Most employee engagement and pulse surveys are confidential rather than anonymous, which means the platform does link your response to your employee record even though reporting is restricted. Culture Amp states that its surveys "are not anonymous" and that it prefers to describe them as "Confidential" [1], and 15Five tells administrators that "Confidential is not the same as anonymous. Responses are associated with employee accounts" [5]. Your employer normally sees group averages only once a minimum number of people in that group have responded, commonly five, so a manager cannot look up how you rated a question [2][7]. The exposure sits elsewhere: comments are reported verbatim [8], tiny teams and rare demographic filter combinations can narrow results to one person [3][9], and identifiable survey types such as exit surveys are built to show individual responses [7][8].
\n","summary":"Anonymous means no identity is collected. Confidential means your identity is known to the platform while reporting is limited to groups above a minimum size, commonly five responses. Most engagement and pulse tools are confidential, and several vendors say so in their own documentation. Group averages hide individual ratings well. Free text comments, tiny teams, rare demographic combinations, and identifiable survey types get much less protection.","publishedAt":"2026-07-21T00:21:34.084","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","nextReviewDueAt":"2026-10-20T00:00:00","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["Are employee engagement surveys anonymous?","Can my boss see my pulse survey answers?","Can HR tell who wrote an anonymous survey comment?","Anonymous vs confidential employee survey","Is Culture Amp anonymous?","Is a Lattice engagement survey anonymous?","Can my employer identify me from an engagement survey?","How many responses before survey results are shown?","Do employee surveys track IP addresses?","Should I answer my company engagement survey honestly?","What is a survey anonymity threshold?","Can I be identified by my engagement survey comments?"],"confidenceScore":88,"confidenceLabel":"High","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"contributorOrganizationProfile":{"entityId":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","legalName":null,"description":null,"websiteUrl":null,"imageUrl":null,"slogan":null,"subtitle":null,"facts":[],"coiNote":null,"foundingDate":null,"numberOfEmployeesText":null,"contactPoint":null,"address":null,"headquartersText":null,"organizationType":null},"contributorPerson":{"slug":"answerstack-editorial-team","displayName":"AnswerStack Editorial Team"},"sections":[{"id":"bc6adf98-12c2-47f4-a251-938bf40adde6","sectionKey":"anonymous_vs_confidential","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What is the difference between an anonymous survey and a confidential one?","introMarkdown":"An anonymous survey collects nothing that ties a response to a person, while a confidential survey does link your response to your employee record and then restricts who can see it and at what level of detail. Lattice puts the split in one line: \"Anonymous means you don't know who said what. Confidential means you know who said it, but you're not going to disclose that information\" [4]. Almost every engagement and pulse product sold to employers sits on the confidential side, because that link is what makes it possible to break results out by department, tenure, manager, and location.\n\n### Vendors often say anonymous and mean confidential\n\nCulture Amp is unusually direct about this. Its documentation states that Culture Amp surveys \"are not anonymous\" and that \"We prefer to communicate that Culture Amp surveys are 'Confidential'\" [1]. In its attributed format, \"Each response is linked to an employee in your account through the users profile\" [1]. Microsoft Viva Glint runs two survey classes, confidential and identifiable, with a different response threshold on each [8].\n\n### What each type means for you in practice\n\nUnder a confidential setup the tool knows the answer came from you, so your protection is a reporting rule rather than an absence of data. Culture Amp's participant guide states \"We do not display individual responses\" and explains that people with access to results can only see demographic groups meeting the reporting minimum set for the survey [2]. That works well inside a group of any real size, and less well on a five person team or in a filter combination that only one person matches.\n\nA genuinely anonymous survey is recognizable from the moment you open it. Culture Amp describes its unattributed format as one where responses have \"no connection to any specific individual\" [1], which means no personalized link, no name prefilled, no reminder singling you out, and no demographic fields beyond the ones you type yourself. Technical anonymity also depends on the platform discarding network metadata, which is a setting rather than a default in general purpose survey tools [10][11].","introHtml":"An anonymous survey collects nothing that ties a response to a person, while a confidential survey does link your response to your employee record and then restricts who can see it and at what level of detail. Lattice puts the split in one line: "Anonymous means you don't know who said what. Confidential means you know who said it, but you're not going to disclose that information" [4]. Almost every engagement and pulse product sold to employers sits on the confidential side, because that link is what makes it possible to break results out by department, tenure, manager, and location.
\nCulture Amp is unusually direct about this. Its documentation states that Culture Amp surveys "are not anonymous" and that "We prefer to communicate that Culture Amp surveys are 'Confidential'" [1]. In its attributed format, "Each response is linked to an employee in your account through the users profile" [1]. Microsoft Viva Glint runs two survey classes, confidential and identifiable, with a different response threshold on each [8].
