Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

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financial.freedom
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Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by financial.freedom »

We received a survey from administration that is for evaluating our boss. He is not very good at what he does, and he is vengeful against people who try to go against his wishes. For the most part, things are okay if I just do my job and keep my head down.

It would be a better environment at work overall if we had a new boss, so that makes me think I should fill out the survey in an honest fashion. If enough people do that they may replace him.

However, if I'm the only one who fills out the survey honestly my concern is that somehow it can get tracked back to me and be used against me.

I've never been asked to evaluate him over the past several years of working at this location, which makes me wonder if something is going on behind the scenes.

Should I ignore the survey? Should I fill it out?

Thank you for the advice.
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Phineas J. Whoopee
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Phineas J. Whoopee »

If all but one person in the department fills it out, suspicion may fall on you.

Is it just a matter of circling numbers, or are written comments expected? I ask because the latter usually are easily traceable using writing style alone.

When I face the situation I like it no more than you, but improving the boss is less important than self-preservation. Damning with faint praise is inadvisable. Sticking to middle of the road stuff probably is safest, plus picking one positive thing to say.

The boss can stay the boss longer than you can stay employed.

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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by poker27 »

I have given and received such surveys. I do appreciate honest level headed feed back that I can put into action. I would be shocked if anyone was able to track it, usually it's handled by a 3rd party company.

I would ensure that what you write does not match your personality or include words you use often.
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Phineas J. Whoopee
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Phineas J. Whoopee »

poker27 wrote:...
I would ensure that what you write does not match your personality or include words you use often.
Good idea, but if only one department member disguises h/er/is voice it will be obvious who that is.

I think the 360 review concept is good but I've never been anywhere it was used for anything other than to discover the malcontents boss's enemies honest employees who obviously have to go.

I'll say it again, with apologies to John Kenneth: the boss can stay the boss longer than you can stay employed.

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Teague
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Teague »

Our group started to receive such surveys a few years ago. Shortly after the first one arrived, our supervisor issued a memo, stating he thought these things were a waste of time and resources, and that he would not change his approach no matter what the survey results.

Five or so years later, we continue to receive surveys annually. Our group consistently judges our boss and work environment negatively on these surveys. Our boss and his attitude remain unchanged. In fact, nothing at all has changed. Good luck.

Edited- corrected typo.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by sunny_socal »

My wife worked in HR and she told me that everything the company does is for their benefit, not yours. Anything you write may be used against you.

Furthermore, those things are not really anonymous. At my company the two lowest levels of management can't see the results but everyone above can.

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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Misenplace »

If you are in a big company, fill out the survey honestly, but use your comment section to make constructive/positive suggestions that you wouldn't mind being forwarded to your boss (in other words, be empathetic but suggest good improvements, because those comments will get to your boss in their entirety or in a verbal condensation). If you are in a small company, it could go in many different ways, so tread more carefully.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by wander »

If you want to write something good about him/her, then do it. Otherwise, just ignore it.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Simple Simon »

Don't write anything you haven't already said to their face, and publically in your workplace. That way you can't go any more wrong.
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tim1999
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by tim1999 »

I would not do it if the department is very small, like under 10 people. And if I did it, I would not do it on my employer-issued computer. Where I work they can see everything you do, even if it is a third-party site. Do not use specifics that can be tied back to you. We do 360 degree reviews at my workplace, the comments from the reviewers come through verbatim. Based on writing style and person-specific repeated misspellings in work communication I was pretty much able to narrow down to 100% certainty who the reviewers were.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by dcabler »

I've worked at companies where these were done. They were always handled through 3rd parties and were supposed to be for informational purposes for the person being reviewed - it was not part of the regular review cycle and the person wasn't expected to review the results with their management. That said, I only ever did the part of the survey where one checks boxes. I never wrote any additional comments. As others have noted, writing style, grammar, use of slang/etc. makes it possible that one can not maintain anonymity.

