We frequently receive — understandably — questions regarding confidentiality and anonymity in GAIS. This is because it is crucial for obtaining an accurate picture of both job satisfaction and work environment that employees can trust how the system handles responses and personal data.
Therefore, in GAIS, anonymity and confidentiality are keywords in how we've built the platform. You can read more about this below in our frequently asked questions.
Q: Who can see my responses?
Only you and others you choose to share your report with have access to your responses. In the company report, your responses are included in summarized views of all submissions, so neither a company administrator, manager, nor external consultant can see your individual response unless you choose to share it with them.
Q: How can I be sure that the company cannot see who answered what?
In GAIS, responses are always, with a few exceptions, included in a summarized average and without indicating who gave which answer, or what else those individuals answered. The few exceptions are:
- Comments: Since they cannot be summarized or averaged, all comments are displayed (but not who wrote the comment).
- Questions regarding the physical work environment: If the company has chosen these to be non-anonymous, it will be clearly stated in the questionnaire which questions are not anonymous. In such cases, the company will be able to see the respondent's name and email for these specific questions (but not for other questions).
Company reports will contain summarized average responses across all factors and questions, as well as analytical tools such as spread, heatmaps, etc. These can be used to filter data by, for example, department, seniority, etc. Results will only be displayed if 5 or more responses are included in the selected filter/report – so it's not possible to filter down to one or a few specific individuals. Companies have the option to lower the threshold to 3 responses, in which case several analytical functions, such as spread and heatmaps, will be hidden.
All users can view our demo measurement, where the above becomes more tangible and clear.
Q: Why are there questions in my survey that are NOT anonymous?
The WRA (Workplace Risk Assessment) differs slightly from a GAIS well-being survey and factor surveys when it comes to anonymity. The WRA is legally mandated because it's important to rectify inappropriate conditions in the workplace, and for physical conditions, it's not always appropriate for the same changes to apply to everyone. Therefore, the company can choose for questions about physical workplace conditions to be non-anonymous. It will be clearly indicated when a question is not anonymous.
It's important to emphasize that questions regarding the psychological work environment are always anonymous.
Q: How can I be anonymous when I can write comments and my manager can respond to them?
In company surveys, the company administrator can enable employees to write comments on the questions. Once the response is submitted, the survey administrator will be able to see the comment, but not the sender.
The administrator chooses whether managers should also be able to see comments (with an anonymous sender). It is also optional for the manager/administrator to be able to respond to comments and thus engage in a dialogue. These dialogues are anonymous, and neither the manager nor the administrator can see who they are writing with.
If, as an employee, you have a very distinctive way of phrasing yourself or provide information that can clearly be linked to a single person, the administrator may be able to guess who is behind the comments. Therefore, we encourage you to phrase yourself as objectively as possible and only share characteristics and information that you wish to disclose.
Q: Who has access to GAIS data and what is it used for?
Data in GAIS will largely be considered personal data, which we process for your company (if you use the platform as an employee) or for you (if you use the platform as an individual). Therefore, data is only used to generate reports for you (and your employer).
However, as part of our data processing agreements and Terms and Conditions, we will store an anonymized copy that is used solely for statistics – including, for example, benchmarks on the platform.
Q: Can I delete my profile, my responses, and my report?
You can choose to delete your GAIS profile at any time by contacting support@gais.dk. Names, emails, and other personal data will then be deleted from the platform's systems and databases. Data collected through the questionnaire will be retained 100% anonymously in the overall GAIS dataset for statistical analysis.
Q: Why do I need to give permission before taking a survey?
According to GDPR, we must obtain your permission to process your personal data on the GAIS platform. Therefore, it's not possible to complete the survey without giving permission. You'll only receive the GAIS report and a minimum of transactional emails from GAIS – NOT advertisements or anything else. Your email address will, of course, not be shared with third parties.
If you are participating in a survey at your workplace, you will not be asked to give permission, as we process information on behalf of your employer, who has obtained permission to process your data.
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