\nUnder a confidential setup the tool knows the answer came from you, so your protection is a reporting rule rather than an absence of data. Culture Amp's participant guide states "We do not display individual responses" and explains that people with access to results can only see demographic groups meeting the reporting minimum set for the survey [2]. That works well inside a group of any real size, and less well on a five person team or in a filter combination that only one person matches.
\nA genuinely anonymous survey is recognizable from the moment you open it. Culture Amp describes its unattributed format as one where responses have "no connection to any specific individual" [1], which means no personalized link, no name prefilled, no reminder singling you out, and no demographic fields beyond the ones you type yourself. Technical anonymity also depends on the platform discarding network metadata, which is a setting rather than a default in general purpose survey tools [10][11].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":10},{"id":"68760db4-bbfc-4654-b668-fcea5ee2cb75","sectionKey":"survey_type_table","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"How do anonymous, confidential, and identifiable surveys compare?","introMarkdown":"The three types differ in what the platform stores, not only in what your employer looks at.","introHtml":"The three types differ in what the platform stores, not only in what your employer looks at.
\n","outroMarkdown":"Viva Glint displays a confidentiality statement at the start of each survey stating whether responses are confidential or identifiable [8], so your employer can tell you which of the three you are taking.","outroHtml":"Viva Glint displays a confidentiality statement at the start of each survey stating whether responses are confidential or identifiable [8], so your employer can tell you which of the three you are taking.
\n","contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Anonymous (unattributed)","No connection to any specific individual [1]","Group results only, with no way to filter down to you [1]","Demographic fields you type yourself, and anything identifying in your comments [2]"]},{"cells":["Confidential (attributed)","Your response linked to your employee profile through a unique survey link [1]","Aggregated scores for groups meeting the reporting minimum, commonly five [2][7]","Small teams, rare filter combinations, free text comments [3][9]"]},{"cells":["Identifiable (non-confidential)","Your response and your identity, by design [8]","Individual responses, since the threshold can be set as low as one [7][8]","Everything you write [8]"]}],"columns":["Survey type","What the platform stores","What your employer can see","Where you are exposed"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":20},{"id":"8fa814d3-7719-4e46-ab8e-c1e38e18febf","sectionKey":"threshold_table","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"What reporting thresholds do the major platforms actually use?","introMarkdown":"These are the vendors' own published minimums, read on their documentation on July 20, 2026. Each number is the count of responses needed inside a group before that group's results appear.","introHtml":"These are the vendors' own published minimums, read on their documentation on July 20, 2026. Each number is the count of responses needed inside a group before that group's results appear.
\n","outroMarkdown":"A lower threshold means less protection, so the number your employer chose matters more than the vendor default.","outroHtml":"A lower threshold means less protection, so the number your employer chose matters more than the vendor default.
\n","contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Culture Amp","At least 5 responses within any filtered group [2]","Set per survey by your organization [3]","Comments hidden below the survey's separate comments group minimum [2][3]"]},{"cells":["Lattice","5 respondents [4]","3 respondents [4]","Threshold applies to scores for a question or theme [4]"]},{"cells":["15Five","5 respondents [5]","3 respondents [5]","Open text shown in aggregate, filtered one group type at a time [5]"]},{"cells":["Workleap Officevibe","3 active members who answered [6]","Published as a fixed floor of three [6]","Anonymous feedback appears once a team has 5 members [6]"]},{"cells":["Microsoft Viva Glint","5 responses [7]","3 responses [7]","10 responses before comments are viewable, 20 when filtering by a question response [7][9]"]}],"columns":["Platform","Default minimum for rating scores","Lowest the employer can set","Comment rule"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":30},{"id":"da1f14a9-02db-4ea7-a2ac-9db661cac6cb","sectionKey":"how_thresholds_work","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How do minimum reporting thresholds actually protect you?","introMarkdown":"A reporting threshold hides a group's results until enough people in that group have responded, so a manager with a small team sees a blank rather than a score. Culture Amp defines the reporting group minimum as \"the smallest number that you can filter down to in reporting\" [3], and its participant guide sets the bar at \"at least 5 responses have to be submitted within any filtered group\" [2]. Viva Glint uses the same default of five, adjustable down to three or four [7].\n\n### A second layer stops people doing the arithmetic\n\nHiding one small group is not enough, because a viewer can work out the hidden number by subtracting the visible groups from the total. Culture Amp names this: \"Indirect identification occurs when the responses of an individual, or small group are hidden, but their score can still be worked out by looking at the other scores around them\" [3]. Its Strong setting also hides the next smallest group whenever a filter includes a group under the reporting minimum [3], and Viva Glint does the same through a suppression threshold set to two by default [7].\n\n### Crossing filters is where thresholds get tested\n\nCombining two or three demographic filters shrinks a group quickly, and a slice such as women in engineering with more than ten years of tenure at one site can land on a single person. Viva Glint answers that with filter suppression, which stops users isolating groups that should be suppressed through report filtering, and with a higher minimum of 10 for scores and 20 for comments whenever someone filters by a question response [9].\n\n### Small teams get thinner protection\n\nWorkleap Officevibe shows where the floor sits: scores \"are not visible until at least three (3) active members have answered the survey,\" and anonymous feedback becomes visible once \"a Team has at least five (5) members\" [6]. On a team of five where four people respond, a three response threshold gives the manager an average built from a handful of answers, and one strongly negative rating moves it enough to be noticed.","introHtml":"A reporting threshold hides a group's results until enough people in that group have responded, so a manager with a small team sees a blank rather than a score. Culture Amp defines the reporting group minimum as "the smallest number that you can filter down to in reporting" [3], and its participant guide sets the bar at "at least 5 responses have to be submitted within any filtered group" [2]. Viva Glint uses the same default of five, adjustable down to three or four [7].
