You Can’t Really Trust a Survey That Doesn’t Give Details on How They Did it

Editor’s Note: Have a great Fourth of July. We’ll be taking off some time and back July 8. 

IT WAS A HEADLINE that grabbed me because what it said was pretty amazing.

The story was in Worklife, a website I don’t look at very often … until somebody flags a headline like this — Over 80% of workers are scared of their company’s HR department.

In my 25 years covering human resources and talent management, I’ve seen a lot of negative stuff written about HR. I get it because I remember how HR leaders used to be early in my career when they really had a role as an advocate for employees.

But, I’ve NEVER seen anything written about HR claiming that more than four out of five employees are scared of them, not even back in the “Why We Hate HR” era.

If you dig into the Worklife story, you’ll find that it comes from a survey conducted by MyPerfectResume.com, a company that says it “is dedicated to helping you every step of the way, from providing tools to create a show-stopping resume and cover letter to offering professional interview tips and career guidance.”

What exactly did they survey?

THEY ALSO HAVE a lot of content, including something they published titled 86% of Workers Fear Human Resources, that came from a survey (aka, research) from MyPerfectResume’s HR Perceptions Report. I couldn’t find the HR Perceptions Report online, but the article 86% of Workers Fear Human Resources also had these details:

“According to the latest findings from MyPerfectResume’s HR Perceptions Report, 86% of workers are afraid of HR representatives. This fear isn’t merely a matter of apprehension; it stems from inadequate support and potential consequences, among other things.

In fact, 85% hesitated to approach HR to discuss work-related issues, citing concerns such as doubt in confidentiality (37%) or fear of repercussions (31%). Furthermore, what’s interesting, 71% think that HR tends to be too involved in office politics.“

Pardon the journalist in me, but when I read something like that I wonder, “who exactly did they survey, when was it done, and what is the margin of error?” In other words, I look for the methodology behind the survey and if there are enough details to trust it.

WANT AN EXAMPLE? Here’s the methodology of a CareerBuilder survey I wrote about back in 2017 when I was Editor of RecruitingDaily.com. I would argue that this is the very minimum that should be included in every story written about a specific survey:

“The CareerBuilder survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from May 24 to June 16, 2017 (which included representative samples of 2,369 full-time employers and 3,462 full-time U.S. workers across industries and company sizes in the private sector) and August 16 to September 15, 2017 (which included a representative sample of 2,257 full-time employers across industries and company sizes in the private sector).”

Why survey methodology is critically important

I wish CareerBuilder had given a little more detail on the types of private sector industries and companies that were surveyed, and that they had a bit about the margin of error. But compare what MyPerfectResume wrote about their HR Perceptions Report survey methodology in 86% of Workers Fear Human Resources:

“These are just some of the findings discovered by HR Perception Report, which surveyed nearly 1,000 American respondents in March 2024 to collect opinions on HR, revealing perceptions and fragile relationships between employees and HR.“

I’m sorry, but that is a terribly weak description of the HR Perception Report survey methodology. Here are a few reasons why:

• A survey this broad — how employees feel about HR — needs to have more respondents. A thousand is the absolute minimum, and this one had “nearly 1,000 American respondents” They don’t tell you if that means 999 respondents or something less. A broad-based survey like this should really have something more like 2,500 respondents to be meaningful.
• What kind of employees did they talk to? Nurses? Janitors? Fast food employees? Middle managers? Private sector or government workers? They don’t give any clues to that at all.
• Who were the employees they surveyed? There needs to be more details, like how long they have been employed, their age groups, and if they are hourly or salaried.
• Where did these employees work? What industries did they work in — high tech, retail, health care, whatever?
• Any other details on the survey’s margin of error or how the research was conducted. 

One interesting wrinkle on 86% of Workers Fear Human Resources is that there is a little line at the top of the story that says “fact checked.” It makes me wonder — just what was it that they fact checked? That these survey respondents were real people and not AI generated? Or that they actually had an opinion on this topic?

