ESS = Lip Service?

Today, I saw an email in my Inbox asking us to fill out the customary annual Employee Satisfaction Survey (or ESS). Year after year I have filled it out diligently - not only providing responses to the multiple choice questions, but also to the additional comments column that most people leave empty. But I sometimes wonder if all this ESS business is mere lip service? In the 3 years I have filled this out, my constant theme has been that managers in this company are not people managers. Yes, they can do profit & loss management (only some of them do it well to be true) and relook at processes (again some of them don't even have a clue about this) - but is that all that a manager is required to do? I believe that in the SI (Systems Integrator) line of work, people are your greatest (and perhaps only) assets, because people design the systems that the company eventually sells to make profit. So shouldn't a major part of company's resources be devoted to people's well being? Good employee benefits and DnDs are all fine, but the most important aspect of this are the managers. This group must have people management skills as a key competency - they must be able to talk to employees, motivate them, help them build their careers and give them that sense of satisfaction and pride at work. There is no use lamenting why the turnover is so high. And there is no use offering people more money the moment they throw in the letter. I don't think all people are solely after money. If the company cannot offer a good career path to its employees and if the managers are not competent in people management, i don't see why an employee will stay beyond 1-2 years. And I have repeated this point in all the 3 ESS. The question is whether this ESS is taken seriously or is it just another statistic, another chore that the HR has to do in order to meet its objectives - on paper?