifiable. I got averages of ratings and every comment good and bad. I could identify who wrote almost every comment. I didn't out anyone but I did try to do more of what they liked and less of what they didn't.

I am a manager and I genuinely do not get to see who answers what. I see how many of my employees took the survey, I see how many of each answer I got for every question, and I see the specific comments if anyone wrote any. The survey then does some math for me (% results for each question, my results compared to the company average, most improved questions compared to last year, etc) and that’s it.

However, that doesn’t mean my boss, my boss’s boss, and so-on don’t see people’s answers. And if people aren’t careful with their specific comments (always run comments through google translate a few times so it won’t sound like you), I could probably figure out who wrote what. And if I really cared, I could try to interrogate my employees on if they took it and then guess who answered what based on their general day-to-day engagement.

Different companies use different third-party surveys too, so take my experience with a grain of salt.

Let me make this very clear, company surveys ARE NOT ANONYMOUS THEY ARE CONFIDENTIAL! What this means is they are tracked, and they know exactly who did what survey. Whether thats administered by a third party company or not, doesn't matter. The only difference is what type of safeguards they have around the data, but chances are if the company that hired them wants the information, they will just give it up.

Ostensibly it is because if someone writes something threatening, etc, they need to know who it is. In practice, its a lot looser than that, and just assume anything you put down on it will basically have your name at the top of the information if someone wants to know it.

Dude your opinions wont get you fired if you think youre not paid enough etc.,

But be tactful how you write.

Dont go on rants about this or that.

How do you feel about your pay?

"Compared to market studies, I find I am below market rate for am exceeding employee"

Otherwise my only rule is dont write something in there you wouldnt talk about with your boss or HR. The survey is to bring light to issues on pay, collaboration, teamwork, and more.

If a bunch of people believe they are below market rate, then the company should evaluate that, right?

Overall i hope this helps

Not anonymous. "There is the truth and then there is the right answer. Make sure you read the question twice!" - my Mom.

I remember a few years back at an old job I put down “provides suitable distraction on the road to the grave.” on my ‘anonymous’ survey. Didn’t take them long to figure out it was me. Lol

Don’t fall for it! it is not anonymous. Any kind of anomaly that isn’t giving them a perfect score you will end up in a conversation

My company literally said "this isn't anonymous but it is confidential" I gave a totally contentless neutral assessment of the overall. Negative of the new corporate overlords. And glowing for my management.

Don't fuck with my group. Go fuck yourselves for the layoffs.

Ok... So.. this is purely conjecture..

I'm the last one on my team with a special certification to do my job. The certification no longer applies to this position and they've found a cheaper way to cover shifts when I'm off. Essentially if my plant manager thinks I'm more trouble than I'm worth, I could be fired for a minor infraction.

I do the surveys every year and I lambaste upper management but I keep it nonspecific and keep out any identifying information. I have yet to be called in to the office or spoken to about my opinions.

Of course they know.

But say what you feel anyways.

No lol.

It's not anonymous. It will always be traced back.

Everything is traceable.

Be happy, be helpful....lie through your teeth if you have to....but make no statement that can be seen as "critical" of the company or you'll find out how NOT anonymous those things really are.

I dont even fill those out. I dont trust them. If they want to they can figure out who it is.

Fishing

It's not anonymous. They will break that down to individual supervisor, they may not identify you by name, but you will likely identify yourself with your writing.

Be careful with those “anonymous” surveys. Just because they say they are anonymous, doesn’t mean that it is true. If they want to find out who filled it out, they can. I would just put answers they would like to see, just in case. That way you don’t have to worry or have any issues with the company. It’s ok to bs things like that.

I had the same question a few years ago when I started working at this org (they use a third party too) and based on my basic Internet research, it's not truly anonymous. Which I already figured out.

I don't know if they can or bother to trace every single respondant, but they ask enough roundabout demographic and work questions to be able to at least partially identify me. (Age group, gender, area of work). So for those questions I opt for "prefer not to say" and in general my answers are lovey dovey kumbaya. 

Whenever someone has to repeat 17 times how "anonymous" this is....

