Are Employee Engagement Surveys Really Anonymous?

How do you really feel about your workplace? Do you feel safe expressing your opinions and criticism? Are those employee engagement surveys truly anonymous? We know it’s not always easy to speak up. But good or bad, your experience matters.

Still staring at the email calling “Please complete your Anonymous Employee Engagement Survey”. We understand you have a lot to say, but retaliating to the after-effects of it.

It’s natural to doubt if the response could impact your job or future opportunities. And the fear can lead to vague answers.

So, how can you trust the process? How widely is the anonymity of employee surveys being handled? Let’s dive into the reality of anonymous surveys.

Is employee engagement important?

Employee engagement acts as a channel for hearing the employees' voices. The employers get to know what employees have to say. Employee Engagement is central to the wellness of employees. There is no second thought to this; employee engagement is indeed important.

Employee engagement has the following benefits.

• Improves the quality of the workplace.
• Builds trust between employers and employees.
• Keep employees satisfied, knowing their voice is heard.
• Helps employers to make changes to the organizational policy.

Employee Engagement is usually done in the form of surveys. The most important question here is “Are employee engagement surveys really Anonymous?”

Are they really Anonymous?

No they’re not completely anonymous. The harsh truth is that employee surveys are often not as anonymous as they have to be. While companies might promise that your responses are anonymous, the reality is that there are multiple ways your identity could be linked to your feedback, whether intentionally or accidentally.

We have come across many such incidents where people claim they are fired for answering an anonymous survey. Here’s a case of a person who answered an employee survey claiming to be anonymous and providing honest feedback about workplace issues. Shortly thereafter, he was fired under suspicious circumstances that seemed directly linked to his survey responses. You can read their story here.

Common Practices That May Unintentionally Reveal Identities

There are several common practices in survey administration that can unintentionally expose respondents’ identities:

IP Address Tracking: Many survey platforms automatically collect IP addresses from participants. Even if the survey responses are stored separately from IP data, it’s technically possible to match responses with IP addresses, especially in smaller organizations where fewer people are using the same network.

Cookies: Some survey platforms use cookies to track participants' activity. While this may be intended for legitimate purposes, such as preventing multiple submissions from the same user, it also means that there’s a digital fingerprint linking the survey response to a specific device.

Metadata Collection: Beyond IP addresses and cookies, surveys might collect additional metadata such as the time of submission, browser type, and operating system.

Small sample sizes: In smaller teams, it is very easy to match the response even without any specific identifiers.

Timing: If the survey platform records the exact timing of the submission, it can link back to someone who was using company resources at that time, it narrows down the possibilities.

Risks of Non-Anonymity

Lack of Anonymity in surveys comes with its own risk. Those risks are listed here.

• Survey responses can be traced back to the employees, compromising their Anonymity. The employee may be reprised for their honest response in such cases.
• Employees will withhold feedback, resulting in lower response rates. Lower response rates lead to lesser sample size, which is not sufficient to make insightful decisions.
• Lack of Anonymity in such surveys will lead to dishonest and biased responses. This will affect the very purpose of the survey and result in biased decisions.
• The absence of trust between employees and management. This can negatively impact the overall workplace environment, thwarting overall employee engagement.

How BlockSurvey can help?

BlockSurvey is designed with a deep commitment to privacy and anonymity, ensuring the voices of your employees are heard without the fear of being identified. Now let’s see how BlockSurvey has taken anonymity to the next level.

No Trackers, No IP storage

Blocksurvey’s commitment to privacy starts from end-to-end encryption and also No Trackers,No IP Address collection. This means that when your employees take a survey, they can be confident that their participation isn’t being silently monitored or linked to other online activities.

The ‘Anonymous Seal’

BlockSurvey proudly displays an "Anonymous Seal" on all its surveys, serving as a visible assurance to respondents that their responses are completely private. Employers can create a completely anonymous survey by turning on this option, which in turn restricts the addition of questions that can be related to the employee's PII.

Zero Knowledge Platform

As we said, BlockSurvey is built on a privacy-first approach; all the data that is involved is stored in decentralized storage. Also they are encrypted using the secret key of the user, so zero-risk being involved in terms of data breaches.

Conclusion

Employee engagement surveys play an important role in driving positive change in the work environment. If you want to make a real impact, it’s essential to prioritize anonymity. When companies understand the need for employee privacy, they develop trust and create an environment for honest feedback.

With BlockSurvey, you can create that space to ensure anonymity and gain trust. So, employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts without the fear of consequences. By prioritizing anonymity, companies can build a space where employees feel valued and engaged, leading to a productive and happier workplace.

Are you ready for honest feedback? Give BlockSurvey a try today. For more insights on why surveys should be anonymous check out this blog.