Strange Questionnaire At Work

SatansFuton

I got to work today and my boss had a questionnaire I had to fill out. She was very persistent that I fill it out right then, as the big boss upstairs wanted them by Monday.

Anyways, it amounted to this...

What Is Your Favorite Color?
What Is Your Favorite Movie?
What Is Your Favorite Band/Song?
What Is Your Dream Vacation?
What Is Your Favorite Holiday?
Do You Have Children?
Do You Have A Pet?
What Is Your Favorite Sports Team?

Now what the fuck does the man upstairs want with all of that seemingly useless information? And we're talking about a man (a 70 year old man who is probably going to be like "What the tarnation is a Pearl Jam?") who is all business, and to be honest kind of a dick. My first guess was that the whole thing was just a trick to find out our Favorite Holiday, so that he could schedule us for that day.

Anybody had anything similar happen at work? Was there a purpose to it?

Fifi_Ireland

Could they be trying to track internet usage back to people :shock:
Definitely cant think of a reason for those questions!

illegal pants

that is suspicious as f*ck!

i'd make up most answers

redrock

Sort of character questionnaires. Gives an insight as to the kind of person you may be and how you may fit in the organisation. Sometimes used to get teams together, though this one seems a bit simplistic (unless you had further questions). Are they looking at promoting? Downsizing? Team building event? Answer truthfully, there are no wrong answers. Explain your choice (even if you think 'no' is a sufficient answer to 'do you have a pet', you could say 'no, as currently I live in a flat and no pets are allowed but in the future, I see myself having (or not having!) a....... as - add reason'. Note: colour is a big one.

USARAY

maybe the big guy upstairs just wants to know his employees a little better
people like to talk about themseleves

AlbertaGirl70_

In this day and age of privavcy and ethics is it even legal for an employer to ask questions like that? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to ask if you have kids for sure............

mysticweed

Fifi_Ireland wrote:

Could they be trying to track internet usage back to people :shock:
Definitely cant think of a reason for those questions!

agree
and i'm fairly certain it is illegal to ask if you have children

81

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SatansFuton

Fifi_Ireland wrote:

Could they be trying to track internet usage back to people :shock:

Possible, but they've never cared about that before as long as you're getting your work done. And some of the questions, like favorite color, wouldn't really shed any insight into browsing habits, unless it's just there to throw somebody off from thinking that's what it's for.

redrock wrote:

though this one seems a bit simplistic (unless you had further questions)

No that was it.

redrock wrote:

Are they looking at promoting? Downsizing? Team building event?

I don't know. I don't think that's what it is for though. I would like to think they would do something like that based on performance and not favorite movie and band.

Tritone wrote:

maybe the big guy upstairs just wants to know his employees a little better

I doubt that one,

AlbertaGirl70_ wrote:

In this day and age of privavcy and ethics is it even legal for an employer to ask questions like that? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to ask if you have kids for sure............

Is it? When you start a job you fill out that tax form that asks if you're married, how many dependents you have, etc. I know that is technically for the government and not them, I think they keep that on file.

mookeywrench

AlbertaGirl70_ wrote:

In this day and age of privavcy and ethics is it even legal for an employer to ask questions like that? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to ask if you have kids for sure............

During a job interview, yes. Not when employed though. There's some paranoid people on this board. The ironic thing is that the boss is being called uptight.

DS1119

Maybe the next time you call in sick he will try to line it up with ny concerts, sporting events, etc?

SatansFuton

mookeywrench wrote:

AlbertaGirl70_ wrote:

In this day and age of privavcy and ethics is it even legal for an employer to ask questions like that? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to ask if you have kids for sure............

During a job interview, yes. Not when employed though. There's some paranoid people on this board. The ironic thing is that the boss is being called uptight.

If you worked for him you'd call him uptight too. Am I paranoid? Maybe a little, more curious and stumped over what on Earth he wants this information for. This is not a man who cares about getting to know his employees. In my time working here I've never even spoken to him, unless you count him addressing us all as a group as a conversation. He sends everything down the chain of the command, and it's always criticism. He doesn't show up for any office parties except for the annual company party that I think he's required to by corporate. And even there he doesn't mingle, he basically shows up long enough to show off his 40-years-his-junior trophy wife, say hello to the higher ups, then sneaks out. Meanwhile even the corporate guys (who are higher up than him) were hanging out and doing shots with us. If he's not the mingling type, I get that, but that doesn't show to me an interest in getting to know his employees. And the annual party was just 2 weeks ago, maybe he's had a change of heart since then.

I'm not too worried about him having the information I gave, I filled it out truthfully (as somebody said, people love talking about themselves) I just can't figure out why he wants such information. Who knows, maybe on my birthday I'll find some Pearl Jam bootlegs on my desk or something.

mookeywrench

SatansFuton wrote:

mookeywrench wrote:

AlbertaGirl70_ wrote:

In this day and age of privavcy and ethics is it even legal for an employer to ask questions like that? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to ask if you have kids for sure............

During a job interview, yes. Not when employed though. There's some paranoid people on this board. The ironic thing is that the boss is being called uptight.

If you worked for him you'd call him uptight too. Am I paranoid? Maybe a little, more curious and stumped over what on Earth he wants this information for. This is not a man who cares about getting to know his employees.

These softball questions are exactly something a guy like that would ask.

SatansFuton

mookeywrench wrote:

These softball questions are exactly something a guy like that would ask.

So you think it's probably more of an effort to make us think he cares? I can see him never reading those pages and the whole thing being some lame morale booster to make us think that our boss cares about our hobbies and such.

mookeywrench

SatansFuton wrote:

mookeywrench wrote:

These softball questions are exactly something a guy like that would ask.

So you think it's probably more of an effort to make us think he cares? I can see him never reading those pages and the whole thing being some lame morale booster to make us think that our boss cares about our hobbies and such.

Exactly, he's probably having someone make a 'get to know your employees' corporate newsletter.

AlbertaGirl70_

I guess it's because I live in Canada.....but it is illegal to ask questions like that in an interview or in a job...

From a human rights perspective, as a general rule, employers in Canada are forbidden to discriminate on certain grounds. These include:
1.Race
2.Religion
3.National/ethnic origin
4.Colour
5.Age
6.Sex/sexual orientation
7.Marital/Family Status
8.Physical/mental disabilities
9.Pardoned

See #4 -They aren't allowed to ask your favorite colour

JaneNY

Tritone wrote:

people like to talk about themseleves

I disagree with that - I don't like when people I don't know start asking questions about my life. I do not see how the questions on that questionnaire relate to work.

Austicman

I reckon the higher ups have told him to get to know the people working for him and this his way of doing that. So next time they ask he can say "Oh SatansFuton, he has 7 kids and a pet ferrett and would love to take a holiday to the pits of hell. Oh and he loves Pearl Jam".

Either that or he wanted to know the answer to one of the questions for some reason but it would look suspicious only asking that particular question on it's own.

musicismylife78

i also find it odd and suspicious, but none of the info if you provided it really could get you in trouble. and i guess thats why the OP posted it, because its information that really shouldnt and doesnt matter to a boss. What does you boss care about your hobbies? All they care about is your time at work. period. so im not sure why they would be asking about any of that stuff.

CAVSTARR313

He is trying to fuck you.. beware..