Does anyone answer this truthfully or try not to submit it? Anyone else afraid of retaliation? Definitely not "voluntary" or "anonymous".
13 replies (most recent on top)
Former manager that was laid off checking in. We don't get names along with the surveys, but demographics are shared. Between that and writing style, it's blatantly obvious who wrote each answer. When it shows that a male age 50-59 in Boston submitted the answer and you only have one person like that on your team, it's pretty obvious.
To Anon: many people like their jobs. A lot. That's not the issue, though. The question is: can I actually KEEP this job that I like. With Cengage, this answer is prolly not. But you can certainly enjoy things while they last.
P.S. for those who think that Cerie is somehow "protecting" Kentucky people, the answer is no. Take it from someone who was working for Cerie some 30 years ago and who followed her to Cengage when she made that move, she doesn't have that power or influence. Her most trusted and key lieutenants was just laid off, in fact. Inside sales and customer support roles are among the safest for the shorter term though, so you will prolly be okay for the next year or two. Then again, Pearson just laid off 1/3rd of its inside force a couple years ago, so you never know...
I like my job
"We feel like . . . we should feel secure in our positions."
At Cengage? Not a chance. The fact that you will be downsized at some point is a given, they might as well add this to the job descriptions that they post.
The key is to avoid being surprised when it happens. The fact that you are on this site, reading this right now, means that you have been forewarned. The question is, are you prepared?
They know everyone is angry and miserable. They don't care.
Everybody is freaking out about losing their jobs in Kentucky. I and my teammates have decided to be brutally honest this year. We feel like things have gone unaddressed for too long and we should feel secure in our positions.
They don't want to listen to employees or make any changes. They just want to SAY that they want our honest anonymous feedback, and isn't that transparent of them? Fill it out, don't fill it out. Confidential or not. Nothing good or productive will happen for actual workers. It's like three card monty, their just moving managers and VP around and hope not to get caught.
As someone who used to run surveys, it's unlikely anyone is sharing out your identifiable information to the overlords.
If this is one of those employee pulse surveys, it's coming from an outside vendor, and they likely aren't going to share identifiable information out of their own legal concerns. Cengage is just one client of many to them, and they won't risk their entire business.
But, yeah, it's probably not completely anonymous since the sender needs to somehow be able to ensure you're not able to submit multiple surveys.
Just don't do it. If they are somehow able to track that you do not complete the survey, then it is not truly anon. If that's the case, rate everything the highest and be done with it.
"Confidential" and "anonymous" are two different things.
It has been emailed to us that the survey responses will be "confidential". If responses are not confidential and participation will not remain anonymous then the Company is blatantly lying to the employees.
By the way - I don't think the company makes real changes based on our survey responses.
I do not give true answers. The only thing you get for honesty is punishment at Cengage. The C-suite does not care. They have a plan and if your answers align with them then your team stays. If not your team goes bye-bye. In corporate America the companies pretend to care but they don't. You aren't money and money is the only thing they care about.
While I do not answer honestly, I’m also not giving the highest score across the board. I know it’s not worth the temper tantrum that I would be subjected to or the discussions our team will ultimately have to have surrounding the results.