Interesting thing though: we got to choose who did the survey. So of course, many stacked the deck. Just in case. :D
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Swansea »

We got a similar "confidential survey" at a federal agency where I worked.
Then those of us who did not fill it out, were asked to do so. It was obviously being tracked and individuals were identified.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by SleepKing »

Nothing is anonymous. Never believe it will be.

At my place my boss and other department heads or more senior leadership can selected 3 (i believe) and upper admin 'randomly chooses 3 peers', for a total of 6 "anonymous and de-identified reviews". Only glowing things have been communicated by myself....even if I wanted to respond the other way..obviously a token 'things to improve section' usually gets a generic comment that no one could possibly take personally or judge to be aggressive manner.

I echo others that HR/admin will track and use things for their benefit, not yours.

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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by motorcyclesarecool »

If you have an unreasonable report-to chain, and nobody there to whom you can relate your (presumably valid) concerns, you should consider a change of employer. Sadly, there are instances where the time and place to give your unvarnished opinion is at your exit interview.

If the survey is truly anonymous, keep in mind that often "outlier" results are thrown out, and American managers are obsessed with bell curves.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by dbr »

They ran 360's at Megacorp. As far as I know everyone filled them out and I never heard of any repercussions. On the other hand, while some bosses were better than other ones, there was never anyone who would have received extremely negative comments. Your case is different. If you anticipate this being a path to seeing your boss removed, I would tread with great caution. I saw one boss out of the company and another "exiled" but the process was not by 360 review. In fact the "exiled" boss would have gotten good reviews from his reports. I think it is correct that if you don't reply that will be noticed as well. Good luck.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

I assume every survey has my name attached and is sent directly to my boss. I have had confidential meetings with HR and the following day my boss set up a meeting to talk about exactly what I talked with HR about, even referencing things I said only in that meeting.

These surveys are only in place so that corporate can show how swell they are. When they don't show that, expect them to come looking for you.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by mhc »

I know from personal experience that even if HR says it will be anonymous, it won't be.

I know from personal experience if everyone in a group complains, you will enter a HR nightmare.

HR is for the benefit of upper management. Sometimes lower management. Rarely for individual contributors.

After many years of being idealistic and naive, I will never again fill out an "anonymous" survey.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by krannerd »

Agree with the posters above that suggest you complete the survey with information that you would say publicly and have on the record. I avoid these whenever possible and put in only the minimum when asked.

It sounds like this is a small survey for your department only. If administered by HR, I wouldn't say much. If this is a 1 on 1 meeting with your boss's boss, I would open up a little more (and I've done so without repercussion in the past). I've found that skip-level meetings are OK for providing fair and honest feedback.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by financial.freedom »

The survey is by a third party called "survey monkeys," and they state that it is anonymous but I am very cautious for reasons mentioned above.

Our group is pretty small, about 10-20 employees, but part of a much larger company . It appears that the survey is going to upper level management, above the level of my boss.

I can't leave my current job due to limited opportunities in my location, and my spouse has worked hard to obtain the position where she works.

If everyone in the group is honest, upper level management may find a new boss and my work environment might improve. But it could also be used against me, and I fear that if my boss finds out that I made a negative comment or gave him a negative review he may try to replace me.

I'm leaning toward not filling out the survey. There was a similar survey about the upper level management as a whole that did not evaluate a specific person. They met with us and basically told us how to fill it out beforehand. I never filled out that survey, and no one ever approach me about it afterward.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by bertilak »

When I worked at MegaCorp we were offered (yearly) a survey about our manager's performance. Many "1 to 10" questions and room for several comments about different parts of the survey. The survey itself warned that the comments might identify us if we were not careful.

I was a manager. I never got anything back from a survey that told me who answered which questions with what answers. Some of the comments were redacted to protect the guilty! Even so, when we had the (required) follow-up meeting to go over the results the discussions usually let it be known who had what strongly held opinions!

