Worker says his manager mentioned ‘some people feeling overworked’ and gave him a look after he filled out an ‘anonymous’ HR survey

An employee thought he was doing exactly what his company wanted when he filled out an anonymous workplace survey. Instead of holding back, the 26-year-old tech worker apparently shared what he believed many of his colleagues had been complaining about for months: unsustainable workloads, raises that failed to keep pace with inflation, and managers who weren’t listening to their concerns.

The survey came from the human resources department at the mid-sized tech company where he works. In a Reddit post, u/Independent_Desk1582 shared that he apparently received an email that described the survey as both “completely confidential and voluntary” and encouraged employees to provide honest feedback. With those assurances in place, the worker reportedly decided to speak candidly about what was going wrong.

But the company’s next move left him questioning just how anonymous the process really was. In a follow-up post, he explained that HR had reportedly announced mandatory feedback sessions for every department, where employees would allegedly be asked to discuss the survey results in front of their managers.

The manager might know the answers

During the sessions, HR reportedly planned to go through the survey responses line by line and ask employees to elaborate on their concerns out loud. For the worker, that raised an obvious problem: people might not feel comfortable criticizing their workplace if they have to explain those criticisms directly to the managers involved.

The situation became even more uncomfortable when his own manager reportedly made a remark about “some people feeling overworked” and gave him a look. The employee apparently didn’t respond, but he began to suspect that his manager had connected the comment to his survey answers.

Now, the worker is wondering whether he should deny having anything to do with the feedback, start searching for another job, or simply keep his head down until the situation passes. He also admitted that he regretted participating, claiming he had expected the company to take its promise of confidentiality seriously.

The account comes only from the worker’s posts. The company’s side, including how it handles survey responses, could not be verified.

Speaking up about work has carried consequences for other employees online, including a TikToker who was terminated after a video about her workplace gained traction. She said she had been asked to take the video down.

Requiring employees to explain sensitive feedback in front of their supervisors could make some of them less willing to speak honestly in the future. However, different companies have different policies about the confidentiality of HR surveys.

According to Deborah Roland, vice president of human resources at CareerArc, an outplacement and recruiting company based in the U.S., “It’s human nature to want to find out what people think about you, especially if it is negative,” as reported by SHRM. “The impulse is very strong, and it’s the reason why 360-degree reviews have gone out of fashion. It becomes too disruptive to the workforce, and personal issues get in the way of professionalism,” she added.

Workers in other roles have described similar frustrations, including a Planet Fitness employee who was fired after posting about the job. Employee surveys are meant to help companies understand what is affecting morale and identify problems that management may have overlooked, but if workers believe their criticism could be traced back to them, the promise of confidentiality may not be enough to encourage honest answers.