What Do Employees Ask About Surveys? 20 Questions and Ready Answers for HR Leaders

On the day the survey invitation goes out, HR's inbox and managers' doors fill up with similar questions: "Is this really anonymous?", "There are five of us on the team, won't it be obvious who said what?", "We filled it in last year too. What changed?"

These questions may look like small details, but they decide the fate of the survey. An employee who gets no answer, or does not believe the answer they get, either skips the survey or gives "safe" answers. Either way, the data you end up with does not reflect reality.

In this article we have grouped the 20 questions employees ask most often under five headings. For each one, we share what the employee is really asking and a sample answer you can use. Remember to adapt the sample answers to how your own survey actually works.

Before you answer: four ground rules

1. Don't make promises you can't keep. Saying "the survey is 100% anonymous" is easy, but if an employee experiences a single thing that suggests otherwise, all trust is lost. Explain concretely how anonymity is protected.
2. Make sure everyone says the same thing. In an organization where one manager says "it's anonymous" and another says "I think HR can see it," employees believe the worst. Put the answers in writing.
3. Be brief and concrete. Instead of "Your data is protected to the highest standards," say "Only the survey provider sees your answers; results are reported for groups of at least 10 people."
4. If you don't know, say so. A made-up answer does far more damage than "Let me find out and get back to you." But do get back to them.

Confidentiality and anonymity

The questions in this section are both the most frequent and the most sensitive. Behind them there is usually a single concern: "If I answer honestly, will there be a price to pay?"

1. Is this survey really anonymous?

The employee wants to hear the reason, not the word "yes."

Sample answer: "Your answers are collected by an independent research firm. Nobody in the company, including HR, can see who answered what. We only see aggregated results for groups of at least 10 people."

2. Our team is small. Won't my answers be recognizable?

People in small teams are rightly cautious. The answer to this question must be based on the survey's actual reporting rule.

Sample answer: "Results for teams with fewer than 10 people are not reported separately; they are combined with the unit above. So your manager cannot see a result for your team alone."

3. I received a personal survey link. Doesn't that mean they know who I am?

A personal link triggers the "I'm being tracked" concern almost immediately.

Sample answer: "The personal link is used so that everyone completes the survey only once and can continue where they left off. The match between the link and your answers stays only in the survey provider's system and is never shared with the company."

Surveys that use personal links are technically "confidential" rather than "anonymous." We explain this distinction in detail in our article on anonymity in employee surveys. Make sure what you tell employees is consistent with it.

4. Can my manager see my answers?

Sample answer: "No. Managers only see aggregated results for their own team, and only if the team has at least 10 people. No manager can see an individual's answers."

5. Can people tell who I am from the comment I write in the open-ended question?

This is the most legitimate question about anonymity, because comments really can give away someone's identity.

Sample answer: "Before comments are reported, anything that could identify a person, such as names or job titles, is removed. Still, we recommend not including details that would identify you. Describing the situation itself is enough to get your point across."

6. Why do you ask about age, tenure and department?

To an employee, demographic questions can feel like "they're asking so they can find me."

Sample answer: "This information lets us see, for example, whether new joiners or field teams have a different experience. No group is reported below 10 people, so this information cannot be used to identify you on its own."

The purpose of the survey

7. Why are we doing another survey?

This question usually expresses fatigue, or a feeling that previous surveys led nowhere.

Sample answer: "After the last survey we worked on [specific actions]. This survey is to see whether those steps are working and what we still need to change."

You can only give this answer if something was actually done after the previous survey. If nothing was, say that openly too (see question 16).

8. Who runs the survey, and where does the data stay?

Sample answer: "The survey is run by [provider]. Individual answers are stored only in the provider's systems; the company only receives aggregated results and comments cleaned of identifying details."

9. Is the survey mandatory?

Sample answer: "No, participation is entirely voluntary. But the more people take part, the more accurate the results are and the more clearly your team's voice is heard. So we would very much like you to participate."

Making participation mandatory, or appearing to track who has not taken part, is one of the fastest ways to damage trust.

10. Why are these questions being asked? What do they have to do with our work?

Sample answer: "The questions cover topics known to affect how engaged people are with their work and the organization: the relationship with the manager, development, workload, communication and so on. Some questions stay the same every year so we can compare results over time."

