anonymous feedback surveys of collegues

dontlikemondays

A friend of mine as been asked by her manager to give her opinions about her collegues in an anoninous form.
She asked my advice as someone who has suffered harassment at work previously.

I said I wouldn't fill in such a form as I believe a manager should make their own mind up about the people they manage.

If it was me I would state that I am unhappy about being asked ti complete such a divisive task and maybe even put a complaint in to HR about it.

What do you guys think of this way of managing?

elsien

360 degree feedback - they tried it at my last place. I think it can work if properly introduced and everyone understands what's going on. Which doesn't sound like the case here. What they normally do is pick two or three colleagues to give feedback for one person,
However in practice I found that most people say stuff that's so bland it's worthless.
If I were her, rather than making a fuss, that's the route I'd go down. Find some innocuous phrases and put those down. If she has any genuine positive comments she wants to share that would be nice for the person and if she's worried about people guessing who it came from don't put anything negative in.

asajj

Generally, they are run by a 3rd party company and others shouldn't be able to see them. 360 degree feedback is a really useful tool actually as above, if done properly. However always good to be sensitive about what you write.

On the other hand, putting a complaint to HR is a bit over the top.

DandelionPatrol

elsien wrote: »

Which doesn't sound like the case here. What they normally do is pick two or three colleagues to give feedback for one person

As this is anonymous feedback, for maximum value from the data, they probably only give the form to one colleague at a time.

getmore4less

How is the anonimity being managed.

if done properly they would have no idea who did not do the forms if they were one short.


or they have a few extra.

bluenoseam

I personally wouldn't trust one not done by a third party company - they'll generally ask for say a payroll number to "validate" that you're an employee but that information will never be shown. I tend to fill them in whenever we get them (usually every 12-18 months) but I'm known for being quite brutal & honest anyway, so I answer them as such. If it gets back to the higher up's who it is who wrote it I wouldn't be too bothered as I have more than enough evidence to prove what I have written.

If it's done "in house" so to speak though I'd be very wary, there's a much bigger chance that it could be used against you or against a colleague.