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The company sent out an anonymous survey to everyone. I figured out by clearing my browser history I could fill out the survey multiple times. So I did that to make sure my feelings carried more weight.

The CEO was so pleased that my department had the highest response rate. Most I talked to in my department didn't even fill it out.

The CEO noticed a huge discrepancy in employee satisfaction across departments. My department had very low ratings (I'm pretty sure my 15+ submissions are to blame.)

Now the CEO is planning to have focus sessions with my department and many additional meetings to improve morale and get face to face feedback. People in my department hate the thought of additional meetings, they don't understand how we had over 90% response rate to the survey and they wish that we could focus on the work.

This seems to have back-fired. Or maybe it will lead to positive changes. I don't know. If I come clean about it can I do so anonymously to avoid repurcussions and a bad reputation?

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    Why has it backfired? You were not happy and now the CEO is trying to find out what the problem is and to fix it. Sounds like you got what you wanted! – John3136 Aug 22 '19 at 04:17
  • So again its "either do it properly or don't do it all". Once I had the same situation where interns had to fill a form which showed their rating which was uneditable but only with front end check. Simple inspect element allowed them to update their ratings.... many who explored got away with it – amar Aug 22 '19 at 04:35
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    Well... at least you know the survey was anonymous. – Shadowzee Aug 22 '19 at 04:51
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    Why did you do this, as you plan to leave : https://workplace.stackexchange.com/q/142312/75821 – Solar Mike Aug 22 '19 at 05:48
  • I didn't think there would be so much time spent in additional meetings. So I figure it back-fired in that way. –  Aug 22 '19 at 10:33
  • No one was listening to my concerns about company issues, so I thought I could get the point across through the survey responses. –  Aug 22 '19 at 10:39
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    What would happen if your department had a 150% response rate? –  Aug 22 '19 at 15:38
  • I caused this to happen before, and the person who made the survey was shocked, figured someone had entered multiple times, got my message anonymously, and resent a new survey. The next time I only submitted once. They used those results for the next steps. That was my hope this time, but not enough people responded. –  Aug 22 '19 at 15:42
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    @RR2 maybe, just maybe, the meetings are due to the massive negative feedback they received and they're looking to actually make a positive change by addressing the issues. Now you're going to be stuck in a meeting with the CEO and all your coworkers. CEO is shocked that there's such negativity and so are the coworkers. They'll all be looking around wondering how 15 out of the 20(?) of them feel so poorly but have never said anything, and you'll be the only one who will have a gripe to express. You'll be found out pretty quickly. Maybe you should fess up now to save irritating your coworkers – FreeMan Aug 22 '19 at 15:55
  • Are you suggesting I keep quiet during the meetings? –  Aug 22 '19 at 16:19
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    As much as the asker may have goofed up, let's try to be civil here. Non-constructive feedback would just clutter the comment section. – MikeQ Aug 23 '19 at 14:36
  • I feel like they probably suspect that someone submitted repeated entries.... it sounds like quite the coincidence otherwise. Regardless, it brought an important issue to their attention and they're working to resolve it. While I don't think it's neccessary to do anything, you could just drop an email saying you believe someone could have repeatedly submitted the same survey results and that it's strange to hear such overwhelmingly high response rates from your department – schizoid04 Aug 28 '19 at 19:09

2 Answers2

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So you submitted 15+ times, but what did you want?

Attention - you’ve got it. But now all your colleagues are suffering due to your actions.

So come clean and get it sorted, the phrase “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” seems very apt.