It doesn’t make any sense to say the story was “fact checked” without including just exactly what they were fact checking.

Wanted: Credible, even-handed research

HERE’S MY TAKE: After 25 years as an Editor of media properties in the talent management space (Workforce Management, TLNT/ERE Media, RecruitingDaily, Fuel50, etc.), I probably know as much about HR as anyone who hasn’t worked in HR.

I also worked in newspapers, magazines, business journals, and even a famous dotcom era company, and at all of them I worked closely with HR professionals from generalists to Chief People Officers. This post that I published here back in 2017 has a lot about a great Vice President of HR I worked with at the Hawaii Newspaper Agency who had a seat at the table long before people even talked about it.

Her name was Carole Medeiros, and she was a remarkable lady who died way too young. As I wrote about her back then:

“Everyone in the building knew Carole, and everyone knew that she was someone who always offered a kind ear and a comforting shoulder to cry on.

More importantly, the employees all knew Carole had enough clout in the organization to resolve whatever issue you had, but that she was also discreet and would use whatever you told her carefully in her dealings with other managers. … 

She taught me a great lesson — HR leaders need to care for their workforce as well as serve the company as the senior executive in charge of talent. And, you could only pull this off if you treat your employees as part of your own ohana.”

Maybe MyPerfectResume.com doesn’t know better, but an inflammatory headline like 86% of Workers Fear Human Resources is going to make a lot of people wonder how they know that. If anything, the methodology needs to be very detailed so that curious readers — and that means anyone who has ever worked in or dealt with HR — can be convinced that the underlying research is serious. even-handed, and well done.

Without that, this is just another “Why We Hate HR” hit piece.

I know better than most that HR deserves many of the bricks they get thrown at them, but they don’t deserve this. It appears to be a terribly poor survey that was poorly thought through and badly executed.

Perhaps MyPerfectResume.com, should just stick to resumes, or hire people who know what good, credible research looks like.

Other trends and insights 

And your latest dose of AI news … 

• AI may make some jobs obsolete but will generate new ones (From ZDNet.com)
• What do companies winning the AI race have in common? (From A.team)
• How AI can make us better leaders (From HBR.org)
• 3 ways to help your staff use generative AI confidently and productively (From ZDNet.com)
• Can Europe create tech champions without the U.S.? Not yet, says AI unicorn Dataiku’s founder (From Sifted.eu)
• How can we fight AI – with AI (From CTech)

ALSO: There are a great many articles out there about getting and keeping a job in today’s crazy business environment. There are some that give good advice, but some others are just plain stupid. Take a read of 8 questions to ask to make sure you’re not about to be let go in Fast Company and decide for yourself which way this one goes..

Observation of the week

“I don’t get it.

‘Mouse jiggling?’ This is a thing? Why?
 
The story about Wells Fargo employees getting fired after they were discovered having “mouse jigglers” — devices that make computers appear to be active — had me rolling my eyes and sighing. The story doesn’t say why workers used the mouse jigglers, though I think it’s reasonable to conclude it’s so they wouldn’t get caught doing something other than work. 
 
Folks, let me be clear: The workers are responsible for losing their jobs. This was not Wells Fargo fault. Wells Fargo did not do a poor of engaging these employees. These folks cheated work because they lack integrity — not because the bank didn’t provide “meaningful, purpose-driven work.”
 
Let’s call a spade a spade, folks. Our culture has gone the other way, making excuses for poor work ethic and laying the blame for it at the feet of employers. Time for us to do better and address behavior that is wrong. And if that means calling folks to offices, so be it. Nonsense like this makes me understand why some employers are going that route. “

— From Editor Kanoe Namahoe in a recent SmartBrief on Workforce newsletter

Loyal Readers: I’ve been compiling this weekly wrap-up for over 20 years — from Workforce.com to TLNT.com to Fuel50 and now here at The Skeptical Guy. I’d appreciate knowing what you think, so email comments to me at  johnhollon@yahoo.com.