Survey at work

[IamAporcupine]

We've been asked at work to fill in a survey aiming to evaluate how well hybrid working has worked and to see if it will be continued.

The first few questions were, as you'd expect, 'do you WFH/office/hybrid', 'how many days each', then something like 'how does your working pattern affect your productivity/environment/communication/inclusion (?)/ management/wellbeing/overall 'satisfaction'. Do you work full-time/part-time, type of job and and grade. All fine.

One question re caring/parental responsabilities.
One question re disability (phrased as 'do you identify as disabled?')

Then:
sex (3 options, including prefer not to say)
gender identity (5 options, including prefer not to say)
sexuality (9 options, including prefer not to say)
religion (if yes, 8 options)
ethnicity (19 options, including prefer not to say)

and...
"Are you trans or have a history of trans?"
(3 options, including prefer not to say)
(what does 'history of trans' even mean? I doubt they mean detransitioners....)

Why, oh why?
It is irrelevant and a waste of time for everyone involved.
How are they planning to analyse the results? "Black homosexuals work better from home but non-binary Christians with a history of trans prefer to come to the office'?

Also, what is wrong with 'do you have a disability'?
And, why am I asked if I have a religion, but I am assumed to have a gender identity?

It really irritates me.
Was tempted to post in AIBU

Ugh. The really stupid thing about this is that it is presumably supposed to be an anonymous survey. But once you have that number of fields (ethnicity, sex, gender identity, disability, WFH status etc) you are almost certain to inadvertently de-anonymise quite a few people, possibly almost everyone: the non-binary person with a 3:2 hybrid working model, or the Black man who only WFH on Wednesday, or the White woman with caring responsibilities and a disability who is still fully WFH.

I'd push back on that basis. It's really irresponsible for the company not to have realised that the amount of demographic info they are asking for compromises responder anonymity to this extent.

These work surveys are driving me mad with anger. I'm sick of being asked what is your gender with the choices make, female, non binary or prefer not to say. If you don't have a gender identity you have to put prefer not to say as you have to put an answer.

At least your survey asked sex, but do they seriously think non binary is a third sex?

Being generous, I would say that they are including all those questions so that they can analyse the demographic of respondents ie, 90% of respondants are white non-disabled males , when they know that demographic only makes up 5% of the total workforce. You do often get asked these kind of things on other forms or questionnaires, but it states that these questions are entirely voluntary.

Being cycnical, It does look a bit like they are bending over backwards to be gender woo inclusionary.. Have they been stonewalled? My employer has, and the pride group gets input into what questions get asked on surveys, hence we don't get to declare our sex, only our gender identity.

I would push back too because as you say, the responses could identify individuals.

Does seem OTT but to be fair their questions do seem close to being "good questions". I posted one a month or two back that asked "gender" and the options included male, female, interssex and trans.

Then:
sex (3 options, including prefer not to say) - seems fair.
gender identity (5 options, including prefer not to say) - needs "none" and should probably be simply "do you have a gender identity? Y/N. If yes, what is it? Fill in the blank or prefer not to say".
sexuality (9 options, including prefer not to say) - Surely there are only three - gay straight and bi?
religion (if yes, 8 options) - seems fair.
ethnicity (19 options, including prefer not to say) - seems fair.

and...
"Are you trans or have a history of trans?" - surely do you identify as trans? Y/N and do you identify as a detransitioner? Y/N would be the two questions to ask?
(3 options, including prefer not to say)
(what does 'history of trans' even mean? I doubt they mean detransitioners....)

@FemaleAndLearning At least your survey asked sex, but do they seriously think non binary is a third sex?

No, the options for sex were: male, female, and prefer not to say
Non-binary was under gender identity

@MagpiePi Being generous, I would say that they are including all those questions so that they can analyse the demographic of respondents

Yes, you are right, I didn't think of that.
I still think the questions are a bit OTT

I hadn't thought about the "history of trans" in the context of detransitioners so yes that question could be confusing and fail to gather accurate date. I've seen it used by people who transition and view being trans as part of their history because they are now a man or woman opposite to the sex they were born as.

