Surveying voice: A study of employees’ perceptions of voicing in employee surveys

Sammanfattning

Employee surveys (ES) are widely institutionalised in large organisations across Sweden and other Western countries, often embedded in formal or legally required work environment monitoring. ES serve to enable employee voice, enhance internal communication, and support organisational development. Despite their widespread use and growing popularity, they have been criticised for frequently lacking meaningful follow-up and organisational action. This study examines how employees perceive ES as a channel for expressing and having their voices acknowledged within organisations. Drawing on an interpretive, social constructionist approach, the study is based on 25 semi-structured interviews with employees from 24 organisations in Sweden. The analysis is guided by Satterstrom et al.’s voice cultivation process framework, alongside research on employee voice, upward communication, and feedback. The findings suggest that anonymity is a critical yet ambivalent and conditional prerequisite for honest feedback, but simultaneously creates a dilemma in which employees moderate or generalise their responses to avoid identification. This resulting vagueness may constrain the actionability of survey feedback. Employee surveys are largely perceived as organisational “temperature checks” rather than individual expressions of voice, where individual voice influence is contingent upon alignment with the majority. In the absence of visible follow-up or action, ES risk being perceived as symbolic or performative manifestations of faux voice. Moreover, the asynchronous and mediated nature of ES complicates voice cultivation processes that rely on dialogue, limiting the transition from initial expression to perceived acknowledgement. By reframing employee surveys as communicative processes, the study contributes to strategic communication research by advancing understanding of how employee voice is expressed and acknowledged through ES, with implications for their use as meaningful and constructive feedback tools.