\nHiding one small group is not enough, because a viewer can work out the hidden number by subtracting the visible groups from the total. Culture Amp names this: "Indirect identification occurs when the responses of an individual, or small group are hidden, but their score can still be worked out by looking at the other scores around them" [3]. Its Strong setting also hides the next smallest group whenever a filter includes a group under the reporting minimum [3], and Viva Glint does the same through a suppression threshold set to two by default [7].
\nCombining two or three demographic filters shrinks a group quickly, and a slice such as women in engineering with more than ten years of tenure at one site can land on a single person. Viva Glint answers that with filter suppression, which stops users isolating groups that should be suppressed through report filtering, and with a higher minimum of 10 for scores and 20 for comments whenever someone filters by a question response [9].
\nWorkleap Officevibe shows where the floor sits: scores "are not visible until at least three (3) active members have answered the survey," and anonymous feedback becomes visible once "a Team has at least five (5) members" [6]. On a team of five where four people respond, a three response threshold gives the manager an average built from a handful of answers, and one strongly negative rating moves it enough to be noticed.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":40},{"id":"90ed2493-b389-44d8-ac48-0f53df0afbe2","sectionKey":"comments_links_metadata","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Which parts of a survey are most likely to identify you?","introMarkdown":"Free text comments carry more identification risk than any rating question, because a comment can name a project, a meeting, or a person, and because your writing style is recognizable to colleagues who read your messages every day. Culture Amp tells participants this outright: \"Confidential surveys do not identify comments. However, it's naturally possible to identify yourself by the content of your comment. If you'd like to remain confidential, do not include identifying information such as people's names or departments, and be careful to use generic language\" [2]. Microsoft Viva Glint puts the same warning inside the confidentiality statement employees see before answering: \"Write-in comments are reported verbatim if at least 10 people respond to a question. Take care not to identify yourself in the comments\" [8]. Verbatim is the operative word: a complaint about a specific incident points at whoever was in the room, whatever the threshold.\n\n### Survey links tell the platform who you are\n\nA personalized link is the mechanism that makes a confidential survey confidential. Culture Amp's attributed surveys use unique survey links to track responses to specific individuals [1], which is what allows reminders and demographic breakouts. An open link anyone can use, with nothing prefilled and no completion tracking, points toward an unattributed setup [1].\n\n### Metadata is collected whether or not anyone looks at it\n\nSurvey tools record more than your answers. SurveyMonkey web link collectors \"record the IP addresses of respondents by default,\" and switching on anonymous responses only affects new submissions, since \"it's not possible to make existing responses anonymous\" [11]. Qualtrics offers an Anonymize Responses option that removes \"the respondents' IP address, location data, and all other default Qualtrics fields\" [10]. Timestamps, device details, and custom variables passed through the link ride along unless somebody turns them off, which is why SurveyMonkey warns creators against identifiable custom variables when anonymity is the goal [11].","introHtml":"Free text comments carry more identification risk than any rating question, because a comment can name a project, a meeting, or a person, and because your writing style is recognizable to colleagues who read your messages every day. Culture Amp tells participants this outright: "Confidential surveys do not identify comments. However, it's naturally possible to identify yourself by the content of your comment. If you'd like to remain confidential, do not include identifying information such as people's names or departments, and be careful to use generic language" [2]. Microsoft Viva Glint puts the same warning inside the confidentiality statement employees see before answering: "Write-in comments are reported verbatim if at least 10 people respond to a question. Take care not to identify yourself in the comments" [8]. Verbatim is the operative word: a complaint about a specific incident points at whoever was in the room, whatever the threshold.
\nA personalized link is the mechanism that makes a confidential survey confidential. Culture Amp's attributed surveys use unique survey links to track responses to specific individuals [1], which is what allows reminders and demographic breakouts. An open link anyone can use, with nothing prefilled and no completion tracking, points toward an unattributed setup [1].
\nSurvey tools record more than your answers. SurveyMonkey web link collectors "record the IP addresses of respondents by default," and switching on anonymous responses only affects new submissions, since "it's not possible to make existing responses anonymous" [11]. Qualtrics offers an Anonymize Responses option that removes "the respondents' IP address, location data, and all other default Qualtrics fields" [10]. Timestamps, device details, and custom variables passed through the link ride along unless somebody turns them off, which is why SurveyMonkey warns creators against identifiable custom variables when anonymity is the goal [11].