FORGOT: If there were not some minimum number of respondents to a question, no results were given to the manager.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by grettman »

No. There is no benefit that could come to you as a result of doing so. You might rationalize doing it by saying it will make the supervisor a better person, improve the company and etc. but that is very highly unlikely and the probability of downside out weighs the possible upsides.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by tennisplyr »

Worked for many Fortune 500 companies, this used to be called a 360 degree evaluation, i.e., from all perspectives. If there is any hope of improving your situation there, this might help. Typically you would not be identified. Survey monkey is a commonly used survey vehicle for many different kinds of studies. Since you seem very nervous about taking this survey, only you can decide the risk/reward situation. I've done this many times and gave honest, non-vicious responses. Good luck.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by nisiprius »

I wouldn't.

And I didn't, when I once got a similar survey--not as direct or brutal as "grade your boss," but a survey on my opinions about the corporate culture.

And was unpleasantly surprised a week later when I got a call from HR saying that I hadn't sent in my totally anonymous, untraceable-to-individuals survey form. (So that's why the form had an inconspicuous six-digit numbers printed on it in the lower right corner...)
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Pajamas »

Dangerous waters to navigate.

Why are you being asked to evaluate your boss? Is he being investigated or is this simply an annual thing?

I would be very hesitant unless I were sure that it was anonymous AND that it might actually affect something.

In most previous situations where I have been asked to evaluate my superior and peers, no good could come of it for me, only bad.

In one situation I did try to give some helpful feedback about what might help me directly with my work without being critical.

In another instance a team from upper management was interviewing employees about a problem manager they had received complaints about. I had not complained but had significant problems with the manager's behavior and was truthful in my interview and the manager was replaced.

In another situation the manager was interviewing the employees face-to-face asking for feedback (as directed by her manager) and I was very confrontational and critical because I was ready to quit anyway because she was so bad. That manager left not too long afterwards. When she left I had already filed a formal complaint and was able to cancel the meeting that had been scheduled with the VP of HR.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by flyingbison »

financial.freedom wrote: If everyone in the group is honest, upper level management may find a new boss and my work environment might improve.
That seems like the least likely outcome.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by HomerJ »

financial.freedom wrote:I'm leaning toward not filling out the survey. There was a similar survey about the upper level management as a whole that did not evaluate a specific person. They met with us and basically told us how to fill it out beforehand. I never filled out that survey, and no one ever approach me about it afterward.
Absolutely do not bother with it if upper level management has already ignored a previous survey.

Some companies really do try to change based on these surveys. Mine (and it's a Mega-Corp) takes them seriously, and has made real changes based on feedback. But it sounds like your company is one of those that ignores or games the results.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by cricket49 »

I worked in HR. Don't believe for one minute the surveys are anonymous.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by batpot »

nisiprius wrote:(So that's why the form had an inconspicuous six-digit numbers printed on it in the lower right corner...)
my mega-corp does the same thing - believe they even use the aforementioned survey monkey to keep it anonymous. Of course the 3rd party company has a unique ID for each individual, but they do not share that mapping w/ the company.

They encourage everyone to submit it, but I've never heard of an individual getting singled out for not completing it.

They take the results seriously - lower and middle level managers are incentivized to act on negative responses, but from a worker perspective, it's never actually been effective.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Epsilon Delta »

Do these work like Uber, where any grade less than 5 out of 5 is a reason for termination?
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by delamer »

financial.freedom wrote:The survey is by a third party called "survey monkeys," and they state that it is anonymous but I am very cautious for reasons mentioned above.

Our group is pretty small, about 10-20 employees, but part of a much larger company . It appears that the survey is going to upper level management, above the level of my boss.

I can't leave my current job due to limited opportunities in my location, and my spouse has worked hard to obtain the position where she works.

If everyone in the group is honest, upper level management may find a new boss and my work environment might improve. But it could also be used against me, and I fear that if my boss finds out that I made a negative comment or gave him a negative review he may try to replace me.