I think that the'identifies as disabled' is a long standing one and isn't meant to be controversial. More related to the fact that some people are impacted by disability but haven't been formally diagnosed.

I would say that is good clear question on sex. You could push for 'no gender identity' option on the gender idenity question to be fully inclusive! Like they ask religion on the census. Or it could be a two part question, 1a do you have a gender identity (yes, no, prefer not to say) 1b if yes, are you a transwoman, transman, non binary prefer not to say, prefer to self describe.

That post reminds me of the Mat Walsh "What is a Woman" film, and in particular the TW surgeon who said how tiny the number of detransitioners were in a really dismissive way.

Walsh referred to that surgeon a trans woman and the surgeon replied something like "I am a woman".

I wish he'd followed up. If you are a woman then what word should we use to distinguish women from trans women? If you are no longer "trans" them presumably you have become literally indistinguishable from other women - you have literally got an actually vagina and XX chromosomes? Is your body still releasing eggs or have you gone through the menopause?

Thanks

The question on trans should reflect gender reassignment of the Equality Act.
Something like are you under going, have undergone or proposing to undergo gender reassignment.
Perhaps they should list all the protected characteristic questions first, as listed in the Equality Act, followed by additional questions (caring, gender identity etc). That's what I would do and refer to the PC in the introduction. Makes it clear why they are being asked.
I wouldn't expect them to ask questions on the PCs of maternity/pregnancy or civil/marriage as apparently these are managed differently under the act.

@GCRich I agree with you that the sex/religion/ethnicity questions were fair enough. I think it was the emphasis on the (unquestionable) gender identity, the trans 'history' and the long list under sexuality that got me annoyed.

I had to check again - the options were: heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, another sexuality and prefer not to say.

Also disability has a clear definition which should be used in my opinion.
Do you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.

www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010

Why these people make up their own questions when the equality act specifies them I'll never know.

Sexual orientation in the Equality Act www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/12

As a kindness they could as to self describe, but pointless because not protected!

Why gay and lesbian? Surely if the question says same sex attracted then you know whether they are a gay man or a lesbian from the sex question?

I'd love to know how pansexual differs from bisexual given that there are only two sexes.

I don't believe that asexual is an orientation - it is either a lack of sex drive within an orientation, or it is a lack of orientation.

I'm with you.... but I have seen a lot worse!

Actually, the gender identity one was:

What is your gender identity:
Man
Woman
Non-binary
Another
Prefer not to say

I am guessing the majority of respondents just go with man/woman as that is what they are....

Surely also utterly pointless as well. Sexual orientation is defined in relation to what sex you are attracted to. By definition you can be attracted to men, or women, or both. There can be no other way that your attraction is orientated.

Anything else is a preference. Saying you are pansexual says nothing - other than you like more than one sex therefore are bisexual with a trans rights activist mindset.

It is OUTRAGEOUS that any questionaire assumes that you have a gender identity... but as I say, seen much worse. My professional regulation organisation thinks intersex, male and female are gender identities.

Apologies forgot the screenshot

History or trans eh… I’d be tempted to use the free text box to explain the history of the steam powered train. I often misread things.

I totally agree. It should just be factual and I wouldn't want to compromise given the choice.

"Having a trans history" is the Trojan horse in the Census, for example.
Someone who is male and thinks they are a woman can say "I'm a woman, I'm female, my sex is female, look at my legal fiction birth certificate, oh by the way I have a trans history".
It's the ultimate in gaslighting.

The “identify as disabled” is standard.
Its because not everyone with a disability or disabilities views themselves as disabled. The predominant view is you are disabled if you cannot work and live on disability benefits. Around half of people with diagnosed disabilities can and do work, and most of them do not view themselves as disabled.

Are people who are disabled but refuse to see themselves as disabled still entitled to benefits for disabled people or adjustments at work for disabled people?

Do you think that people who do identify as disabled but aren't should get benefits for disabled people? Should companies be forced to ake adjustments for healthy-bodied people as if they had the disability that they claim to have?