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":50},{"id":"6d4f6973-551a-4e73-8db9-bc9e242363f5","sectionKey":"admin_access_and_legal","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"Can administrators see raw responses, and what does the law say?","introMarkdown":"Some administrators can, depending on how the account is configured and which survey you are answering. Microsoft Viva Glint publishes two default confidentiality statements, and the version used when an organization approves raw response export tells employees: \"A limited number of people at [Organization Name] will have access to your identifiable survey responses\" [8]. If that sentence appears before you answer, individual level access exists inside your employer. 15Five draws a different line, stating that no individual responses are visible to managers or leaders on engagement surveys, while noting those rules do not cover Lifecycle surveys, which do expose individual responses to account admins and permissioned managers [5].\n\n### What vendors actually commit to\n\nVendor commitments cover reporting rules and configuration options rather than a guarantee that no human being can ever see a row of data. One durable safeguard is timing: Viva Glint admins can only adjust survey level thresholds before a program launches its first survey, so the rules cannot be quietly loosened once responses exist [7].\n\n### General information about legal protection, not legal advice\n\nSurvey responses in the United States have no dedicated statutory protection, so a confidentiality promise is generally an employer policy plus a contract between your employer and the vendor rather than a right you personally hold. One protection that can apply is the National Labor Relations Act's coverage of protected concerted activity, which the National Labor Relations Board describes as employees acting together to address work related issues, including \"talking with one or more co-workers about your wages and benefits or other working conditions\" [14]. A single employee can also be covered while acting on behalf of coworkers or bringing a group complaint to management, though the protection can be lost where conduct is \"egregiously offensive or knowingly and maliciously false\" [14]. Whether a particular survey comment qualifies depends on the facts, so treat this as general information and raise your own situation with an employment lawyer or your regional NLRB office.","introHtml":"Some administrators can, depending on how the account is configured and which survey you are answering. Microsoft Viva Glint publishes two default confidentiality statements, and the version used when an organization approves raw response export tells employees: "A limited number of people at [Organization Name] will have access to your identifiable survey responses" [8]. If that sentence appears before you answer, individual level access exists inside your employer. 15Five draws a different line, stating that no individual responses are visible to managers or leaders on engagement surveys, while noting those rules do not cover Lifecycle surveys, which do expose individual responses to account admins and permissioned managers [5].
\nVendor commitments cover reporting rules and configuration options rather than a guarantee that no human being can ever see a row of data. One durable safeguard is timing: Viva Glint admins can only adjust survey level thresholds before a program launches its first survey, so the rules cannot be quietly loosened once responses exist [7].
\nSurvey responses in the United States have no dedicated statutory protection, so a confidentiality promise is generally an employer policy plus a contract between your employer and the vendor rather than a right you personally hold. One protection that can apply is the National Labor Relations Act's coverage of protected concerted activity, which the National Labor Relations Board describes as employees acting together to address work related issues, including "talking with one or more co-workers about your wages and benefits or other working conditions" [14]. A single employee can also be covered while acting on behalf of coworkers or bringing a group complaint to management, though the protection can be lost where conduct is "egregiously offensive or knowingly and maliciously false" [14]. Whether a particular survey comment qualifies depends on the facts, so treat this as general information and raise your own situation with an employment lawyer or your regional NLRB office.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":60},{"id":"92a8c385-4da0-424f-8a37-471f36481f14","sectionKey":"contributor_perspective","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How this answer was researched","introMarkdown":"This answer was assembled by reading the survey vendors' own live documentation rather than their marketing pages, because the numbers that matter to an employee sit in support articles and admin guides most people never see. Every threshold here was taken from the vendor's page on July 20, 2026 and quoted in the vendor's own words, so you can check it against whatever your employer configured. The legal section draws on the National Labor Relations Board's published guidance and is general information, not legal advice.\n\nThe editorial team behind this record sells nothing in this category and takes no vendor payment, sponsorship, or affiliate revenue. Configurations change, and a threshold that was a default in July 2026 may not be one next year. HR practitioners, vendors, and employees who have seen a setup work differently are invited to send corrections or documentation so the record can be updated.","introHtml":"This answer was assembled by reading the survey vendors' own live documentation rather than their marketing pages, because the numbers that matter to an employee sit in support articles and admin guides most people never see. Every threshold here was taken from the vendor's page on July 20, 2026 and quoted in the vendor's own words, so you can check it against whatever your employer configured. The legal section draws on the National Labor Relations Board's published guidance and is general information, not legal advice.