I'm leaning toward not filling out the survey. There was a similar survey about the upper level management as a whole that did not evaluate a specific person. They met with us and basically told us how to fill it out beforehand. I never filled out that survey, and no one ever approach me about it afterward.
You hit on the key issue -- answering truthfully might improve your work environment or it might cause retaliation by your boss. Only you can decide if the reward is worth the risk.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by dm200 »

Over the decades, I have had several such "opportunities".

The first was many, many decades ago with a very, very large international corporation. The company promised results would be anonymous and I don't think they had any way to track our individual responses by name. They also promised that feedback to management would only be given if/when the number of responded surveys was a certain number (can't remember the exact number). I (as did most employees) filled it out and my manager at the time was a good guy - but not perfect. His "results" had many "needs improvement" (managers shared the survey results with employees (as I recall). He had to do a lot of things and work to address this extensive survey. As far as I know, I do not recall any confidentiality was broken, nor were any employees retaliated against because of what they responded.

Later, for a very small company, the company owner/management engaged a HR "consultant" to survey employees. The survey was ok, and the employee responses (many critical) were (in my opinion) accurate and fair. I don't think there was any retaliation. HOWEVER, it all was a complete waste of time because the company owner was a jerk and completely ignored any and every worthwhile feedback from the survey.

In my opinion, it this is a large company - where there is no reason to distrust the survey, I would lean towards responding.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by jainn »

. . . .
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Nowizard
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Nowizard »

If you have extremely negative feelings that represent clear incompetence rather than annoying mediocrity, then talk with a boss a couple of levels up directly. Otherwise, forget it.

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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

DW gets a 360 annually. She thinks she knows 75% of who said what, just because of writing style and what matters to whom. She is respected, so it's not an issue on her 360, but she's very careful filling them out for others, especially if that person has many "opportunities for improvement."
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by carolinaman »

Our organization used the 360 review and it was helpful to me as the boss. I never saw the actual reviews and HR provided comments which was their summation of what people said. Thus I believe it would be difficult for the boss to single you out if the process is followed properly.

You have to decide for yourself how to handle this. If it were me, I would provide an honest assessment and let the chips fall where they may. Your greatest risk in being found out is to discuss your assessment with co-workers. Keep your mouth shut. I have seen this process actually cause the removal of managers and it does influence manager behavior. I can vouch for that.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by camden »

I would be very careful in filling this out, because I fully share the concerns many above have expressed regarding lack of anonymity and potential retaliation.

It is a pity, however, that a culture like that exists, or is perceived to exist, in so many organizations. I can tell you from first hand experience that one of the greatest obstacles upper management has in trying to weed out lousy, dysfunctional bosses/supervisors is the difficulty in getting adequate information and candid responses from those working under them as to how bad things really are. It is a real vicious circle, which often results in a poor boss staying in place way too long. Sigh.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by rob »

camden wrote:I can tell you from first hand experience that one of the greatest obstacles upper management has in trying to weed out lousy, dysfunctional bosses/supervisors is the difficulty in getting adequate information and candid responses from those working under them as to how bad things really are. It is a real vicious circle, which often results in a poor boss staying in place way too long. Sigh.
The issue I have seen in several large orgs is the witch hunt at middle mgt level - usually caused by the compare of smaller units against the division and company wide - after each of these types of surveys. Then follows the selection of the most benign ones by upper mgt and forcing silly time wasting events to discuss and provide ideas that can be buried. Then victory is declared without any real change - which might just be part of the cause of the other issues :D . The prevalent culture at the lower level I see is to pick best answer to reduce the fallout :oops:

These things are not a forum for honest answers, so I would certainly not put what you think. I always avoid the open response questions (or put in the current company platitudes in if they are required) because it's far too easy to identify even to the lowest level mgr (I have no doubt higher levels see the identifiable responses anyway). Most of us notice the unique number in the url - usually emp# - to ensure it's not identifiable :-)
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by traveltoomuch »

Compare the invitations sent to you and to a colleague. Are the survey URLs the same or different? If they're the same, I'd feel better about answering, but I'd still use Tor. If they're different, I'd be much more reluctant.