Solar Mike
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  • I wanted to be 'heard'. I didn't think anything would happen to affect others time. Why come clean? It never said that I could not submit more than one survey. If they suspect something, shouldn't they just redo the survey and set it up to accept one entry per IP address? –  Aug 22 '19 at 10:43
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    @RR2 perhaps they expected each employee to only submit once... Given your actions, a naive expectation. – Solar Mike Aug 22 '19 at 10:56
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    @RR2 Come, now. You resorted to clearing your browser history in order to vote again; it's absurd to pretend you didn't know you weren't meant to vote more than once. If you really believe you weren't doing anything wrong, why wouldn't you just tell your workmates what happened? – GB supports the mod strike Aug 22 '19 at 10:58
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    (also, "one entry per IP address" doesn't actually prevent multiple voting, because IP addresses are not one-per-person) – GB supports the mod strike Aug 22 '19 at 10:59
  • I suppose I would tell the workmates, had the CEO not decided to hold all these additional meetings. Now because of the CEO's actions it makes me look bad if I share with them what transpired. If they had all done the survey, then the response rate would have been over 100%, which is what happened the last time I did something like this, and they would have reset everything. So really it's my workmates disinterest in providing feedback that has led to these extra meetings. –  Aug 22 '19 at 11:16
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    @RR2 you are trying to blame others for your actions. This is not their fault : "So really it's my workmates disinterest in providing feedback that has led to these extra meetings"... – Solar Mike Aug 22 '19 at 11:17
  • But had they all responded, the outcome might be different. But I see your point. I'm using the same same silly argument people use about voting in elections. What's the best way to come clean? Anonymous tip off? –  Aug 22 '19 at 11:42
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    What would happen if your department had a 150% response rate? –  Aug 22 '19 at 15:38
  • @23fc9a62-56de-47fb-97b4-737890 They would be chasing the others because I would only submit once. – Solar Mike Aug 22 '19 at 15:55
  • @SolarMike Same. I meant that to be pointed at RR 2. –  Aug 22 '19 at 16:31
  • @SolarMike It could help if this answer also suggested whom RR2 should confess to. Their co-workers? Their manager? Department head? CEO? All of the above? – MikeQ Aug 23 '19 at 14:00
  • At many companies, the IT department can monitor any company-owned system and view activity over the company network. Clearing browser history won't hide their tracks. So if @RR2 doesn't come clean, the IT department can likely find out anyway, which may have more severe repercussions. – MikeQ Aug 23 '19 at 14:03
  • @MikeQ are you suggesting confessing to the passive aggressive CEO? HR is probably best, but in terms of time a bit late now... – Solar Mike Aug 23 '19 at 14:29
  • @SolarMike Not necessarily, but if they come clean to any employee, then the CEO may eventually find out. So depending on who they tell, and how they tell it, they could affect how that information spreads. – MikeQ Aug 23 '19 at 15:45
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First off, you should not done that. It is dishonest and cheating.

Clearing browser won't work. If they check the submission by IP, then you are screwed. If you plan to stay on, do not come clean. If you come clean to the CEO, word will get out to your colleagues and they will blame you. You will not be trusted again.

It is too late to own up now.

Or you could take a risk and do what a former colleague of mine did. He 'claimed' to be testing the security of the survey and did it with the best of intentions

Kristina Lex
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  • How is it cheating? Shouldn't they have set up the survey to not allow entries from the same person more than once? –  Aug 22 '19 at 10:36
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    @RR2 Do you really want to work in an environment so paranoid that they spend all their time trying to guess how employees might attempt to sabotage things? – GB supports the mod strike Aug 22 '19 at 10:53
  • Sabotage? It's simply a survey. No one said they would act on the results. How is this sabotage? –  Aug 22 '19 at 11:11
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    @RR2 If you really didn't think they were going to respond to the results... why on earth did you go to the effort of voting 15 times "to be heard" and "to get the point across"? – GB supports the mod strike Aug 22 '19 at 11:37
  • Just needed to vent my dissatisfaction. But I guess I'm glad they responded. But why have additional meetings? They could have simply fixed the problems identified in the survey. –  Aug 22 '19 at 11:44
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    @RR2 lol - do you think the meetings are to fix the problems ... ? The meetings are to tell you all how wrong your feelings are and that you all need to get with the program and properly appreciate how awesome your company is ;) – brhans Aug 22 '19 at 13:44
  • True, I don't know the purpose of the meetings. They are being called focus groups and feedback sessions. –  Aug 22 '19 at 14:23