\nThe editorial team behind this record sells nothing in this category and takes no vendor payment, sponsorship, or affiliate revenue. Configurations change, and a threshold that was a default in July 2026 may not be one next year. HR practitioners, vendors, and employees who have seen a setup work differently are invited to send corrections or documentation so the record can be updated.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":"This answer was written and reviewed by the AnswerStack Editorial Team, which has no commercial stake in the products, companies, or methods discussed. Every claim is cited inline and verified on the dates shown.","noteHtml":"This answer was written and reviewed by the AnswerStack Editorial Team, which has no commercial stake in the products, companies, or methods discussed. Every claim is cited inline and verified on the dates shown.
\n","sortOrder":70},{"id":"c84d27dc-92bf-4781-8171-585ba2033991","sectionKey":"questions_to_ask","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What should you ask before you answer honestly?","introMarkdown":"Ask which of the three survey types you are taking, what the reporting minimum is, and who can see comments. Those three answers account for most of your real exposure, and any employer running a major platform can state them, since Viva Glint shows a confidentiality statement at the start of every survey covering that ground [8].\n\n### Questions worth asking in writing\n\n- Is this survey anonymous or confidential in the vendor's own terminology? Culture Amp, 15Five, and Viva Glint use those words with specific technical meanings, and the answer tells you whether your identity is stored at all [1][5][8].\n- What is the minimum number of responses before a group's results display, and did we keep the vendor default? Lattice defaults to five and permits three [4], and 15Five defaults to five and permits three or four [5].\n- Is there a separate, higher threshold for comments? Viva Glint's default is 10 responses, rising to 20 when someone filters by a question response [7][9].\n- Can anyone here export raw individual responses [8], and is filter suppression switched on so a viewer cannot isolate a group small enough to identify [9]?\n- Who administers the account, and does that person report into the leadership chain the survey is measuring?\n\n### Signals that the setup is weaker than advertised\n\nA survey that arrives as a personalized link, greets you by name, or chases you with reminders for not finishing is attributed, whatever the invitation email calls it [1]. A survey that asks for department, level, tenure band, location, and manager on a team of twelve has collected enough to narrow you down, which is the effect SHRM described in reporting that details such as department, title, salary level, and years of service can be enough to let a company know who responded and how [13]. If nobody will tell you the reporting minimum, treat ratings as reasonably safe and comments as attributable.","introHtml":"Ask which of the three survey types you are taking, what the reporting minimum is, and who can see comments. Those three answers account for most of your real exposure, and any employer running a major platform can state them, since Viva Glint shows a confidentiality statement at the start of every survey covering that ground [8].
\nA survey that arrives as a personalized link, greets you by name, or chases you with reminders for not finishing is attributed, whatever the invitation email calls it [1]. A survey that asks for department, level, tenure band, location, and manager on a team of twelve has collected enough to narrow you down, which is the effect SHRM described in reporting that details such as department, title, salary level, and years of service can be enough to let a company know who responded and how [13]. If nobody will tell you the reporting minimum, treat ratings as reasonably safe and comments as attributable.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":80},{"id":"9b4283ae-d5f5-4047-985e-fc4a56324188","sectionKey":"what_it_is_not","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What survey anonymity is not","introMarkdown":"### It is not a legal shield or a guarantee\n\nA confidentiality promise is an employer policy and a platform configuration, and the National Labor Relations Act protects concerted activity about working conditions rather than survey responses as a category [14]. SurveyMonkey warns creators that even with anonymous settings enabled \"the questions you are asking could identify a person in any case,\" and recommends describing those surveys as \"confidential,\" \"pseudonymous,\" or \"partially de-identified\" instead [12].\n\n### It is not consistent across every survey your employer runs\n\nEngagement, pulse, onboarding, and exit surveys often run on different settings inside the same product. 15Five's confidentiality rules cover engagement surveys but not Lifecycle surveys, which expose individual responses to account admins and permissioned managers [5]. Viva Glint sets the minimum threshold for an Employee Lifecycle or always-on survey at one response [7].\n\n### It is not a reason to assume the worst\n\nThe default configurations these vendors publish do hide individual rating answers behind group minimums of three to five responses, and several hide comments behind a higher bar again [4][5][7]. Inside a group of reasonable size, an honest rating is well protected. The risk concentrates in free text comments, in very small groups, and in the survey types your employer has deliberately made identifiable.","introHtml":"A confidentiality promise is an employer policy and a platform configuration, and the National Labor Relations Act protects concerted activity about working conditions rather than survey responses as a category [14]. SurveyMonkey warns creators that even with anonymous settings enabled "the questions you are asking could identify a person in any case," and recommends describing those surveys as "confidential," "pseudonymous," or "partially de-identified" instead [12].
\nEngagement, pulse, onboarding, and exit surveys often run on different settings inside the same product. 15Five's confidentiality rules cover engagement surveys but not Lifecycle surveys, which expose individual responses to account admins and permissioned managers [5]. Viva Glint sets the minimum threshold for an Employee Lifecycle or always-on survey at one response [7].