I have seen a case where even though there were no unique identifiers in the survey URLs, the company got IP addresses from the survey operator (probably surveymonkey, though my memory is vague) and confronted at least one employee about his answers.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by SmileyFace »

Do you know if the results go back to your boss-only or to HR-only or to both? In all cases - I'd proceed with caution (or not proceed at all).
Is the survey multiple choice or written paragraphs?
I had a 360-review process at a prior company I worked for and the results only came back to the person being reviewed (e.g. it didn't go to HR or to the person's manager). When my employees and peers reviewed me I couldn't tell who rated me what on multiple-choice items but when I read the written comments it was very obvious to me who wrote what (writing styles, types of comments, etc.).
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by Miakis »

I once had a boss that everyone was frustrated with. After a discussion about the survey, all of my coworkers seemed to agree that we should be honest in the survey. The survey was anonymous.

I wrote detailed comments in mine. I did attempt constructive criticism.

Shortly thereafter, my boss called a meeting with everyone and said he wanted to address the criticism he received in one of the surveys. He then proceeded to read my survey out loud and addressed each and every point while staring at me.

Afterwards, most of my coworkers admitted that they had chosen not to be fully honest and none had written any comments.

I assume that due to writing style (word use), he was able to identify me - especially since I was the only person who had written anything, so there was only one person to identify.

I learned my lesson. The only other time I was honest about management was during an exit interview prior to becoming self-employed. The firm that I was leaving had fairly serious issues with quality-control and morale. I gave details, named names, etc. I even told them they could follow up with me if they had additional questions. Due to the lack of repercussions and seriousness of some of the problems, I was fully ready to own my comments in a non-anonymous way. No one ever followed up and as far as I heard, nothing was ever addressed. My former coworkers were surprised to hear that I had said anything, because there was zero attempt to fix any of the problems.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by rgs92 »

Just say good things.
For example:

He/she always provides useful feedback and keen insight which have empowered me to make better decisions, improve my productivity, and perform my work with higher quality results and fully support team and organizational goals.

He/she has offered this kind of good advice and insight frequently and it has proved highly valuable to me and the group.
He/she always provides the resources I need to do my job well.

I feel privileged to have a supervisor who communicates so clearly and concisely that I always understand what is expected of me and how well I am meeting these expectations and what I can do to exceed.

[This will give him/her a nice template for writing your performance appraisal. It will help to provide some examples. This applies to any job situation where you want to keep your job.]
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by ClevrChico »

rgs92 wrote:Just say good things.
For example:

He/she always provides useful feedback and keen insight which have empowered me to make better decisions, improve my productivity, and perform my work with higher quality results and fully support team and organizational goals.

He/she has offered this kind of good advice and insight frequently and it has proved highly valuable to me and the group.
He/she always provides the resources I need to do my job well.

I feel privileged to have a supervisor who communicates so clearly and concisely that I always understand what is expected of me and how well I am meeting these expectations and what I can do to exceed.

[This will give him/her a nice template for writing your performance appraisal. It will help to provide some examples. This applies to any job situation where you want to keep your job.]
+1 to this. This kind of logic let me survive a toxic, stack ranked department. The CIO asked me how the new boss was doing. I lied and gave him a glowing review. Months later, I heard I was on the list to be axed, but was taken off. Always, always keep it positive.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by anonyvestor »

I can recall many circumstances where outspoken criticism of an idea, policy, practice or decision is appreciated - at least by some, someday.

I have a hard time recalling circumstances where a critical review of an individual has been appreciated.

It is clear you are hoping to have the boss replaced, rather than offer constructive feedback, and you are not confident you know your audience.

