The Power of Anonymity for Employee Feedback

The pros of anonymous employee feedback

Regardless of the type of business you own, obtaining anonymous employee feedback can be a great way to solicit ideas for company improvements. It can be as critical as getting customer feedback. 

“Anonymous feedback is crucial as it empowers employees to share concerns without fear, promoting transparency,” said Stephanie Alston, founder of BGG Enterprises.

Here are some of the advantages of allowing workers to provide feedback without attaching their names.

1. Even the silent have a voice.

Every company has employees who voice their opinions readily and those who stand on the sidelines and don’t express their concerns openly. Invitations for anonymous feedback allow those who typically don’t speak their minds to address any issues without fearing retaliation or worrying about speaking up in front of others. Promising anonymity and confidentiality can be the motivation shyer workers need to give their candid opinions.

“The real value of feedback is in how it’s used. Managers need to look for trends and common themes in the feedback and then act on those insights,” said Doug Arms, chief operating officer of TemPositions. “If there are themes that arise that require action, companies should be transparent that an issue surfaced that has affected a portion of the workforce. The company should communicate that feedback has been heard and actions are being taken to address it.”

2. Employees will focus on the question, not the interviewer.

When questions are asked face to face, many respondents lose focus on the content of the question and instead give the response they think the interviewer wants to hear. In contrast, when employees have time to sit with the question without worrying about an instantaneous reaction to their response, they can give more thoughtful answers that truly reflect how they feel — not how they think someone expects them to feel.

3. It prevents the fear of ‘stupid’ questions.

It is common for people to be afraid to ask questions that they fear may be considered stupid. But if you provide staffers the opportunity to ask questions anonymously, they don’t have to worry about their identity being tied to the question. Workers can submit inquiries on topics they may otherwise be embarrassed to ask about.

The cons of anonymous employee feedback

While soliciting employee feedback can help staffers feel more connected to the company, there are a few downsides to consider when deciding if this is the right type of feedback for your business.

1. You can get skewed results.

If you distribute anonymous employee surveys with biased questions, you can decrease the effectiveness of your effort. For example, questions that lead respondents in a certain direction, vague questions or questions with a negative framing could impact the way respondents give their answers. Flawed questions lead to flawed feedback. Additionally, if only a small group of employees are participating in your feedback initiative, their opinions may not be representative of your workforce as a whole. 

2. Feedback is sometimes misinterpreted.

Because opportunities to provide anonymous feedback aren’t two-way conversations, responses can be misinterpreted. When you’re engaging with someone face to face, it isn’t hard to ensure both sides comprehend the points being made. But without that context, it’s all too easy to misjudge intent, tone and other aspects that impact understanding. You also may be collecting data that lacks nuance and, therefore, isn’t giving you an accurate picture.

3. There may be no follow-up.

Without knowing who provided what feedback, it can be difficult to follow up and resolve the issues identified. In other cases, it’s easy to drop the ball and let things go. However, not following up on employee feedback is worse than not asking for feedback in the first place. If employees are giving feedback consistently and not seeing any action taken as a result, they may become disengaged and resentful. 

How to get anonymous employee feedback

Having a pulse on company morale is more important than ever with staffing issues fueled by trends like quiet quitting and The Great Resignation. Fortunately, in the digital age, it’s never been easier to collect employee feedback. Here are a few popular ways to solicit anonymous feedback.

“Collecting employee feedback is critical to attracting, retaining, rewarding, and engaging employees across all stages of the employee lifecycle,” said Timothy Glowa, founder of HR Brain. “It’s essential to use the right tool for the information you want to gather: Surveys are best for projecting results across the workforce, while focus groups and interviews help uncover “why” employees feel a certain way or “how” they make decisions.”

Digital surveys

Google Forms, SurveyMonkey and other tools allow you to build custom forms and surveys in minutes. You can use a variety of question types, such as multiple choice, short answer or ranking, make some questions required and add various bells and whistles. Once your survey is distributed, it’s simple to export the results into a spreadsheet for analysis.

Employee feedback software

Employee feedback software from vendors like Officevibe, Leapsome and Assembly allows you to schedule questionnaires, polls and surveys for regular distribution. Scheduling employee feedback opportunities helps employers consistently engage with employees and proactively recognize areas of concern before issues boil over. These programs can track and analyze feedback via various reports that alert you to trends and growing problems.

“Start with simple surveys, like post-enrollment feedback, and ensure they’re conducted immediately after the relevant event, such as during open enrollment,” said Glowa. “Since companies typically spend $16,000 per employee on healthcare, investing as little as $2 per employee for a post-enrollment survey provides quick insights while benchmarking against industry standards.”

Suggestion inbox

To set up a suggestion inbox, you can create an evergreen, one-question online form that asks, “What is your suggestion for our company?” and regularly include the link in company communication. You can route responses so they’re delivered to an inbox monitored by your human resources team. This option ensures workers always have a way to anonymously submit feedback without waiting for the next survey or poll to come around. The only caveat is that monitoring the inbox and analyzing the suggestions require more time and effort than using survey software, which typically includes automation and artificial intelligence tools.

If you struggle to get honest responses to questions during interviews or open employee meetings, anonymous communication channels may be the solution to gather truthful, detailed information from employees. Anonymous feedback has many business uses, from helping increase transparency in your business to collecting peer-to-peer insights for employee performance reviews. To harness its full power, however, be aware of the drawbacks we’ve highlighted here and ensure your efforts don’t suffer from the same missteps.

Feedback helps drive improvement

When you establish a culture of honest feedback protected by a layer of anonymity, it helps you improve your workplace to support a better employee experience. Of course, that means you need to act on the feedback you gather. Happier employees are more productive and reduce turnover costs, making it well worth your while to gather employee feedback and proactively respond to employee concerns and criticisms. By using the tools above, you can collect employee feedback anonymously and easily.

Tejas Vemparala and Julie Thompson contributed to this article.