Refusing to complete an employer survey...

maninthestreet

Can an employer discipline an employee for refusing to fill in an opinion survey such as this?

Le73Uq86Uv

If forced just lie.

Age, D.O.B. and place of work and just mess up the whole thing.

Simples.

But you did fill it in.

williacg

danielley wrote: »

We have been told we must participate, if I could just abstain I would have.

I dont know what came over me yesterday; normally I would have just completed it and lied through my teeth! I dont have a fiesty bone in my body normally!

Hi there again,

I'd play it light and breezy when you go for your 'little chat', stress the fact that you don't want to make a big issue of the matter, but also, I would gently point out how awkward it was for you when you were summoned by your manager, and even then, you still did not make a song and dance of the matter, hardly the act of a trouble maker. Place the emphasis back on them, that the survey was supposed to be confidential, and yet the details were then disclosed, - they should be the ones feeling bad right now, certainly not you.

I hope all goes well.

DVardysShadow

danielley wrote: »

We have been told we must participate, if I could just abstain I would have.

I dont know what came over me yesterday; normally I would have just completed it and lied through my teeth! I dont have a fiesty bone in my body normally!

In which case, I would just fill in the first option on each question and if anything is required to be written say 'No opinion'.

As they have breached confidentiality, you are right to confront it - and I think it counts for more coming from someone like you,

SueC_2

I think you've done absolutely the right thing, and have handled it very positively. You've not been 'militant' at all. You've explained your reservations very succinctly and reasonably, and suggested a completely practical solution to the problem.

As someone else has said, if your HR deparment have any sense at all, it will be them feeling badly right now, and you should be earning brownie points not brown marks.

Sadly, not all is just in the world, so it may not go that way, but if all else fails you should feel secure in the knowledge that you did the right thing. They asked for feedback, and they got it, just not in the format they perhaps wanted!

danielley

Right!

Just got out of the quick meeting with HR. She was on a course, but came back in early, hence able to see me today.

Basically she has told me she has already highlighted to Management (prior to my email) that staff are holding back on completing these forms as they are scared of the repercussions, and that Management have been told that they must take all responses on board, positive or negative.

She has confirmed that my Manager will see all the responses for our department without names on the forms, however as there are only 2 of us in the department, it wont take him long to figure out who filled which one in (also at the moment, my colleague is also refusing to fill it in)

She said that she would like me to fill it in honestly and if there were repercussion from my manager that I am to tell her immediately, as this is not acceptable.

I came out of the meeting feeling positive, but after talking to some other colleagues who also dont want to complete it truthfully, I still feel like I am playing with fire if I complete it brutally honestly.

SueC_2

To be fair, as there are only two of you in your department and your HR department are determined that your responses will be shared with your line manager, I can't see you have a hope in hell of keeping your responses confidential.

As I see it you have three options:

- Thank HR for their time, and explain that with the process as it currently stands it is obviously impossible for them to guarantee any kind of anonymity, and therefore you will politely decline to fill in the form.

- Suggest that, given the tiny size of your department, HR might want to look at aggregating your department's results with another department(s) in order to preserve a level of confidentiality.

- View the exercise as a type of 360 degree feedback opportunity, as opposed to an anonymous employee survey. ie. Work on the assumption that what you write will be related directly to your boss, and phrase your responses on the form in the constructive manner you would use if you were conducting their annual appraisal.

Given the way you phrased your initial email to HR, I would say you are more than capable of doing the latter. But only you know your workplace and boss, so only you can decide which is the approach that is more likely to have a positive rather than negative effect!

DVardysShadow

SueC wrote: »

As I see it you have three options:

- Thank HR for their time, and explain that with the process as it currently stands it is obviously impossible for them to guarantee any kind of anonymity, and therefore you will politely decline to fill in the form.

I like that option, but bear in mind that you MUST tell the other person, or their responses will be automatically un anonymous.

Le73Uq86Uv

Easy solution is mangers don't get the survey at all and it goes straight to HR.

And I mean everyones, the whole lot of employees after all what has the manager to do with it?

Googlewhacker

DVardysShadow wrote: »

In which case, I would just fill in the first option on each question and if anything is required to be written say 'No opinion'.

As they have breached confidentiality, you are right to confront it - and I think it counts for more coming from someone like you,

I agree with above, just make it as neutral as possible and if asked for an opinion state no opinion.