Interesting email at work...

[ShelbyDawn]

I work for a Fortune 100 multinational company, one of the real big guys...
Anyway, HR sent out a broadcast email to everybody in the company asking for voluntary responses providing additional information. They were looking into workforce diversification in an effort to figure out how to better serve the employees.

Anyway, among the questions was "Do you consider yourself Transgendered?"
Yes/No/Prefer not to answer

A million different thoughts ran through my mind and I am wondering if this is any indication that our little corner of the world is slowly gaining the public eye and moving ever so slowly toward acceptance.

I would be interested in hearing;
1.) how would you respond to such a survey at your work,
2.) what are your general thoughts on what this may or may not mean and
3.) I am dying of curiosity and wonder if anyone has a suggestion about how to get a look at the summarized data.



Shelby

PS. The other questions concerned military service and sexual orientation

[Chickhe]

Call me paranoid...but, all work related email is not anonymous, so answering a survey can only harm you. If the survey is done by an outside party then maybe if it is truly anonymous. So, would you answer a potentially political question in a work place that may or may not be supporting...I don't know.

[Rachelakld]

never an email.
Yes to a paper survey.
Wouldn't answer the military question, not as if they intend to install a cockpit to make it feel more Homely for me.
Sexual orientation - would they hire pretty hookers to help keep me satisfied ?

Maybe your survey was designed to "tick a box", Oh ya, look at us, aren't we on to It, PC BS.

[Lynn Marie]

I worked for a major communications company for over 40 years both in craft and management. Employee surveys are complete nonsense and serve no real purpose whatever. They are only done to make it look like the company cares. We all know that companies only care about money, everything else is fluff to keep the troops in line and the unions and government off their backs! Suggestions and ideas from the troops are solicited and summarily ignored. It's folly to expect anything more. No, I'm not bitter. I thoroughly enjoyed my work and my company was good to me. I'm just a realist and understand the limitations of the modern corporation.

[Gardener]

I am just not sure that these are areas about which employers should seek information on their employees. If the employee decides to raise the issue at work , well that is another matter. However diversity and equal opportunity in every aspect of life are important concepts and it is difficult to see how progress could be made without collecting information. Maybe the problem is the way in which the information is collected and the perceived lack of confidentiality?

[karens70]

I think I would join the paranoid brigade if I was you, especially since you said it was voluntary and there was no mention of it being anonymous.

[Jeanna]

Delete the email is my advice

[KaceyR]

I've heard about some polls like this. But usually if stuff is done it's done thru an independent company along with guaranteed anonymity. There have been other polls and inquiries but I can tell by the links (if web based) that it's an independent 3rd party doing this to keep things fully anonymous. (We have had regular 'grade our management' polls this way). If no guaranteed anonymity though, I myself would be reluctant to proceed and the poll would be feeling a bit unethical to me.

[Kate Simmons]

Unless you will be talking one on one with a HR rep, I would say forget it. Too many eyes otherwise. Everyone doesn't need to know.

[mykell]

delete, delete, delete....

[Shari]

Don't touch it.
Nothing but bad can come out of it.
I agree.
Delete, delete, delete.

[kimdl93]

I think you could simply ask for the summary report. Interesting to see companies taking an interest in the composition of their work force.

[NicoleScott]

Not to start another debate over definitions but...
Here on the forum we can't agree on what transgendered means, and we should be the experts, so I could never assume that outsiders who ask such a question would define TG the same as I do. But you can't ask the nameless survey to define TG so you can reply accurately.
If I were asked that question face to face, I would ask for a definition before responding. My answer could be yes or no, depending....
I would also ask "why do you ask such a personal question?"
No way I would respond to the e-mail survey.
Even for surveys on paper, by mail, I would look for clues (such as hidden/imbedded numbers or letters) that could be used for tracking and matching my answers to my identity.
In my opinion, if you participate in a survey, you are entitled to the results.

[Beverley Sims]

It is similar to some surveys conducted on this board.

Deletion and forget is the operative phrase, for surveys here some are obviously for college essays and some do appear more insidious.

I always give skewed answers to those I have suspicions about.
One answer I gave, not here though.

"I am straight, love gay sex and wear womens clothes because I am forced to do it."

Nothing like straight answers.

[Ineke Vashon]

'Prefer not to answer' is as good as a yes. Leaves the option to lie or to delete. I'm with the delete group.

Ineke

[linda allen]

I would ignore and delete the email. It's none of their business.

[robindee36]

Shelby, follow the other girls advice and give this a miss. Delete, send to spam, but let it go. At best it is an honest survey, but to what end. At worst it is a fishing exercise, don't bite.

Hugs, Robin

[Gillian Gigs]

I will add my comments, join the majority on this one and say stay away from these type of e-mails, or surveys. Surveys at best can and do get miss used and the results get twisted to whatever the maker of the survey wants. It is like the question, "Do you consider yourself Transgendered?", then there are the answers, "Yes/No/Prefer not to answer". The "prefer not to answer" will be considered as a yes, but you want to stay hidden. If you answer that way you will be no longer hidden! Even paper surveys can be traced back to the orginal writer, so one always has to be careful.

[larry]

I also worked for a VERY large Company. Now hear this !! The surveys are done by an independent as advertised. THEN-they are sent back to the Corporation and passed to several layers of Management who SHARE them and come up with action plans..

[stephNE]

Up to a few years ago, I also worked for a very large company. I would have worried about answering this type of question for them. I am pretty sure that if they had this info, and they needed to lay off a few, they would have used this in deciding who. They would not have admitted to it, and would have said the lay off was due to performance.

[Billiejosehine]

I have worked at several jobs were the company sent out surveys that were voluntary, but the funny thing was that the manager would make everyone do it and sign a paper that we did. In the survey it's primarily asked about the work environment and what I would change. The corporation would then gather all the info create a statistics report and action plan. The manager would use this during team meeting to get us motivated. If the survey is truly voluntary, I wouldn't do it.

[Desirae]

Count me in on the delete option. The ONLY way I would consider answering that question is of I was a fully transitioned transsexual who had already come out at work and transitioned on the job during RLE. Also, if your state doesn't have any gender identity protection laws on the books, there is nothing stopping your employer from firing you for that reason.

[JustMee]

I too would lean toward the paranoid side, my employer doesn't need to know any more about me IMO...however I do see one caveat, maybe they're gathering statistics in regard to services and support they should provide and everyone either not answering or answering falsely would lead them to believe "Hey we checked, no TGs here, we don't need to revise our gender policy".

[Valarie]

I work for a public university in Texas, and many colleges/universities are very accepting of different people (yes even in Texas). This reminds me of my interview, I was asked what I think about diversity, my answer, "It's great, I have no problem with people we are all just humans." If my job asked me I would probably put down Trans, I have no fears here, and any retaliation I would have perfect grounds for a law suit, plus my union (yes we have some unions in Texas) would come to my aid. I think it is good, people are starting to understand that gender is a personal choice, not something that can be as simple as checking M or F. At the same time, if information was leaked, it could mean problems for an individual. Always pros and cons, but I do think it is a good step for our society.

[Tora]

Delete the email and send a note in the mail.... Christmas Card