Alright, let me tell you about my experience with this whole “weis survey” thing. It’s one of those initiatives that sounds good on paper, maybe in a fancy presentation, but the reality? Well, that’s a different story, isn’t it?
I remember when they first brought the weis survey into our old company. We were all called into a big meeting. The HR folks were all smiles, talking about transparency, feedback, and making things better. Big promises, you know the drill. They showed us slides, talked about how revolutionary this “weis survey” was gonna be. We were told it was completely anonymous, a safe space to share our true thoughts. I was a bit skeptical, always am with these things, but hey, I thought, let’s give it a shot.
So, the survey lands in our inboxes. I actually spent some decent time on it. I didn’t just click through. I thought about the questions, tried to give honest, constructive feedback. There were some real issues back then, especially with how projects were getting bogged down, communication black holes, that sort of stuff. I figured, if this is truly anonymous, maybe something good will come out of it. I pointed out a few specific processes that were, to put it mildly, a complete mess. I was careful, not rude, just factual.
A few weeks later, my manager calls me into his office. He’s looking a bit uncomfortable. And then he starts asking me about some very specific points I’d made in the “anonymous” weis survey. Stuff about a particular project I was heavily involved in. My jaw nearly hit the floor. Anonymous, my foot!
It turned out, the way the system was set up, or maybe how the reports were generated, it wasn’t too hard for managers to figure out who said what, especially if you gave detailed examples, which I did, thinking I was being helpful. What a joke. My manager wasn’t mad, just sort of… awkward. He had to address it because his boss had seen the “feedback” and wanted to know who was rocking the boat.
So, what happened after that?
- Did the processes improve? Nope.
- Did communication get better? Not a chance.
- Did I ever trust another “anonymous” survey at that company? Absolutely not.
That whole weis survey episode just reinforced my belief that most of these corporate surveys are just for show. They want to say they’re listening, but they’re not really interested in hearing anything that challenges the status quo or makes anyone important uncomfortable. It’s more about ticking a box, showing that they “engaged” with employees. The actual substance? Gets lost in the shuffle, or worse, used against you.
I saw it happen again and again. Every year, they’d trot out the weis survey, or some rebranded version of it. And every year, people would be even more cynical, giving blander and blander answers. What’s the point of sticking your neck out if you’re either going to be ignored or, worse, singled out?
So, my practical experience with the weis survey taught me a valuable lesson: be very, very careful what you say, even when they promise you the moon with anonymity. It’s often just a tool, and like any tool, it can be used properly, or it can be used to hit someone over the head. Mostly, I saw the latter. It just became another layer of corporate nonsense we had to wade through. We’d spend more time trying to figure out how to answer politically than actually giving useful feedback. A real waste of everyone’s time, if you ask me. And the problems it was supposed to solve? They just festered.
