Most employee surveys are anonymous.
But should they be?
The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed “my employer” had emerged as the most trusted institution, globally standing at 75%. Richard Edelman suggested there was a shift from traditional authority figures and institutions to those relationships people felt were more within their control – most notably their employers. He described this as “the emergence of the new contract between employee and employer, which we call Trust at Work”.
In response to peoples changing expectations the 2020 Trust Barmometer now measures trust on two levels: competence (delivering on promises) and ethical behaviour (doing the right thing and working to improve society). It is no longer only a matter of what you do—it’s also how you do it. This year’s results reveal the level of trust in business has dropped to 64% because while businesses are seen as competent they are not seen as ethical .
Many organisations are focusing on developing trust at work and working hard to create workplaces where people can be open, transparent and honest. However the majority still use anonymous employee surveys to identify what they are doing well and where they can improve. That’s generally because trust is not at a level where they feel they can switch to named or ‘identified’ surveys.
Does using anonymous surveys affect feedback?
At one level the answer is no. Studies have shown, regardless of whether it’s an anonymous or identified survey, people answer most employee survey questions in the same way .
However studies have also highlighted two very important advantages to ‘identified’ surveys:
1: When people give their names they also tend to give more considered answers and more detailed comments.
2: It’s easier to track and follow up responses when people can be identified.
Do anonymous surveys undermine efforts to build trust?
Does using an anonymous employee survey send your people the message that you can’t be trusted?
When completing an employee survey people can be concerned that what they say may upset someone, get them/someone else in “trouble” or be held against them. Your employees experience (with you and other employers) along with the maturity and culture of your organisation will all impact how confident people feel about sharing their opinions and feedback. No two organisations are the same.
While that may mean a named employee survey is not right for your organisation now it doesn’t mean that it won’t be right in the future.
When our clients feel their culture, or people, are not ready for a named survey we encourage them to collect information like department, age, length of service and gender. This gives them the opportunity to prove they will use the information confidentially. It also means they can still narrow down the results to identify strengths and problem areas for different groups of people, and build trust by involving and engaging those people in follow up actions.
Employee surveys can incorporate different levels of anonymity. This may range from complete anonymity to using demographic questions or asking people to identify themselves. When your people feel confident enough to give their names that’s the time to make your employee surveys, and feedback, completely open and transparent.
Are you using your employee survey for change?
An employee survey isn’t only a survey. It’s the starting point for building trust and engagement and driving change and improvement.
Choose the level of anonymity that is right for your organisation culture but be mindful of how and when to change it to meet your future goals and aspirations.
Whatever level of anonymity you choose it’s vitally important your survey process complements and builds trust by:
- Asking questions about stuff that matters to the business and the people taking part
- Telling people why you are doing the survey and what you intend to do with the infromation they provide
- Explaining how you will share the findings
- Getting your people involved in taking productive action
- Keeping the conversation going and create momentum and energy for change.
If your people are not ready to be identified in an employee survey be assured you will still get huge amounts of valuable information but if you want to build trust then you should still plan to move towards identified surveys.
When you start thinking about your next employee survey remember to give some thought to how anonymous it needs to be.
Biga, A., McCance, A.S., & Massman, A.J. (2011) Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Black, J.G., Hyland, P.K., & Rutigliano, P. (2011). Realizing the Promise and Minimizing the Perils of Identified Surveys: Reports From the Field. Industrial and Organizational Psychology