How the survey runs

11. How long does it take, and can I do it during working hours?

Sample answer: "It takes about [X] minutes. You can complete it during working hours; we have asked managers to make time for their teams."

Make sure this promise also holds for field and shift workers. You can find recommendations on survey length in our article on how long an employee survey should take.

12. I don't have a company email address. How do I take the survey?

Sample answer: "You can complete the survey on your phone through the link sent by SMS, by scanning the QR code at [location] or on the [kiosk/tablet]."

To make sure this question never needs to be asked, plan these channels from the start. Details are in our article on how to survey blue-collar employees.

13. If I stop halfway, will I lose my answers?

Sample answer: "No. If you open the survey with the same link, you can continue where you left off. The survey is open until [date]."

14. What should I do if I don't understand a question or have no opinion?

Sample answer: "For questions you have no opinion on, you can choose 'No opinion' or leave the question blank. If you didn't understand a question, please let us know too; it helps us fix it for the next survey."

Results and what happens next

The questions in this section show how much meaning employees attach to the survey. Whether a survey culture exists in the organization shows most clearly in the answers to these questions.

15. Will we see the results too?

Sample answer: "Yes. Organization-wide results will be shared within [X weeks] of the survey closing. Each manager will also discuss their team's results with the team."

Stick to the date you promise. We explain how to share results in our article on sharing employee survey results with employees.

16. What came out of the last survey? What changed?

The best answer to this question is concrete examples. If changes were made, employees have often not connected them to the survey; make that connection for them.

Sample answer (if something was done): "The lowest-scoring topic in the last survey was [topic]. In response, we did [action 1] and [action 2]."

Sample answer (if not enough was done): "You're right. After the last survey we didn't share the results well enough, and on some topics we didn't take the steps we promised. This time we'll share the results on [date] and tell you every quarter what we've done."

The second answer is hard to give, but employees already know the situation. Admitting it openly earns far more trust than denying it. We cover this in more detail in our article on survey myths and rebuilding survey culture.

17. Will anything really change?

Sample answer: "I can't say everything will change. But we will pick the two or three most important topics from the results, work on them and tell you openly what we did and what we couldn't do."

Avoid big promises. A realistic commitment is worth far more than a big one that is not kept.

18. Will I get into trouble if I answer negatively? Will it reflect on our team?

Sample answer: "No. Individual answers are not shared with anyone. Team results are used to see what needs improving, not to punish anyone. A negative answer is one of the most valuable pieces of information we can get."

Whether this answer is believable depends on how managers behave once the results are out. A single manager asking "Who wrote this comment?" can invalidate this assurance for the whole organization.

19. Will our team's results affect my manager's performance review?

This question sometimes comes from an employee who wants to protect their manager, and sometimes from one who is hesitant to say anything against them.

Sample answer: "Team results are used by managers to build an improvement plan together with their teams." If survey results are linked to manager goals in your organization, don't hide it; but explain how they are linked (for example, the implementation of the action plan rather than the score itself).

20. Where can I raise a topic the survey doesn't ask about?

Sample answer: "At the end of the survey there is an open-ended question where you can write about anything you like. Outside the survey, you can also reach us through [channel / person]."

Say this, not that

How to spread these answers across the organization

• Prepare a Q&A document. Answer the questions in this article based on how your survey actually works, and share it with all managers before the survey starts.
• Give managers a 15-minute briefing. Most questions go straight to managers, not HR. Managers need to be clear in particular on anonymity, how results will be shared and why the question "Who wrote this?" must never be asked.
• Add the frequently asked questions to the survey's welcome page and invitation email. Some employees won't ask; if they can't find the answer, they simply won't take part.
• Name a contact person. For questions managers can't answer, there should be someone reachable in HR or at the survey provider.
• Log the questions that come in during the survey period. Which questions keep coming up shapes the communication plan for the next survey. If the same question returns year after year, there may be a trust issue on that topic.

We look at the other factors that affect participation in our article on how to increase employee survey response rates.

In short, employees' questions about the survey are not objections; they are the assurances people need before they take part. Most of them can be anticipated. Prepare your answers in advance, make sure everyone in the organization says the same thing and only make promises you can keep.

Frequently asked questions