To refuse to complete this form?

[Rae34]

My workplace requested we complete a mental health survey the day before the deadline of submission. They said we would be doing a mental health training session (not optional) and we had to send this form to the person running the session but that our company would not know who said what.

However looking at the form it is very specific. Wants me to rate my current mental health and goes into more detail and asks what I think of my specific employer in several questions, mentioning them by name throughout the form.

AIBU to not want to complete this at all?

Also with GDPR and everything now this just seems a bit dodgy does it not?

Just lie.

Everyone else will

I'd politely decline. It's intrusive and unprofessional.

Fill the firm out N/A and send in

I asked my friend what her thoughts on it were and she said she was going to be 'honest but vague'.

If has irked me a bit that it hasnt been made optional. I am busy enough without having to attend this as well.

In fact if they come back to you about it they’ll have dropped themselves in it by admitting they’ve seen it and broken GDPR

I don't see how they can enforce that to be honest, to me it seems far too personal and intrusive

Does anyone know what the GDPR rule is exactly?

I doubt they would come back personally but may record things privately. I'm not saying for sure but it is a possibility.

Who is running the session, I presume an outside company? And who is getting the forms, are you asked to put names on them? Am assuming it’s anonymised data for the course leader to discuss on the day and nothing more?

Also if they are not going to record our personal responses, why does every single employee have to submit one?

The company has to let you know what information they hold on you and why they are keeping the information and what they have done with it- you can ask all this in writing

I’d give them top marks and put garbage then move quickly on, if hand written make it hard to decipher, if typed use ok

Yes it is an outside company who happens to be good friends with our MD.

We are told it is to discuss on the day but the form itself goes into great detail about asking how I feel about the company I work for. It had been personalised to the company.

I bet loads of people don’t do it. I think you should be one of them.

You might be right Hedda. I'm one of those people at work that tends to question processes I dont think are right - the managers never thank me for it

I usually find most people I work with are yes people and dont tend to question things.

Yes, my employer's tried this one on: woven it into the general appraisal system. I contacted our Union who advised me I'm within my rights to suggest that, unless there are performance issues, then this is not relevant to the appraisals process. And even if it was, this should be dealt with via Occupational Health.

I'm fine and happy just keeping my head down and getting on with my job without being questioned periodically about my emotional wellbeing. That's personal, and they have no right to that information simply because they ask for it. Stress and anxiety are things I'm capable of managing simply by focusing on my work without having Mental Health dredged up every five minutes. It's counterproductive and it talks the 'stress' into being, if that makes sense.

as someone with professional involvement in data collection, it really depends on who is giving the survey

an accredited independent research company will have clear statements regarding consent and anonymity and strong policies in place to protect that so that even if they're asking very specific questions, the data that's released won't identify any specific individual

of course there are also absolutely dodgy internally run research questionnaires and independent 'consulting' companies with shoddy policies

as a researcher i'd say don't write it off out of hand, it can be really important to get that kind of data, but you're right not to blindly trust

as for getting everyone to complete it, i wouldn't worry about that - response rate tracking is normal but x% of all staff and y% per department have completed is not the same as handing over your responses, and the more people submit the more comprehensive any aggregated results are even if they aren't sharing respondent level details

Sounds like a tick box exercise for metal health inclusion / wellness. Don't do it if you don't want to but it might flag individuals who do need extra support and don't know how to access it.

They have woven it into the appraisal system @MarieIVanArkleStinks? That is shocking. Good for you for going to your union.

My managers havent once asked how I am doing since March. They could try checking in on us every so often rather than asking us all to fill out some generic sterile form.

Is it anonymous? If it is, it’s a chance to flag up issues with no comeback, and could be useful. But if it links back to you in any way YANBU.

Well the form is anonymous but I have to send it via my email account which clearly states my name?

I just wouldn't fill it in. They have no right to ask you this stuff.

Well the form is anonymous but I have to send it via my email account which clearly states my name?

Hahahaha

Asking with one day's notice isn't very caring towards staff mental health.

I don't see any point to it if all the yes people are being honest but vague.

'honest but vague' probably means lying anyway, but your colleague didn't want to say that.