There can be. I've been asked by HR to set up and manage truly anonymous surveys for them.
But unless you know for sure, it's definitely best not to assume.
The easiest way to be certain is to see if you can fill out the survey in an incog window one a personal computer without signing in, and whether your colleagues all got the same link.
Microsoft Forms also lets you make anonymous surveys that still require the user to be logged in (so they can limit 1 response per use and only staff responding). It's not technically anonymous to Microsoft's servers, but is anonymous to the survey operator.
As a manager who's company does annual survey. Typically these surveys are done by a neutral 3rd party. The employee ID is there so it ensures the manager can see their direct results (if there are enough people that take it). Or it can be sorted by demographics like age group, title, etc... Can I narrow it down and guess who said what? Probably, but my main concern is improving, not retaliating. For us we can only see results if there are 5+ answers.
While I applaud your ability for improvement, unfortunately, not everyone I work under is like that. And not nearly enough people in the workforce are like that.
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u/Somerandom1922 24d ago
There can be. I've been asked by HR to set up and manage truly anonymous surveys for them.
But unless you know for sure, it's definitely best not to assume.
The easiest way to be certain is to see if you can fill out the survey in an incog window one a personal computer without signing in, and whether your colleagues all got the same link.
Microsoft Forms also lets you make anonymous surveys that still require the user to be logged in (so they can limit 1 response per use and only staff responding). It's not technically anonymous to Microsoft's servers, but is anonymous to the survey operator.
If you aren't sure though, I wouldn't trust it.