The Power of Anonymity in Measuring Employee Engagement

Many companies rely on sales figures, customer profiles, churn rates, and similar data when making critical decisions. However, this information usually focuses more on what’s happening in your business rather than why it’s happening.

Survey data provides more context and sentiments regarding what you’re trying to measure. This is particularly useful if it’s a metric like employee engagement, since it helps you understand how people honestly feel about their jobs and workplace. You can then use those insights to make more informed decisions about employee engagement.

There are two ways to conduct employee surveys–either anonymous or confidential. Anonymous surveys collect responses without needing personally identifiable information like:

• Specific departments or teams
• Employee ID numbers
• Email addresses

Furthermore, these surveys don’t disclose respondent identities.

Meanwhile, confidential surveys connect responses to personal information. Organizations ensure that everyone’s data is private, but authorized persons can access them and identify respondents.

Anonymous and confidential surveys are both excellent tools to measure employee engagement. But anonymized surveys are ideal if you want honest feedback from your employees. They encourage respondents to share candid thoughts on their experiences with your organization.

Additionally, external research from 2015 found that survey respondents tend to avoid being completely honest when in the presence of an external party — because they were concerned about the interviewer’s impression of them. Anonymous surveys can help you prevent respondents from misreporting info.

Several studies have highlighted the advantages of conducting these surveys. In 2019, Dutch researcher Roy Milder noted that people were more open to interacting in anonymous ideation. Milder’s study even reported no bias surrounding these responses.

A recently published study on peer feedback also recognizes the power of anonymity. Research participants preferred an anonymous setting as it was more comfortable and let them share their feelings easily.

Ultimately, anonymized surveys can help your organization uncover potential problems without compromising privacy. It also allows for a safe space to reveal deep-seated issues that others may be uncomfortable sharing in a more public venue. After all, some research cover sensitive topics, so protecting that information is crucial.

Tools like Sprout Pulse allow you to measure employee engagement through quick and easy employee surveys. But more importantly, it gives you the necessary insights while keeping collected data completely private. Our team handles information from anonymized pulse surveys in compliance with the Data Privacy Act to keep it secure.

Furthermore, Pulse does more than protect employee anonymity. It doesn’t just protect anonymity for anonymity’s sake; it’s there to safeguard each worker’s ideas, which creates a safe space for your company and its workforce.

Employees can openly share how they feel about their roles and employers through surveys. Their responses can tell you the challenges your organization needs to overcome.

However, employee engagement surveys may collect sensitive information. Conducting anonymized surveys lets you safeguard that data while shaping critical decisions. Finally, they can make employees feel more comfortable voicing their thoughts.

If you’re looking to improve employee engagement, learn more about Sprout Pulse here or get more actionable insights from our blog.