\nThe default configurations these vendors publish do hide individual rating answers behind group minimums of three to five responses, and several hide comments behind a higher bar again [4][5][7]. Inside a group of reasonable size, an honest rating is well protected. The risk concentrates in free text comments, in very small groups, and in the survey types your employer has deliberately made identifiable.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":90}],"citations":[{"title":"Attributed and Unattributed Survey Formats","url":"https://support.cultureamp.com/en/articles/7048339-attributed-and-unattributed-survey-formats","excerpt":"We prefer to communicate that Culture Amp surveys are 'Confidential'. Each response is linked to an employee in your account through the users profile. Unattributed surveys have no connection to any specific individual.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"Culture Amp surveys are confidential rather than anonymous; attributed responses linked to the employee profile; unique survey links; unattributed responses have no connection to any specific individual","domain":"support.cultureamp.com","publisherName":"Culture Amp"},{"title":"Engagement/Attributed Survey Guide for Participants","url":"https://support.cultureamp.com/en/articles/7048327-engagement-attributed-survey-guide-for-participants","excerpt":"at least 5 responses have to be submitted within any filtered group. We do not display individual responses. Confidential surveys do not identify comments. However, it's naturally possible to identify yourself by the content of your comment.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"at least 5 responses per filtered group; individual responses are not displayed; guidance to avoid identifying yourself in comments","domain":"support.cultureamp.com","publisherName":"Culture Amp"},{"title":"Confidentiality Protections in Reporting","url":"https://support.cultureamp.com/en/articles/7048386-confidentiality-protections-in-reporting","excerpt":"Indirect identification occurs when the responses of an individual, or small group are hidden, but their score can still be worked out by looking at the other scores around them.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"definition of reporting group minimum; direct and indirect identification; comments group minimum; None, Basic and Strong indirect identification protection settings","domain":"support.cultureamp.com","publisherName":"Culture Amp"},{"title":"Best Practices for Conducting Anonymous Employee Surveys","url":"https://lattice.com/articles/how-to-respond-to-anonymous-engagement-survey-feedback","excerpt":"Anonymous means you don't know who said what. Confidential means you know who said it, but you're not going to disclose that information. While the platform's default threshold is five users, Lattice protects anonymity by requiring a minimum of three.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"definition of anonymous versus confidential; Lattice default anonymity threshold of five and minimum of three","domain":"lattice.com","publisherName":"Lattice"},{"title":"How does engagement survey confidentiality work in 15Five?","url":"https://success.15five.com/hc/en-us/articles/8359259684507-Confidentiality-for-engagement-surveys","excerpt":"Confidential is not the same as anonymous. Responses are associated with employee accounts within 15Five for grouping and segmentation purposes.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"confidential is not the same as anonymous; default threshold of 5 adjustable to 3 or 4; no individual responses visible to managers on engagement surveys; Lifecycle surveys do expose individual responses","domain":"success.15five.com","publisherName":"15Five"},{"title":"Workleap Officevibe & anonymity","url":"https://help.workleap.com/en/articles/10281766-workleap-officevibe-anonymity","excerpt":"Scores given to the surveys are not visible until at least three (3) active members have answered the survey. Anonymous Feedback is visible when a Team has at least five (5) members - active or inactive.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"three active members required before scores display; five team members required before anonymous feedback displays","domain":"help.workleap.com","publisherName":"Workleap"},{"title":"Manage Viva Glint confidentiality thresholds","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/glint/setup/manage-confidentiality-thresholds","excerpt":"Rated Confidentiality ... Default setting 5 ... Adjusted setting options 3 or 4. The minimum threshold for an Employee Lifecycle or always-on survey is one (1).","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"rated confidentiality default 5 adjustable to 3 or 4; suppression threshold default 2; comments search and comments confidentiality defaults of 10; minimum threshold of one for Employee Lifecycle and always-on surveys; thresholds cannot be changed after a survey collects data","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"How Viva Glint protects your privacy","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/glint/setup/viva-glint-survey-privacy","excerpt":"Your responses are confidential and reported to [Organization Name] in aggregate groups of five or more respondents. Write-in comments are reported verbatim if at least 10 people respond to a question. Take care not to identify yourself in the comments. A limited number of people at [Organization Name] will have access to your identifiable survey responses.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"confidential versus identifiable surveys; confidentiality statement shown at survey start; verbatim comments at 10 responses; limited number of people with access to identifiable responses where raw export is approved","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Understand Viva Glint confidentiality and suppression in reports","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/glint/reports/confidentiality-suppression-reports","excerpt":"To ensure additional protection in instances where results are filtered by responses, a minimum threshold of 10 for scores and 20 for comments is enforced.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"filter suppression; higher minimum thresholds of 10 for scores and 20 for comments when filtering by a question response; comments confidentiality and comments search thresholds","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Security Survey Options","url":"https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/survey-module/survey-options/survey-protection/","excerpt":"remove the respondents' IP address, location data, and all other default Qualtrics fields ... Responses collected after Anonymize responses is enabled will not contain identifying information, even if this setting is later turned off again.