Company mandates 'anonymous' survey, turns their answers into a public loyalty test: 'The room was silent'

Should surveys at work be anonymous?

If they were advertised as anonymous, then they certainly should stay that way. Anonymity is nothing to be messed with. If you don't feel like your company has your back, then can you be expected to have theirs? If they're telling you one thing and then doing another, then where does that leave you? If you can't trust them, then how are you expected to do good work for them? And a betrayal of anonymity is a huge betrayal of trust. You can't always get out from under that, nor should you. You should trust that your company has your best interests at heart, and when you find out they don't, then you have a right to be upset. That's what happened here, when a company said they would do one thing, but actually did another. 

On the other hand, you can never truly assume that the information you give to your company is private. You have to be careful about what you let slip because you never know if it might be used against you. This is the unfortunate reality of a lot of companies nowadays. So sometimes it's best just to keep your head down, do your work, and not assume the best. It can backfire on you quickly, and then you might end up in a situation you regret. The person in this story learned that the hard way and ended up with a story to tell.