I would hold back until you find a better opportunity.
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by SpaceCowboy »

Just be nice to your boss. Give him good ratings like you would want from people reviewing you. A suggestion for improvement that they would agree with.
Do not think for a second that an honest negative review will lead to a new and better boss leading your department. It will just lead to problems for you because you'll be classified as disgruntled and not a team player.
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financial.freedom
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by financial.freedom »

rrppve wrote:Just be nice to your boss. Give him good ratings like you would want from people reviewing you. A suggestion for improvement that they would agree with.
Do not think for a second that an honest negative review will lead to a new and better boss leading your department. It will just lead to problems for you because you'll be classified as disgruntled and not a team player.
Ironically, he is already telling upper level management that some people are disgruntled for various reasons and he is telling them that these people are not being team players.
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financial.freedom
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by financial.freedom »

ClevrChico wrote:
rgs92 wrote:Just say good things.
For example:

He/she always provides useful feedback and keen insight which have empowered me to make better decisions, improve my productivity, and perform my work with higher quality results and fully support team and organizational goals.

He/she has offered this kind of good advice and insight frequently and it has proved highly valuable to me and the group.
He/she always provides the resources I need to do my job well.

I feel privileged to have a supervisor who communicates so clearly and concisely that I always understand what is expected of me and how well I am meeting these expectations and what I can do to exceed.

[This will give him/her a nice template for writing your performance appraisal. It will help to provide some examples. This applies to any job situation where you want to keep your job.]
+1 to this. This kind of logic let me survive a toxic, stack ranked department. The CIO asked me how the new boss was doing. I lied and gave him a glowing review. Months later, I heard I was on the list to be axed, but was taken off. Always, always keep it positive.
Fascinating advice. So by doing the exact opposite of what my inclination is, it might save my job or help get me promoted. I have noticed that those in the group who help inflate his ego and have befriended him are those who seem protected from extra tasks and responsibilities at work. One in particular that shows up late, disappears from the office randomly for sometimes an hour or two. that person seems to have obtained immunity.

But the thought of giving him a glowing review gives me nausea. If the concensus is to not write a an honest review, I would prefer to just not fill it out. It seems there is no repercussion for not filling out the evaluation survey.
patgrennan
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by patgrennan »

wander wrote:If you want to write something good about him/her, then do it. Otherwise, just ignore it.
agreed, it'll come back to bite you. guaranteed! been there, been bitten.
mrc
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by mrc »

My experience: It is said these are anonymous. They may not be. It is said these are wanted. Positive reviews may be, but not any that are critical. What you say can and will be used against you. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Your personal interests (in keeping a job and not burning any bridges with your immediate supervisory chain) outweigh any obligation to the enterprise. It is senior management's job to evaluate your supervisor, and they have other, better means.

The probability that your criticisms will improve the situation is far lower than the probability you will adversely affect your own.
By the time you know enough to choose a good financial adviser, you don't need one. | bogleheads.org is my advisor: The ER is 0.0% and the advice always solid.
rgs92
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by rgs92 »

Thank you and you are welcome. Best of luck to you and I hope you have good career and a pleasant time at work. Happy holidays.
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ClevrChico
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Re: Should I fill out survey evaluation of my boss?

Post by ClevrChico »

financial.freedom wrote: Fascinating advice. So by doing the exact opposite of what my inclination is, it might save my job or help get me promoted. I have noticed that those in the group who help inflate his ego and have befriended him are those who seem protected from extra tasks and responsibilities at work. One in particular that shows up late, disappears from the office randomly for sometimes an hour or two. that person seems to have obtained immunity.

But the thought of giving him a glowing review gives me nausea. If the concensus is to not write a an honest review, I would prefer to just not fill it out. It seems there is no repercussion for not filling out the evaluation survey.
I wouldn't let it make you nauseous. :-) Four years later said manager and his manager were both fired. Half the engineering staff quit due to the constant threats of being written up and other politics. It's hard to outrun karma, so just look out for yourself.
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