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"what the Anonymize Responses option removes; the setting only applies to responses collected after it is enabled","domain":"qualtrics.com","publisherName":"Qualtrics"},{"title":"Making Responses Anonymous","url":"https://help.surveymonkey.com/en/surveymonkey/send/anonymous-responses/","excerpt":"Web Link collectors record the IP addresses of respondents by default. It's not possible to make existing responses anonymous. Changing the setting only applies to new responses.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"web link collectors record IP addresses by default; existing responses cannot be made anonymous; caution about identifiable custom variables","domain":"help.surveymonkey.com","publisherName":"SurveyMonkey"},{"title":"Are my survey responses anonymous and secure?","url":"https://help.surveymonkey.com/en/surveymonkey/policy/are-responses-anonymous/","excerpt":"Survey creators can decide to collect responses anonymously or to track respondents ... the questions you are asking could identify a person in any case.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"survey creators choose whether to collect anonymously; questions themselves can identify a respondent; recommended alternative labels of confidential, pseudonymous or partially de-identified","domain":"help.surveymonkey.com","publisherName":"SurveyMonkey"},{"title":"How Anonymous Is That Employee Satisfaction Survey?","url":"https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/how-anonymous-employee-satisfaction-survey","excerpt":"the department in which they work, their title, their salary level, their years of service, can be enough to let any company know who responded and how.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"INDEPENDENT","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"demographic detail such as department, title, salary level and years of service can identify respondents, especially in smaller organizations","domain":"shrm.org","publisherName":"SHRM"},{"title":"Concerted Activity","url":"https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/employees/concerted-activity","excerpt":"talking with one or more co-workers about your wages and benefits or other working conditions ... joining with co-workers to talk directly to your employer, to a government agency, or to the media about problems in your workplace.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","supportsText":"definition and examples of protected concerted activity; coverage of a single employee acting on behalf of coworkers; limits on that protection","domain":"nlrb.gov","publisherName":"National Labor Relations Board"}],"revisions":[],"relatedAnswers":[{"id":"87e3128a-3ede-4034-8a99-473a3d30c35d","slug":"how-do-we-act-on-engagement-survey-results","question":"How do we act on engagement survey results and actually move the score?","publishedAt":"2026-07-22T13:12:27.947","confidenceScore":80,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"e1a1da3c-52a8-4e99-88ad-d08ef17d7c3f","slug":"hr-technology","label":"HR Technology","description":"ATS, HRIS, payroll, and workforce management"},"topic":{"slug":"employee-experience-engagement","label":"Employee Experience & Engagement","description":"Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Feedback, Pulse Surveys, Employee Recognition, Workplace Culture","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"A survey changes nothing on its own; improvement is linked only to the follow-up. Share results fast, focus on one or two themes you control, push action to managers and teams, involve employees in the fix, and close the loop visibly with a 'you said, we did' update. Assign owners and dates, fold the work into normal business rhythms, and re-measure carefully so you can separate real change from regression to the mean. Acting badly or not at all lowers trust and future response rates.","url":"/q/how-do-we-act-on-engagement-survey-results"},{"id":"58727c90-f420-4f4a-b582-9726188f91ab","slug":"whats-the-best-employee-recognition-software-and-does-recognition","question":"What's the best employee recognition software, and does recognition actually improve retention?","publishedAt":"2026-07-22T13:12:25.971","confidenceScore":80,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"e1a1da3c-52a8-4e99-88ad-d08ef17d7c3f","slug":"hr-technology","label":"HR Technology","description":"ATS, HRIS, payroll, and workforce management"},"topic":{"slug":"employee-experience-engagement","label":"Employee Experience & Engagement","description":"Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Feedback, Pulse Surveys, Employee Recognition, Workplace Culture","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Employee recognition software falls into four categories: peer-to-peer points apps like Bonusly and Nectar, reward-catalog platforms like Awardco, recognition built into engagement suites like Culture Amp and Lattice, and enterprise total-rewards systems like Achievers and Workhuman. Match the category to your workforce. Recognition correlates with retention in research, but the biggest turnover and ROI figures come from vendor-funded studies, so treat them cautiously.","url":"/q/whats-the-best-employee-recognition-software-and-does-recognition"},{"id":"be624fa7-bd7e-4097-88af-17c0da855496","slug":"employee-engagement-software-integrate-with-slack-microsoft-teams","question":"Does employee engagement software integrate with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and our HRIS?","publishedAt":"2026-07-22T13:12:23.937","confidenceScore":88,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"e1a1da3c-52a8-4e99-88ad-d08ef17d7c3f","slug":"hr-technology","label":"HR Technology","description":"ATS, HRIS, payroll, and workforce management"},"topic":{"slug":"employee-experience-engagement","label":"Employee Experience & Engagement","description":"Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Feedback, Pulse Surveys, Employee Recognition, Workplace Culture","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"The three connections are separate purchases. The HRIS feed supplies the directory, manager hierarchy, and demographics that route and segment surveys. The Slack or Teams app is