Anonymity by submission
What the "anonymity by submission" setting does - counting only employees who actually submitted a response toward the anonymity threshold, rather than everyone who was invited - and when to turn it on.
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Anonymity by submission is an account-level setting that changes one specific thing: which people CultureMonkey counts when it decides whether a group is large enough to show results. With it on, only employees who actually submitted a response count toward the anonymity threshold. With it off, everyone who was invited counts, whether they responded or not.
That sounds like a small distinction, but it has a real effect on when results appear and how well small groups stay protected. This article explains exactly what the setting does, what changes across the product when it's on, the trade-off you're making, and how to decide whether to enable it.
CultureMonkey hides results for any group smaller than your anonymity threshold so no single person can be identified. By default, that count is based on everyone invited to the survey. Turn on anonymity by submission and the count is based only on people who actually submitted a response. It makes the protection stricter (and more intuitive) at the cost of results taking a little longer to unlock. It's an account-wide setting.
The problem it solves
Every result in CultureMonkey is protected by an anonymity threshold: a minimum number of people a group needs before its scores, comments, and breakdowns become visible. If a team, location, or filtered slice has fewer people than the threshold, its results stay hidden. This is what keeps a survey genuinely anonymous. You can read the full mechanism in How anonymity works.
The question is: *fewer than the threshold of what?*
By default, CultureMonkey counts the number of employees invited to the survey in that group. So if your threshold is 5 and a team of 8 people was invited, the team clears the threshold - and its results become visible - as soon as the survey opens, before a single person has even responded.
Usually that's fine. But consider a team of 8 where only 4 people actually respond. The results are visible (8 were invited, which clears the threshold of 5), yet they reflect just 4 real answers. The count that unlocked the results (invited) is larger than the count that produced them (submitted), so results can appear before many people have actually answered.
Anonymity by submission closes that gap. It tells CultureMonkey to count only the people who genuinely submitted a response when checking the threshold. Results unlock based on real participation, not on the invitation list.
What the setting does
When the setting is on, CultureMonkey adds one condition everywhere it counts a group for anonymity: the person must have a recorded submission. Employees who were invited but never responded are excluded from that count.
Concretely, across the reporting stack this means a group is only considered "large enough" once the number of submitted responses in it reaches your threshold.
| Setting off (default) | Setting on | |
|---|---|---|
| Who counts toward the threshold | Everyone invited to the survey in that group | Only employees who submitted a response |
| When results unlock | As soon as enough people are invited | Once enough people have responded |
| Effect on small, low-response groups | May show results with few actual answers | Stays hidden until real responses reach the threshold |
| Strength of anonymity | Standard | Stricter |
| Scope | Account-wide | Account-wide |
The threshold number itself doesn't change - if your anonymity threshold is 5, it stays 5. What changes is the pool of people measured against it.
Off: "Is this group big enough to be anonymous?" On: "Have enough people actually answered for this group to be anonymous?" The second question is the stricter, and often more intuitive, one.
A worked example
Your account anonymity threshold is 5. Consider the Design team: 8 people were invited, and 4 have submitted so far.
With the setting off (default): The invited count is 8, which is at or above 5, so the Design team's scores, eNPS, and comments are visible - even though they rest on only 4 real responses.
With the setting on: The submitted count is 4, which is below 5, so the Design team's results stay hidden. Once a fifth person submits, the group clears the threshold and its results appear.
The difference is entirely about timing and strictness. Nothing about the scores themselves changes; the setting only governs the moment at which a small group becomes visible.
Turning the setting on doesn't recalculate anyone's scores or drop any data. Every submitted response is always included in the numbers once a group is shown. The setting only decides when a group crosses the line from hidden to visible.
What changes when it's on
Because anonymity protection runs underneath almost every view, this one setting reaches across the product. When it's on, the submitted-only count is applied consistently in:
- Survey and heatmap reports - driver scores, eNPS, and demographic breakdowns unlock based on submitted responses per cell.
- Demographic and segment filters - filtered slices (by team, location, manager, or custom attributes) are measured by submitters, so narrow slices stay hidden until enough people in them respond.
- The Feedback view - open-text comments and their team labels follow the same submitted-only rule.
- Manager and org-hierarchy participation - a manager only sees a team's results once its submitted count clears the threshold.
- Exports - PDF, PowerPoint, and custom report exports apply the same rule, so exported files never reveal a group that the on-screen reports would hide.
- Executive summaries and dynamic reports - the summary and multi-dimensional reports respect the submitted-only count too.
In short, the behavior is uniform: turn it on, and everywhere CultureMonkey asks "is this group big enough to show?" it counts only the people who actually responded.
The trade-off
The setting makes anonymity stricter, and the cost of stricter anonymity is that results appear later and small groups more often stay hidden.
- Slower to unlock. A group that would have shown results as soon as the survey opened now waits until enough people respond. Early in a survey cycle, more of your breakdowns will read as "not enough responses yet."
- More small groups suppressed. Teams with low response rates may never reach the threshold in submitted terms, even if they were large enough by invitation. Those results stay protected rather than exposed.
- Better protection. In return, no small group's results can be inferred from a handful of answers. The count that unlocks a group is the same count that produced its numbers.
Whether that trade is worth it depends on how you weigh early visibility against airtight anonymity. For most organizations, the stronger protection is a good default, especially where teams are small or trust in anonymity is still being built.
If your response rates are low, expect more groups to stay hidden. That's the setting working as intended - but it also means it's worth pairing with a push on participation so real responses reach the threshold and results become visible.
When to turn it on
Enabling anonymity by submission is a good fit when:
- You have many small teams. Where groups hover near the threshold, counting only submitters gives a stronger, more honest guarantee.
- Trust in anonymity is fragile. If employees are hesitant to be candid, the stricter rule (and being able to say "results only appear once enough people actually answer") reinforces the promise.
- You want visibility to reflect real participation. If it feels wrong for a team's results to show before anyone has responded, this setting aligns the product with that intuition.
You might leave it off (the default) when:
- Fast visibility matters and your response rates are consistently high, so invited and submitted counts are close anyway.
- Your groups are large and comfortably clear the threshold regardless, making the distinction moot.
Because the setting is account-wide, it applies to every survey, report, and export at once - there's no per-survey override. It's typically configured by your account admin or your CultureMonkey contact.
Frequently asked questions
Does this change anyone's scores?
No. It never adds, removes, or recalculates responses. Every submitted answer is always counted in the numbers once a group is shown. The setting only affects when a group becomes visible, not what its scores are.
Does it change the anonymity threshold number?
No. Your threshold stays whatever you've set (the default is a small minimum). The setting only changes whether that threshold is measured against invited people or submitted people. To change the number itself, see Anonymity thresholds explained.
Can I turn it on for just one survey?
No. It's an account-wide setting, so it applies uniformly to every survey, report, and export. This keeps behavior consistent and prevents a group being hidden in one place but visible in another.
Will more results be hidden after I turn it on?
Possibly, yes - especially early in a survey cycle and for teams with low response rates. Groups that were visible on the strength of their invitation count may stay hidden until enough people actually respond. That's the intended stricter protection. Encouraging participation is the way to unlock them.
Is this the same as making a survey anonymous?
No. Whether a survey collects anonymous or identified responses is a separate, per-survey choice (see Set survey anonymity). Anonymity by submission is about counting for the threshold and applies on top of whatever anonymity mode a survey uses.
Where to go next
- Understand the core mechanism: How anonymity works
- Set or change the minimum: Anonymity thresholds explained
- No results showing? Why can't I see results yet?
- Lift your response rate: Track participation
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