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My company will be initiating an employee engagement survey again soon and I'm not sure if I should answer the questions honestly or if I should "game" the system. 

 

This will the the third survey, the first two were in 2008 and 2010.  They are administered by an outside agency.  As far as I know, they are confidential. 

 

The questions change somewhat each year. but there will be questions about "My Manager"  such as "My manager provides me with timely and helpful feedback"; "My manager cares about my well-being"; and "My manager is an effective listener."  The multiple choices range from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree.  When my manager is under stress he becomes very angry and demeaning....he becomes a real bully.  Under non-stressful times, he doesn't believe in feedback and coaching.  As he says, he "manages through sarcasm. "

 

The problem is that when they aggregate the survey answers, my answers are included with those of my team, not as reporting to my manager.  If I answer the "My Manager" questions honestly, they literally count toward my performance and not toward the performance of my manager.  I don't have a large team, so my honest answers will affect my engagement performance statistics.  Survey results matter in my company.

Based on Manager Tools advice, my "honest" answers would not fall into the "Strongly Disagree" range. On the other hand, if I want to "game" the system, I would answer these questions more toward the "Agree" range.  I don't want to game the system, but I want my engagement performance statistics to be good....I'm certain that my team will give me good marks, but I don't want to take any chances.  What am I missing???? 

cim44's picture
Training Badge

That your my manager responses are put under your scores?  Have you asked?  Seems like a pretty poor system to me that they couldn't account for that, especially if the scores are meant to mean a lot in your company.

JWWilcox's picture

Thank you for the question. 

I saw the 2008 report and it was very clear that all of my responses were included with the responses from my team (it was the same for all of the sub-department managers within our department) .  It is a poor system.  However, if I say something, it will be obvious why I'm asking. 

cim44's picture
Training Badge

You could ask but phrase it in a way that you are concerned that you aren't getting a clear view of your results because your votes seem to be included?  Would they just say don't fill out your my manager portion?

Solitaire's picture

I encountered a very similar situation at a previous company, who at the time was listed as 60-something in the Fortune 500 ratings. The difference was that any scores for me as a manager rolled up into my manager's overall score. I got on well with my team and they were happy with me and scored me well. He was not as well respected, gave very little feedback and he did not hold O3s. Therefore he would end up getting an overall good review even though most of his results were based on the performance of his directs. They also said that they took the survey seriously and wanted to make changes based on the results, I and others were skeptical about this statement!

Everyone also had the opportunity to write comments about anything they wanted to comment on. Although the whole survey was anonymous, it was usually very obvious who had written each comment and who it was about (where relevant).

We didn't realise what was happening until after the survey had happened, so it was too late to instruct people to change their answers. I left soon after that, so didn't get a chance to see what happened the following year.

As this is the other way round for you and could affect your perception and performance in the company. I would advise playing the game and keeping your responses neutral to favourable. If you do add any comments, make sure they are things you'd be happy to discuss freely with your manager face to face and would be happy if they identified it was you that wrote the comments.

Good luck,
Jane

RaisingCain's picture

If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.  You're empty or neutral answers, e.g. not positive, will tell a story without being a problem for you.

RC

JWWilcox's picture

It would be too obvious in this environment.

JWWilcox's picture

"I would advise playing the game and keeping your responses neutral to favourable. If you do add any comments, make sure they are things you'd be happy to discuss freely with your manager face to face and would be happy if they identified it was you that wrote the comments."

 

Thanks Jane - this looks like the best approach to me, too.

JWWilcox's picture

Right on, RC.  Thx

Deanerdub's picture
Training Badge

This is an old question, but I am facing a similar dilemma with questions so close to the ones you describe it makes me wonder if we work for the same company or at least our companies are using the same third party.

I my case it is less about the fear of ruining my own numbers than it is about making a glaring step back against my boss and our relationship.  He might have a hard time figuring out who is throwing him under the bus, he'd narrow it down to a group including me.  He'd be right.  Under the "Don't Give Feedback to Your Boss" cast we learned that it is just too risky.  So I'm not going to answer at all.  However, to not answer will mean that he doesn't have the minimum number of responses to get results.  That sends a message for sure. But does it help?  Is it effective?

So far I have not answered it.  I couldn't do it.  I would have had to lie too much.

Insight would be appreciated. Was not answering the best decision for you JWW when you look back on it now?

 

Deanerdub's picture
Training Badge

This is an old question, but I am facing a similar dilemma with questions so close to the ones you describe it makes me wonder if we work for the same company or at least our companies are using the same third party.

I my case it is less about the fear of ruining my own numbers than it is about making a glaring step back against my boss and our relationship.  He might have a hard time figuring out who is throwing him under the bus, he'd narrow it down to a group including me.  He'd be right.  Under the "Don't Give Feedback to Your Boss" cast we learned that it is just too risky.  So I'm not going to answer at all.  However, to not answer will mean that he doesn't have the minimum number of responses to get results.  That sends a message for sure. But does it help?  Is it effective?

So far I have not answered it.  I couldn't do it.  I would have had to lie too much.

Insight would be appreciated. Was not answering the best decision for you JWW when you look back on it now?

 

Deanerdub's picture
Training Badge

In the absence of another option that I felt would not come back on me, I gave a perfect score.  Which ought to be caught as BS by a good system, but won't be.  In the end, if you have to bluff, might as well bluff big.  MT is clear about "Do Not Give Feedback to Your Boss."  It's just too dangerous.

Besides, like JWW this stupid test puts my scores in with my team's scores.  Since I have been using MT I know that I have better relationships with my team than I have in the past.  I will be able to factor out the perfect score to see the reality and I am not throwing myself under the bus to tell the truth about my boss - on the survey and outside of it.