Employee surveys
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Anonymous
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I’m in a leadership role and we do anonymous surveys for our staff to provide feedback on leaders. I’ve always gotten great feedback before, with some constructive criticism that I definitely take to heart. I feel like I’m a pretty conscientious leader. I’ve worked for some really bad managers and strive to be better than what I had. I understand no leader is perfect and I welcome constructive criticism always, not just in these reviews, but throughout the year.
There’s one employee I’ve struggled with figuring out how to manage. He struggles at a lot of his job (but is really great at one aspect, hence why we’ve kept him around) and his peer reviews from those that work with or under him generally echo my same sentiments. We’ve butted heads some, but nothing really crazy to me. He just doesn’t seem to particularly like being managed by anyone, though I suspect me being a woman may have something to do with his disdain from me based off of some of his commentary about women. But that part is speculation. We got reviews back and per usual, mine range from good to great. Some thoughtful constructive criticism. All helpful, till I get to the last review that’s absolutely scathing and below the belt. Like completely unprofessional and not truthful, I’ve never seen anything like this in two decades of my professional career. I know it’s him despite it being anonymous, because my name was misspelled in a way that only he misspells it (frequently). Also certain comments could only tie to him. I’m not sure if he just didn’t care about it being anonymous? We are a small company, so it’s not like there were hundreds of responses. Anyhow, I’m a little at a loss on how to proceed now. If it was direct feedback, that’s one thing, but this is supposed to be anonymous. Any thoughts? |
Anonymous
| Why would you do anything? |
Anonymous
Op here. I guess I don’t know if I should do anything. I obviously can’t refer to the anonymous survey. |
Anonymous
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Regarding the survey? There’s nothing to be done… it’s supposed to be anonymous and there is no way for you to take action directly with him. You can’t approach him, raise the question. Do whatever you normally do at this point in the cycle - thank the team for feedback, hold a debrief session or whatever, but you cannot address his feedback. Because 1) it is an outlier to the rest of the norm. 2) you cannot call him out directly.
Ultimately I think you have a different decision to make. If he really is a productive contributing valuable team member, then accept that this is your lot if you keep him. To me, he sounds like a mediocre borderline performer. Ie would you hire him again if you had the choice??? I would start performance managing him out and replace him with a real team player. |
Anonymous
Op here. Sorry I wasn’t clear. I know I can’t bring up the survey. More was questioning how to proceed with managing him. Appreciate your feedback. |
Anonymous
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Is there anything of value in the comments?
But, yes, let it go. Don't retaliate against someone for providing an unflattering view of you, anonymously. Because that is what you're talking about - retaliation. |
Anonymous
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I mean, he hates you.
You can't say anything; if you do no one will ever fill those things out with anything approaching honesty ever again. If you want to manage people, this can come with the territory. Don't get all hung up on it. Continue to work with him as best you can. Move on. If you truly are invested in making the relationship work, you can meet with him and share your concerns and ask for is and truly be open to figuring out how you can better support him. I wouldn't feel like doing that after reading what you read, but it's the only productive thing you could do. |
Anonymous
. Op here. Retaliation isn’t in my nature. I’m about as even keel as can be, I just kind of can’t look at him the same way. It’s not just unflattering, it was hateful and untruthful. Luckily, I think my fellow leaders will understand this as an outlier and have had some not great interactions as well (though the review I would assume are from him aren’t nearly as bad as mine). Not really anything helpful, except getting a better idea on how his mind works … seems that he views basic management things like being held accountable as being singled out or trying to be made to look incompetent. And truly, every instance is that he just refuses to do certain parts of his job and it affects others. He’s been told to step it up and hasn’t. So then yeah, it becomes an issue and then when he’s not accountable, we do bring it up. The worst part is the overarching criticism of all leaders is that we are not addressing issues head on as much as we should, so I try hard to, and then this is the feedback I get. I’ve never brought it up to him in a way other than to just be direct. I would’ve said the worst word that could’ve been used to describe me managing him was “stern”. Because adults shouldn’t have to ask other adults to do basic tasks multiple times. He thinks these things aren’t important (he made that very clear in his review), but they are crucial to running a well oiled company and getting us paid and therefore getting him his bonuses he wants so badly. |
Anonymous
Op here. Yeah I definitely gather he hates me. I knew he didn’t like me, but zero clue it was approaching this level. I know it comes with the territory… I just have a hard time knowing how to manage someone with such disdain for everything I do. It was really hard to read and I like to think I have a thick skin. I’ve tried to make it work with him for a couple of years and obviously that hasn’t worked. I knew we weren’t each others’ cup of tea, but this was just next level. I expected a highly critical review from him, but I at least thought it would be professional and free from emotion. |
Anonymous
| He's not a team player so why is he still on the team? |
Anonymous
I agree with others that it's time to start performance management in earnest. If the main criticism you get from everyone on your team is that people are not held accountable... they are talking about this guy. And of course he reacts badly to your efforts to hold him accountable. |
Anonymous
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Is he in sales? Just tell him flat out that he may see xyz tasks as unimportant but they have to get done in order to make sure he gets paid his commissions.
Ignore the other comments. You have to manage his behavior, not his feelings. |
Anonymous
| The solution is obvious. Wait a sufficient amount of time that it's way past what could be seen as retaliation - like 6 months minimum - and then start plotting a course to get rid of him. You don't need a seething saboteur sitting around waiting for a chance to stab you in the back. |
Anonymous
This is ridiculous. Why does an employer even ask for these surveys to be completed if they won't respect the anonymous nature and you will be fired for being truthful? OP we only have your side of the story here. Your company asked him to fill out the survey and he did. You need to make changes to your management style if you care about changing how he feels. Please read the survey with a very critical eye as to your own performance and make changes accordingly. OR tell the team that you have received X feedback but cannot action it at this time because of Y. But you can't ask your employees to fill out an employee survey and then ignore his responses. |
Anonymous
This. I will never understand why companies would do surveys like this and then get upset with the results. Don't ask the question if you won't like the answer. So, no, I don't think that OP should be fired or disciplined for giving undesired answers to a supposedly anonymous survey. If he was good enough to continue to be employed before the survey, he should be good enough to continue to be employed afterwards. Assuming that OP is truthful, I don't believe that there is anything that needs to be done here. |