I was laid off from Abbot about 1 1/2 years ago. I ran into my old MGR who left the company and he told me that the Surveys are NOT private . Or if they are there are ways to see who said what. Take a look at the questions. 1) what division are you in ? 2) how long have you been at Abbott etc. 3) what area are you in (sales or field service etc ?) . Then later on they give you a chance to express yourself. If you have any brains you should be vague about stuff so that they can not pin point you.
According to this Former DM from Abbott ...they have a list of all employes and you are listed in 3 catagories: Promoter ( you keep your job), Neutral (you are in the middle) 3) Detractor. If you are listed on the last one you will be the first to go "overboard" when layoffs come. One woman I worked with ripped apart her immediate manager and his manager and everything she said came back to hurt her. She was in Sales.
I should have figured this out as I saw my NET Promoter Score card where they listed the Customers reviews that they interviewed and their answers to questions and ratings. If I was a customer and got a call from Abbott for stuff I would "assume" that my answers would be kept private. I had mostly positive comments and I had the exact names of who said what. For the most part I knew who was going to give me good comments. I had a few who I thought were not so nice but gave me high ratings and I had one person who I bent over backwards and she ripped me apart. ( I hope she has fun cancelling all the Magazine Subscriptions that "she signed up for. "Hee Hee")
I am at another large company like Abbott and it is very similar. You even rate the Management. I am not as stupid as I was at Abbott. Even if stuff is not good I give high management score #s. The person who gets the management forms is a "MOLE". This guy reads everything you say and then tells Management (verbally...no paper trail). So it is all "hear say".
The truth is that most of the Companies out there are very similar. My advice is to to your job and cover your rear end.