As we always say, the first step to designing an effective wellness program is to learn about your employees; their interests, goals, needs, current level of satisfaction with their role and overall happiness at work. How do employers get all of this information? Employee surveys.

With the rise in workplace wellness programs, and wellness in the workplace, companies are increasingly trying to come up with ways to make their working environment as healthy as possible. Employees have a higher risk of becoming stressed, anxious, and burnt out when they don’t take care of themselves. Wellness surveys can help employers help their employees from burning out by using wellness surveys to learn where employees may be struggling and figure out exactly how they can support them.

In this post we’ll be walking through everything you need to know about how to create, administer, analyze and implement the results of an effective employee wellness survey. Some of the questions we’ll be answering are…

• What is a wellness questionnaire?
• What is the purpose of a wellness/well-being survey?
• How do you improve employee wellness?
• What should be included in a wellness program?
• How do you measure employee wellness?
• How can employee wellness programs be improved?

What is a wellness questionnaire?

A wellness questionnaire is a type of employee survey designed to assess the overall health and well-being of the people at your company. A wellness questionnaire helps employers assess the well-being of individual employees as well as their entire population as a whole. 

These questionnaires can be more general or focus on specific areas of wellness like; physical, mental, social, financial, occupational, environmental, etc.

Examples of questions to include in an employee wellness survey:

Physical Health

• Do you smoke?
• If at all, how often do you drink alcohol?
• Would you say you get the recommended amount of sleep most nights?
• How much water do you drink per day?
• On a scale of 1-10, how healthy would you say your overall diet is?
• How often do you get the recommended 30 minutes of daily physical exercise? (could be walking, yoga, biking, visiting a gym, etc.)

Mental Well-being

• Are you stressed at work?
• Do you experience sleeplessness because of work pressure?
• What percentage of your stress would you say is work-related?
• How often do you feel like you have a day that you would classify as “bad” or “stressful”?
• On a scale of 1-10, how difficult do you find it to focus and stay on task throughout the workday? (in the office)
• On a scale of 1-10, how difficult do you find it to focus and stay on task throughout the workday? (at home)

Stress-levels

• On a scale of 1-10, what would you say your average daily stress level is?
• What would you say your average stress level is at work?
• What would you say your average daily stress level is outside of work?
• On a scale of 1-10, what percent of your overall stress would you attribute to work?
• How much do you agree with the following statements?
  • I rarely feel stressed
  • I am well-equipped to manage stressful situations

Job Satisfaction

• On a scale of 1-10, how much do you agree with the following statements:
  • “I enjoy working with the people on my team
  • “I feel I’m able to collaborate well with members of my team”
  • “I feel respected and valued at work”
  • “The work I do at this company and in my role is fulfilling and important to me”

• How strongly do you agree with the following statements
  • Every job has parts that aren’t exactly fun or ideal, I feel like there are many more aspects of my job that I enjoy than aspects that I don’t”
  • “I feel confident that my current role is the right field or industry for me”
  •  “There is little that I would change about my current role and duties at my company”

Productivity 

• On a scale of 1-10, how strongly do you agree with the following statements:
  • I feel like I have the proper support I need to perform the duties of my role efficiently and meet deadlines.
  • I feel like I have access to all the tools and resources needed to perform the duties of my role efficiently and meet deadlines.
  • I feel like I can focus well in the office.
  • I rarely get distracted throughout the day by my coworkers.
  • I rarely get distracted throughout the day by non-work related things.

What is the purpose of a wellness/well-being survey?

In today’s modern workplace, employers need to be proactively aware of the environmental, social and emotional factors that are affecting their employees. Wellness surveys serve as the most effective and important part of this assessment process. 

When composed of strategic, thoughtful and relevant questions; employers can use wellness surveys to identify which aspects of employee wellness at their organization are needed. They can also identify what aspects are working well or need improvement. Last, but not least, they can identify which aspects of wellness their employees are interested in, so they can know how to keep them engaged. Surveys can also be a great way to help employees learn about themselves and identify their unique needs.

