Company owner demands employees fill out anonymous survey about work, only to turn it into a public loyalty test: ‘Everyone in the room realized this was a test’

• After you truly understand all of the above, it's much easier to understand what went down in the story below. The workplace of about 100 employees was quite toxic to begin with, so when the owner handed out a survey to everyone during a mandatory meeting, they should have known what was coming.

• 
  via Yan Krukau

  Office Team Having a Meeting in the Room.

  ^{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• Owner turned an "anonymous" company survey into a public loyalty test.

  ​I used to work at a pretty toxic place with about 100 employees. The owner was big on controlling everyone's lives and required us to do unpaid trainings and seminars outside of work hours. They basically just relied on intimidating people so nobody would question it (I actually managed to end that right before I quit, but that's a separate story).

• Anyway, we were at one of these mandatory meetings and at the end, he hands out a paper survey with questions about the company.

  ​I initially wrote down lower scores that were my honest opinion, assuming they were just going to collect and tally them up.

  ​Instead, the owner stands up and goes, "Okay, in terms of how the company compensates employees... who gave us an A?"

• Everyone filled out the “anonymous” form, hoping their feedback would actually lead to the company's owner taking notes. However, the “notes” the owner took were not in favor of any of his employees. Nope, after he collected the surveys, he proceeded to call out people who low-rated certain elements in the company, and confronted them in front of everyone in the meeting.

  So much for anonymity…

• 
  via Getty Images

  Business meeting.

  ^{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• ​The room was silent except for one new girl who raised her hand. At that point, everyone in the room realized this was a test. So when he followed with "who gave us a B," every single person put their hand up. Everyone just changed their answers on the spot to survive the meeting.

• But on one of the later questions, the owner asked who gave a 'C', and one woman actually raised her hand. The owner pulled her aside right after the meeting and aggressively questioned her about her opinion.

  ​Fun fact: The owner was so obsessed with tracking us and demanding approval, but his own son who worked there was caught embezzling from him a year or two later.

   

  - Booya1983

• 
  via Annie Spratt

  company meeting.

  ^{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• Comments:

  I learned long ago that an anonymous survey is NEVER anonymous. / Nenoshka

   

  There are books, podcasts, YouTube videos, seminars, and businesses designed to make management better. If they cared they’d use these resources. An employee survey is never about wanting to be better. I always give “ I am happy with my work life balance. I am satisfied with the management style. I think we can improve our wellness incentives.” If there’s any other grievances I have, I just update and dust off the ole resumé / PatientBoring

   

  And he will never get an honest opinion again.

  Time to look for a new job, this owner is going to make his business fail. /  Only_Tip9560

• This only goes to show that the employee usually comes last in a company's priority list. No one cares if the employee is happy about the company's benefits; they only care about leading with control and often even fear.

  We hope no employee lost their job after they innocently filed this survey. Maybe by next time, everyone will have learned their lesson about these “simple” company surveys.

Tags

Also From FAIL Blog

Couple waves hello to new neighbors sleeping in their car across the street and somehow ends up with a stranger on their porch uninvited at night: 'We played the friendly neighbor card and now we are being punished'