Questionnaires are one of the most widely used tools in organisations, but are they truly giving employees a voice?
From engagement surveys to inclusion assessments, organisations rely on questionnaires to understand their people and shape workplace culture. But the questions we ask, and what we do with the answers, matter just as much as the data itself. This article explores the history of the questionnaire, what Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) can learn from it, and how action-focused listening can strengthen inclusion, belonging and business performance.
We fill them out to rate our food delivery, to give feedback on a recent flight, and to tell HR how we really feel about “Pizza Friday.” The questionnaire is so ubiquitous in modern corporate life that we rarely stop to think about what it actually is: one of the most powerful psychological and sociological tools ever invented.
But like any powerful tool, a questionnaire is only as good, or as dangerous, as the intent of the person holding the pen. Throughout history, the simple survey has been weaponised to marginalise human beings, and it has been weaponised to liberate them.
As modern organisations increasingly rely on surveys to drive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, understanding this history isn’t just an academic exercise. It’s a roadmap for doing it right.
Francis Galton and the Bias in the Data
In the late 19th century, British statistician, and Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton, formalised the questionnaire as a scientific tool. Galton was obsessed with human intelligence and traits, and he wanted data. He distributed highly structured surveys to elite scientists to map out their family trees, mental capabilities, and physical attributes.
On the surface, it looked like pure science. But Galton had a specific hypothesis he wanted to prove: that intelligence and worth were purely hereditary. Galton used this data to coin the term “Eugenics”, a now debunked and racist pseudo-science aimed at selectively breeding “desirable” human traits.
Because his questionnaires were fundamentally biased from the start, designed only to confirm his pre-existing prejudices about race and class, the data he collected was weaponised. It laid the groundwork for decades of systemic discrimination, forced sterilisations, and social engineering.
When a questionnaire is designed to validate the biases of the powerful, it becomes a tool of oppression.
Karl Marx and the Voice of the Worker
Just a decade after Galton’s early surveys, Karl Marx looked at the questionnaire and saw a completely different kind of potential. In 1880, Marx published the Enquête Ouvrière (Workers’ Inquiry) in a French socialist magazine.
It was a massive, 101-question survey distributed to 25,000 working-class citizens. Marx didn’t ask them about their skull shapes or lineage. He asked about their daily realities:
- “Does your employer use deceptive practices regarding your wages?”
- “What is the ventilation and safety like in your workshop?”
- “How many hours do you work on average?”
Marx understood that the people at the top had no idea what life was like at the bottom, or worse, they didn’t care. By handing the questionnaire to the workers, he gave them a microphone. It allowed marginalised groups to aggregate their grievances, prove systemic exploitation, and demand labour rights.
When a questionnaire is designed to give voice to the unseen, it becomes a tool of empowerment and liberation.
ERGs and the Battle for Authentic Data
Fast forward to today. The tension between Galton’s top-down bias and Marx’s bottom-up empowerment plays out every day in the workplace, particularly within Employee Resource Groups.
ERGs, voluntary, employee-led groups representing specific demographics (e.g., LGBTQ+ employees, working parents, Black professionals, veterans), may rely on questionnaires to raise the voices of their community. They use them to measure psychological safety, map career progression barriers, and gauge inclusion.
But if we aren’t careful, inclusion surveys can accidentally mimic Galton instead of Marx. When surveys are performative, designed merely to check a box or prove that the company is “doing great”, they suppress the very voices they claim to lift up.
| When a Survey is “Performative” (Galton Style) | When a Survey is “Empowering” (Marx Style) |
| Uses leading questions to get favourable ratings. | Asks open-ended, uncomfortable questions to find the truth. |
|
The data is kept hidden.
|
The data is shared transparently with the ERG and workforce. |
| Done as a check-the-box annual exercise. | Done as a catalyst for immediate corporate policy change. |
4 Tips for Getting DEI/ERG Questionnaires Right
If you are a DEI leader, an HR professional, or an ERG chair looking to build a workplace survey that actually creates equity, keep these principles in mind:
1. Protect Anonymity Fiercely
Marginalised groups will not speak truth to power if they fear retaliation. If your ERG is surveying a small subset of employees (e.g., Native American employees in a mid-sized firm), ensure the sample size is large enough to guarantee anonymity, or use a trusted, third-party platform to aggregate data.
2. Kill the “Leading” Questions
A question like, “How satisfied are you with our inclusive company culture?” assumes the culture is already inclusive. Instead, ask objective, behaviour-based questions: “In the last three months, have you witnessed or experienced microaggressions in team meetings?”
3. Move from Demographic to Psychographic
Don’t just use questionnaires to count the heads of diverse talent (diversity). Use them to see what is happening inside those heads (inclusion). Ask about belonging, trust in leadership, and perceived fairness in promotions.
4. Close the Loop (The “No-Survey” Rule)
The quickest way to burn out an ERG is to send them a survey and then do absolutely nothing with the results. If you don’t have the budget, bandwidth, or executive backing to fix the problems your questionnaire uncovers, do not send the questionnaire.
And here are the results…
The questionnaire is not a neutral piece of paper. It is a mirror. When we deploy them in our modern workplaces, we have to ask ourselves: are we using this survey to reinforce the status quo, or are we using it to fundamentally improve the lives of our people?
Choose the latter, and you turn a simple form into a powerful engine for real social change.
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