Should staff surveys be anonymous?

The benefits of conducting employee satisfaction surveys can be considerable for your business.

They can give you an up to date snapshot of staff satisfaction levels and can help you to identify potential issues which require management attention, such as a lack of effective training or falling morale.

Surveys can also be used to monitor how employees are progressing with respect to personal and company-wide goals and objectives.

There are many things to consider when designing a staff survey – which couldn't be easier thanks to online survey software.

One of the most important is whether to allow the participants to remain anonymous or not.

The case for anonymity

Employees that know they are filling out a survey in full confidentiality may be more candid and censure their comments less.

Knowing that they will not face personal retaliation for their answers means that you may be more likely to get your staff's unfiltered perspective – a big plus for management.

Since surveying staff satisfaction is one way of engaging your employees, the last thing you want to do is make them feel like they may be singled out because of something they wrote.

The case for identification

Having said all that, anonymous surveys aren't the only solution. In fact, in some cases it can be preferable to go the other route and have staff identify themselves when filling out an employee satisfaction survey.

Anonymity can encourage participants to be more honest, yet it may also make some feel so protected from consequence that they engage in personal attacks or unsubstantiated claims.

There is also less opportunity to monitor the individual satisfaction and progress of your employees when they fill out a survey anonymously.

By being able to match results to the staff member, it is possible to monitor your team on a person by person basis.