Or whatever they are calling it this week. It's a known fact that for your manager, or supervisor their reviews are affected by participation of their employees on vital signs. So if no one in the group takes it, or better gives nothing but "so-so" or "neutral " for answers, it counts against them. Just a small way to get these b–tards back for the grief they give us!
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Vital signs survey does not give you a voice to bring your concerns to the forefront! It is merely another way that uhc upper management can look good to the industry. They say " look at us! We let our employees put down their honest opinions without repercussions " in reality the results of the survey do nothing at all.. every year when the results are put out there in a town hall meeting, this is the sript... " overall we have improved, but we have identified areas that we need to do better in, and we will be setting up focus groups to address those problems "... and as usual...NOTHING is ever done, or will get done. It's all a sham! Wake up people!
Surveys allow you a chance to voice a concern, if you approach it in a mature manner, speak facts that are genuine and productive not bashing someone because you have low social skills then why would you not do it given the opportunity? Be honest. That's not hard. If you are honestly unhappy because of decisions made, state why not just answer they s—. If you think your manager is a douche then put in your 1 year and find another area to work in. C-appy bosses don't change because someone said they s— on a survey. C-appy bosses rather get fired. But you can change your boss by getting a new position.
All I know??? If I don’t get laid off, I’m never taking the survey honestly again.
I worked for UHG a long time before being put to rest. It's not a manager vs subordinate deal with these surveys. The level of paranoia runs from the bottom to the near top with everyone fretting about the % taking the survey and the outcome. Jobs at the lower grades are easier to come by than further up. And, those with options have noncompete agreements that UHG enforces with a passion. Everyone worries about layoffs and everyone ramps their lifestyle/debt to meet their pay. Sadly, those of 29 and higher may have to relocate geographically to find work. In summary, everyone is running scared right now.
Is vital signs still ongoing? I thought they replaced it with something else. The yearly ones I believe were once attached to Departments bonus and merit pools in some capacity. I do not believe that is the case anymore. But these are basically useless because the main things employees would actually be wanting to improve cost money and would never be implemented. All the rest is BS like more training and more communication between groups blah blah. One thing i think would be beneficial is criticizing the ESPP cut but do so at your own risk. I do know Directors do not have access to individual responses. Upper levels who knows but I would not doubt it one bit if they wanted to see it they could.
Partially correct. While the employee ID is used to direct responses to individual departments, Sr. Leadership must have access to tools/methods to determine the source. I had a Sr. director (my reporting manager and yes we had dual trust) once tell me that a Sr. executive called asking for clarification about a response on my manager's individual survey.
How is that possible if the surveys are really confidential ? Draw your own conclusion. As an FYI, I always spoke my mind on surveys hoping for improvement. They seldom did so when the opportunity came, I left the organization.
Also, I have seen responses by some who were laid off thinking they were "entitled" because they volunteered to be culture ambassadors. Ha, Ha...
Managers do not know what their employees answered individually. They are only shown department scores. The reason you enter an employee ID is so your answers can be allocated to the correct manager. Otherwise results can only be provided at an overall corporate level, which isnt very beneficial when there are so many business units under UHG.
you are missing the point. If they know. You did vital signs or didn’t do it, that’s not confidential or anonymous. If they know how you answer if you choose to complete it, then again, both scenarios end in a potential punitive approach back to the survey-taker. Why would anyone want to make themselves vulnerable to their manager selecting them next for layoffs because they are “disengaged”. It proves the managers aren’t interested in change but just using the survey as a tool to manipulate and detect “disloyal” followers. It’s set up for management purposes and plans. Never once in a decade has that information ever been used to make any real change! So fill it out if you must and make it all positive such that your boss gets a raise knowing your boss will eventually be forced to rate you down and phase you out of a department. OR don’t fill it out. And let your boss suffer. And their boss. Disengagement is a powerful communicator and one that is addressed eventually. Be brave and don’t pander to management this year. We’re submitting neutral answers and some of us aren’t doing it at all. When you fake engagement with all fake happy answers your soul dies a little. It’s called congnitive dissonance- you do one thing but mean another thing..and we’re not living that way anymore! It feels good!
Not doing vital signs is really bad advice. Same people who say my vote won't matter. Everyone at all levels should receive constructive feedback.
Your supervisors and managers have way less power than you think. They are also expected to put on a happy face and pretend everything is all OK. Constructive feedback and ideas for real change are squashed at ALL levels by the big blue or big orange machine.
Indeed staff are disengaged. But not doing surveys is more about sticking it to your boss..even with the understanding that you may be let go. Huh? Yes! Because with pending layoffs inevitable we’re all headed out the door. It’s just a matter of who first. But we all will go in time.
So anyone that suggests to answer the survey gets downvoted. Meanwhile you worry about layoffs and jobs when you have a chance to speak up. Didn't it ever occur to you that not replying is a form of disengagement? Why would a company keep the disengaged?
The only spineless people are the ones that work in HR! Talk about useless!
Our HR troll has called us Spinless. The IT Group in India has disconnected their Spell Check. Back to Minnetonka Community College to learn to use spell check. SPINLESS workers can’t spin because of their Evil Scheming Managers.
Former long time UNH employee. I can tell for a fact, the surveys are not company confidential. Think about it... you are required to enter your employee ID at the beginning of the survey. Enough said.
Good luck to all...
I do not think the survey is completely anonymous. If I make it through this next round of layoffs, I will never take another one again.
Your manager knows everything that is going on. Don’t be a fool. Listen to the original post. It’s true
Most employees in my department avoid these surveys. When we do speak the truth the supervisor presents the comments to us in a department meeting format. Then everyone tries to guess who the whistlebower was.
Everyone should TAKE the survey and provide honest feedback about Senior Senior leadership and company direction etc. don’t lie, don’t skim over issues. Cooperate needs good feedback to move forward. What they do with it is another issue. But don’t harm your manager for cooperate doings. They themselves had very little to do with it and many of them have already being blindsided and directly impacted
Unless your manager is good and you like them and doing this would negatively impact them.