Many managers and companies have discovered that employee surveys are a valuable tool in determining how things are going. Whether you are trying to understand what your clients think of you or want employee feedback on a new process you've set up in the office, hearing what others think can be extremely important.
When it comes time to develop your survey, one of the key questions you must consider is whether to make it anonymous. Anonymity has plenty of virtues, but it also has some downsides.
In many cases, making a survey anonymous leads to more honest feedback. When respondents know that they won't be tied to their answers, you may get more insight into how they really feel and how things are really going for them. Anonymity may be best for uncomfortable topics like interpersonal matters – manager evaluations, for instance. Your employees may be more likely to speak up or indulge valuable information if they know there won't be any chance of retribution.
At the same time, anonymity can sometimes mean your results are less specific. For example, if you get broad negative feedback from one respondent in a customer service survey, you may be unsure how you can improve the situation because you're not sure exactly what is happening.
If you can't decide whether an anonymous survey would be best for your purposes, consider giving your respondents a choice of whether to answer anonymously or openly at the start of the survey.
Once you have done one survey this way, you may find that the majority of your respondents prefer to answer anonymously, which means you can better design your next satisfaction questionnaire or customer feedback survey.
Get a free demo of PeoplePulse to explore other options you have when designing a questionnaire for your staff.
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