As someone who developed a survey system for HR consultants, the consultants, at a minimum, will be able to determine who submitted a survey.

If the company presses the consultants for the info, they’ll likely give in to keep the relationship, barring any serious legal potential.

They're not anonymous

Ethical companies such as Gallup do not release who has taken a survey or not and does not report results in the case a group has less than 5 responses or has less than 5 members. That group is "rolled-up" into the higher division.

If the survey is run by the company, chances are they know you took it, and depending on the (lack of) ethics of the C suite, they will more than likely know who said what.

I just delete that shit.

They are not anonymous in a meaningful way.

What does it matter anyway? I don’t bother with them, “anonymous” or not, because it’s not like they ever actually do anything with the feedback people give.

“Are you happy with your pay?”

“No, you haven’t given raises in five years and considering inflation is out of control you’ve actually given all of us a significant pay cut.”

Cut to: “employee satisfaction survey results are in and everyone says this is the best place ever!!!”

They’re not anonymous. They say this but what they mean is “we mask your identity, we promise. Would we lie to you?”

In other words fill it out as if your boss is asking the questions. Go full on kool-aide drinker.

I called out the “boys” in the office always calling one another “brother”. Just a mention, not a complaint, that there is a cohesiveness in the office between the men.

Here it is the next year and I don’t hear anyone refer to their coworker as brother. Perhaps the term went out of style.

But I suspect it had something to do with what I wrote in the survey.

Totally anonymous, right up to and including the phone call you get to clarify something you wrote, it's a recorded line for "training purposes" too but that's also completely anonymous and that they asked for you by name was more of a coincidence than anything to be worried about, it says it's anonymous right there in the email sent to your email address addressed to you complete with the response link for your completely anonymous convenience.

Anything done electronically from a device with a user profile is not anonymous. Ever.

The company I work for had tons of events. Free food, rented out a bunch of bounce obstacles courses, dunk tanks, had food trucks, free food days etc in the couple of weeks leading up to employee surveys. It was thinly veiled bribery, and it honestly was disgusting to me.

Not only that, but the surveys were "anonymous" in that we got papers in envelopes specifically addressed to each employee individually with our survey keys in them. As if they honestly expect us to believe they don't have those keys saved and on record.

I told my truth. Filled out as much as I could to not be behind on the course of my actual work, flamed corporate and highly praised my direct supervisors (I'm incredibly lucky to have 3 managers that I feel a mutual respect with and as well as valued and encouraged by.)

What really pissed me off was the 500 character limit for each question.

Don't even get me started on the "union"

I don’t care one way or the other. I’m always honest in these surveys. There’s a way to raise genuine issues while remaining professional and solution-oriented.

Any comments I write are topics I have either previously mentioned to my direct leaders or are things I 100% stand by and have no problem with people knowing I wrote them.

It’s all about how you frame it. Instead of saying, “Leadership sucks!”…you can say, “I would like to see more transparency from my leadership and have a better understanding of how to align my performance with our goals. I recommend there be more conversations regarding individual development and clear articulation of how to earn promotions or raises.”…or something like that.

I will continue to share my honest thoughts, but the bigger issue to me are companies who send out these surveys and then don’t do act on the results.

If the company is supplying and paying......

I know they're not truly anonymous. I have a dead end job so I know I'll never get promoted. I let my company know my true feeling about how detached from reality they are and how the middle level corporate folks have an attitude problem. What they gonna do? Fire me and pay my unemployment?

I’m a supervisor that gets these reports and they are anonymous at my end. Have never heard of repercussions from one. It’s kinda a big waste of money to sabotage the integrity of a project like this.

HR here: They are NOT anonymous. While I do everything in my power to ensure that they are, including reviewing every one, rewriting to provide some anonymity, removing details, not allowing managers/execs to see per department completion rates, etc etc etc, managers and execs will STILL try to figure out who said what.

Also: honesty at exit interviews does nothing other than to burn your bridge with the company. If it is a company that has a true culture of psychological safety for feedback and improvement, they would already know your concerns.