A wellness or well-being survey can also serve as a great way to encourage employees to take care of themselves and their health. As an employer, letting employees know that you care about their overall well-being and are willing to do everything you can (within reason), to help support their efforts to achieve a certain level of wellness, will help them feel valued and 

There are many different types of wellness surveys out there, but a popular example is the SHRM Employee Health & Wellness Survey for Wellness Professionals (SHRM WELL). This survey measures six key areas related to both physical and mental wellness:

• Work-life balance
• Communication skills
• Social support
• Interpersonal relationships
• Employee flexibility
• Educational opportunities

How do you improve employee wellness?

As a tool that helps assess the mental, physical, and emotional wellness of employees, these surveys can encourage employees to take care of themselves and their health. of the workforce.

This type of questionnaire is typically administered in order to understand more about the environment and what can be done to improve it. Wellness questionnaires are often used as an affect tool to assess the current level of effectiveness for a company’s wellness plan, as well as employees’ level of satisfaction in their role and the culture at the organization.

Employee wellness can be improved by first, identifying the 7 dimensions of wellness: 

• Physical wellness
• Emotional  wellness
• Intellectual wellness
• Occupational wellness
• Spiritual wellness
• Social wellness
• Financial wellness

These 7 dimensions all work together to create a balanced life and well-rounded, overall sense of well-being. Knowing these 7 dimensions of wellness exist and how to properly care for each can allow you to provide the proper resources, support and assistance when you notice an employee struggling in one or multiple areas.

What should be included in a wellness program?

The content of an employee wellness survey should include questions that assess self-efficacy, interpersonal support, work role personification, work/life balance, physical health and mental health.

Employees who are satisfied with the wellness policies in their workplace are more likely to speak up about their issues and even more likely to perform better on the job. This is why it is crucial for employers to take the time to evaluate how they can improve what they offer their employees through wellness programs.

There are many resources available for creating a survey, or you can use one of the many templates that are made for this specific purpose.

First, you will want to identify the goal of your survey. There are a variety of goals for employee wellness surveys: to assess the current status of employee wellness, to measure the impact on their health of programs that have been implemented by an employer, or evaluate a new program before it is implemented in order to estimate its effectiveness.

Second, you need to identify the target audience. You will want to know who you are surveying and what they are going to be asked. Your survey should be targeted toward employees in general or those that have been selected based on specific criteria (e.g., age, location, gender identity, industry, etc.).

How do you measure employee wellness?

Surveys are a great place to start when it comes to measuring anything to do with an employee’s perception, opinion or feelings about something. For example, the only way to know how energized or well-rested your employees feel is to ask, it’s not really something that you can see or data that you can collect. 

Some employees may not feel comfortable speaking their mind or giving their opinion about their satisfaction with your company’s wellness program openly. This is a roadblock that can be solved with anonymous surveys.

These surveys are usually done on an annual basis to make sure that the employer has made progress over time, but employers can administer shorter, more frequent surveys throughout their wellness program to adjust and adapt in real time. This is a great way to ensure that you’re using the company’s time and money effectively.

How can employee wellness programs be improved?

Employee wellness programs are an important part of a company’s culture and growth. The environment that a company creates has a direct impact on the employee’s physical and mental well-being.

A few tips for improving employee wellness:

1. Make wellness an everyday discussion and practice.

2. Reward self-care and wellness initiatives

2. Teach and consistently practice health habits

Employers can provide employees with the education, resources and tools they need to form long-term healthy habits. Creating a resource library of tutorials, guides, articles, videos, coaching and other resources is a great way to help employees learn how to properly care for their personal health and well-being. Taking it a step further is incorporating into company culture and daily operations. Offer lunch and learns or team challenges to motivate employees to put what they’ve learned into practice (and make it stick).

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