LunaAtlas
13899
383
4
Jul 29, 2026 2:49 AM
LunaAtlas
13899
383
4
PunnyTiger
my old office sent out an "anonymous survey" that you had to access by the unique link in your email. I clicked on it, decided it was unacceptably sketchy, then closed it. About a week later my manager said "hey, HR says you still haven't completed your anonymous survey yet" I replied "How do they know?" Boss stopped in his tracks and said "I... don't know." He then sent out team an email telling us not to fill them out if we hadn't already. He was the last good boss I ever had.
LeifHietala
Anonymity doesn't exist for me anymore. My tenure is so long that I'm alone in my bracket.
TheFatWhisperer
The last reminder I got about the "anonymous" survey included "The link is unique to you, please do not share".
Bubbells
Twas I that cropdusted the boss's office knowing he then had an hour long meeting in there
Draygen
I was talking trash about my boss once, and he calls out, "I'm in here. I can hear you.* I looked at him and said, "Oh, I know. That's why I said it. I'll never say anything about you I wouldn't say to you." He paused for a moment and then replied, "You know, I believe you." Proceeded to spend the next two years trying to get me to take a promotion.
CitizenPrime
The key is to not comment
MechKelly
No such thing as an anonymous survey on the computer. If it's paper in a drop box, ok. Online, hell no.
shano510
My partner is the only employee/manager in his department and that info is collected in the "anonymous" surveys... So he doesn't full them out and hr yells him because obviously "tHeY aRe AnOnYmOuS"
unluckyandbored
Sure. So why do I have to log into my work account to take it?
PuppyBella
I started a new job 3. They send me "New Employee" surveys every 30 days and make no promises whatsoever about anonymity. There is no chance in hell I am going to complete anyone's survey.
LerryV2
My old job you had to log into the corp website with your credentials to fill out anonymous forms.
SuicidalThots666
The last time my boss told me an employee survey was anonymous, I actually laughed in his face. We all know nothing done on a computer is anonymous anymore. Fucking bastards...
ispendtomuchtimehere
I never tell the truth..I'm lying to you now..
Elonth
*kills random person standing next to you.*
"Is he dead?"
RatOnnaStick
Elonth
its a refrence to a famous joke involving "one of us tells lies, the other only truthes" that is solved by a barbarian.
RatOnnaStick
Oh. I get it, that’s funny. :)
VosperOfAntarctica
The next statement is true.
The previous statement is false.
meowingintensifies
https://youtu.be/cDA8or0-WjM?si=kdUA-IGD14Xn81T-&t=6
an0therthr0waway
I get about six follow-up emails reminding me to fill out the survey each year, so I know they're watching.
adiving
Building a system that works like that and is actually anonymous is piss easy. Not that I'd ever actually trust them with it, but it's not proof by itself.
UristImiknorris
I completed it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
TheobromineAddict
Lol… They really don't see it, do they.
an0therthr0waway
hmm...
rbudrick
"bUt ThEy SeNd ThOsE tO aLl EmPlOyEes." No, they don't.
Snooj
As someone from the industry, here's the scoop: third parties control the surveys and even though they are "anonymous" they still keep track of who has completed them. The only information fed back to the employer is who has not done it. UNLESS a survey comes back with information deemed a threat, like if someone says "I hate this place so much I'm going to shoot my boss". Then they are able to unlock who wrote it and notify the company. So in general, yes, anonymous. But not irreversibly.
jayman0123
And it's segmented by job too. Example: 2 of your 6 _____ job holders give you a rating of 2/10 on _____ subject or 1 of your 3 _____ commented that they saw their boss take unethical actions in the last year. Pretty easy to figure out a good chunk of the time.
GoSibi
From what my manager has told me, they keep the names off but he gets to see the comments and can usually figure out who it is from that.
I always just give everything average marks and no comments. I've never seen the bosses do anything more than talk about making changes about actual complaints anyway.
Snooj
The primary downside of anonymous surveys is exactly what you said; they never create change. I never understood the point of them. But for that first one, yes. I used to read emails from those people all day; there was one person who I could tell by the first sentence who it was. Others were trickier but still possible to Columbo the whole deal.
GoSibi
The point of them seems to be that they like to brag about anything that just happens to get high marks.
Snooj
So, in a nutshell, similar to what you tell your therapist, it is as anonymous as it needs to be. A responsible third party collates the data and sends back just the data to your employer. If you type any responses remember that the text gets sent over unedited so if you refer to situations or people in a way that makes the author clear then you could be outed for general criticisms. Especially if you're the guy in the office who always uses an ellipsis for a period.
Twinklepot
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1OTJtNDd2bHVuZDBpM293YWxlcmkwNTFhaW41YmwzcTBoYmVqeXQxZiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/n4oKYFlAcv2AU/200w.webp
WebMaka
Yep, always change your typing style when filling out something that's supposed to be anonymous if you're suspicious about it. Otherwise, your style might act as a fingerprint.
yamsonyamsonyams
We were told thst same horseshit - and then we were told thst our managers all got the feedback we gave them
So no, don’t trust what this person is saying. Im sure they believe they are right, and I am not accusing them of lying, but it’s not worth risking your employment
Do you really think your company gives a shit if you have faith in the management ?
Snooj
They do get all the feedback but if the survey is handled appropriately by a third party they don't see who it's from. But if your manager has only four direct reports and they all have distinct typing styles it's not difficult to figure out who wrote what. They get raw data from votes but if there are any text boxes they'll see *exactly* what you type in. So they see the bad typing styles and idiosyncrasies of everyone. Sometimes it's not hard to figure it out.
yamsonyamsonyams
Precisely
Not worth the gamble