how surveys, reminders, and recognition reach people, and in some tools how they answer. Anonymity is set by the survey platform, not the chat tool, so verify where responses are stored. IT signs off on the app scopes, single sign-on, provisioning, and data residency.","url":"/q/employee-engagement-software-integrate-with-slack-microsoft-teams"},{"id":"f1910dc6-dc69-43f6-a9f0-3d5cd5927242","slug":"how-often-should-we-send-pulse-surveys-to-employees","question":"How often should we send pulse surveys to employees?","publishedAt":"2026-07-22T13:12:21.547","confidenceScore":82,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"e1a1da3c-52a8-4e99-88ad-d08ef17d7c3f","slug":"hr-technology","label":"HR Technology","description":"ATS, HRIS, payroll, and workforce management"},"topic":{"slug":"employee-experience-engagement","label":"Employee Experience & Engagement","description":"Employee Engagement, Employee Experience, Employee Feedback, Pulse Surveys, Employee Recognition, Workplace Culture","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"The best pulse survey frequency is the fastest one you can act on, not a fixed calendar. Most organizations pair a deep annual or twice-yearly census with shorter quarterly pulses, and add always-on lifecycle surveys at onboarding and exit. Monthly or weekly pulsing fits only when you can respond that often, since response rates fall when people answer repeatedly and see no change. Match cadence to your size, how fast things are changing, and above all your capacity to follow through, and keep each pulse short.","url":"/q/how-often-should-we-send-pulse-surveys-to-employees"}],"contributorStats":{"verifiedAnswers":224,"openDisputes":0},"schemaJson":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Question","name":"Are employee engagement / pulse surveys really anonymous, and can my employer see who said what?","text":"Are employee engagement / pulse surveys really anonymous, and can my employer see who said what?","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/employee-engagement-pulse-surveys-really-anonymous-can-my-employer","answerCount":1,"datePublished":"2026-07-21T00:21:34.084","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"AnswerStack Editorial Team","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack"},"url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Employee Experience & Engagement"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"HR Technology"}],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Most employee engagement and pulse surveys are confidential rather than anonymous, which means the platform does link your response to your employee record even though reporting is restricted. Culture Amp states that its surveys \"are not anonymous\" and that it prefers to describe them as \"Confidential\" [1], and 15Five tells administrators that \"Confidential is not the same as anonymous. Responses are associated with employee accounts\" [5]. Your employer normally sees group averages only once a minimum number of people in that group have responded, commonly five, so a manager cannot look up how you rated a question [2][7]. The exposure sits elsewhere: comments are reported verbatim [8], tiny teams and rare demographic filter combinations can narrow results to one person [3][9], and identifiable survey types such as exit surveys are built to show individual responses [7][8].","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/employee-engagement-pulse-surveys-really-anonymous-can-my-employer","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2026-07-21T00:21:34.084","dateModified":"2026-07-20T00:00:00","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"AnswerStack Editorial Team","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"AnswerStack"},"url":"https://www.answerstack.io/contributors/answer-stack"},"citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Attributed and Unattributed Survey Formats","url":"https://support.cultureamp.com/en/articles/7048339-attributed-and-unattributed-survey-formats"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Engagement/Attributed Survey Guide for Participants","url":"https://support.cultureamp.com/en/articles/7048327-engagement-attributed-survey-guide-for-participants"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Confidentiality Protections in Reporting","url":"https://support.cultureamp.com/en/articles/7048386-confidentiality-protections-in-reporting"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Best Practices for Conducting Anonymous Employee Surveys","url":"https://lattice.com/articles/how-to-respond-to-anonymous-engagement-survey-feedback"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"How does engagement survey confidentiality work in 15Five?","url":"https://success.15five.com/hc/en-us/articles/8359259684507-Confidentiality-for-engagement-surveys"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Workleap Officevibe & anonymity","url":"https://help.workleap.com/en/articles/10281766-workleap-officevibe-anonymity"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Manage Viva Glint confidentiality thresholds","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/glint/setup/manage-confidentiality-thresholds"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"How Viva Glint protects your privacy","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/glint/setup/viva-glint-survey-privacy"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Understand Viva Glint confidentiality and suppression in reports","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/viva/glint/reports/confidentiality-suppression-reports"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Security Survey Options","url":"https://www.qualtrics.com/support/survey-platform/survey-module/survey-options/survey-protection/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Making Responses Anonymous","url":"https://help.surveymonkey.com/en/surveymonkey/send/anonymous-responses/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Are my survey responses anonymous and secure?","url":"https://help.surveymonkey.com/en/surveymonkey/policy/are-responses-anonymous/"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"How Anonymous Is That Employee Satisfaction Survey?","url":"https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/how-anonymous-employee-satisfaction-survey"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Concerted Activity","url":"https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/employees/concerted-activity"}]}}}