To create a successful wellness program for your clients, the initial step is understanding their workforce; their interests, goals, needs, current level of satisfaction with their role, and overall happiness at work. How do employers gather this data?
Through employee surveys.
As a broker, your objective is to develop tailored strategies for a diverse array of clients to ensure seamless operations for their businesses. With the rise in wellness programs and the importance of wellness in the workplace, companies are continuously striving to improve their working environment. Employees have a higher risk of becoming stressed, anxious, and burnt out when their health is not prioritized.
Given the unique needs of each client, the best approach involves obtaining insights directly from their employees. Wellness surveys act as the most effective and important part of this assessment process. By collecting data through surveys composed of strategic, thoughtful, and relevant questions, you can help your clients to craft customized wellness programs that align with their wellness needs and goals. These questionnaires can be more general or focus on specific areas of wellness such as; physical, mental, social, financial, occupational, environmental, etc…
This guide is designed to provide brokers like you with comprehensive insights into assisting your clients with creating, administering, analyzing, and implementing the outcomes of a successful employee wellness survey.
Which Topics Should Your Questionnaire Cover?
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. Therefore, it’s crucial for employers to take the time to evaluate how they can improve what they offer their employees through wellness programs.
1. Physical Health
This type of survey should aim to get a better understanding of the physical health of their workforce. By recognizing employees’ health needs and preferences, employers can develop initiatives that promote physical activity, healthy eating, stress management, and other positive behaviors.
2. Mental Well-being
Recognizing the importance of employees’ mental health, surveys are invaluable tools in uncovering the root causes of mental health challenges and, consequently, devising effective strategies for improvement.
3. Stress Levels
Stress in the workplace can have significant negative effects on both employees and organizations, including decreased productivity and morale, increased conflict and tension, and high turnover. Addressing organizational factors that are contributing to stress will allow employers to foster a more supportive work culture and promote a healthy work-life balance.
4. Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction contributes to a positive organizational culture characterized by trust, respect, collaboration, and open communication. A supportive and inclusive culture enhances employee fulfillment and fosters a sense of belonging and loyalty among employees, thus assessing job satisfaction serves as a vital component in crafting a comprehensive wellness program.
5. Productivity
Gauging productivity is important not only for organizational growth, but also for employee engagement. Simply put, productive workplaces tend to be more engaging environments for employees. When they see the results of their efforts and feel that their contributions are valued, they are more likely to be motivated and invested in their work.
How Do You Improve Employee Wellness?
Employee wellness can be improved by first, identifying the 8 dimensions of wellness:
- Physical wellness
- Emotional wellness
- Intellectual wellness
- Occupational wellness
- Environmental
- Spiritual wellness
- Social wellness
- Financial wellness
These eight dimensions synergize to create a comprehensive sense of well-being. Familiarizing yourself with these dimensions of wellness and understanding their proper maintenance enables you to offer appropriate resources, support, and assistance when you observe a client grappling with challenges across one or more of these domains.
How Can Employee Wellness Programs Be Improved?
Employee wellness initiatives play a pivotal role in shaping a company’s culture and directing its growth trajectory. The atmosphere within a company directly influences the physical and mental well-being of its employees, thus underscoring the significance of prioritizing employee wellness within these programs.
Survey data informs the design and implementation of wellness programs, so once that data is gathered the subsequent step is to devise a plan that acknowledges the concerns brought to light. Use these valuable responses to map out a new program if one has not been launched or refine an existing program that is being underutilized.
For example, if your client has a workforce that is desk bound and returns survey results that indicate their physical wellness could use improvement, you can help them to find the right solution within their budget. This could mean setting up a steps challenge for the office, offering gym membership reimbursement, or launching a rewards program that incentivizes activities such as walking, running, or biking.
Surveys and their results will vary from client to client, so you’ll need to strategize differently for each one. However, this data will give you a great place to start.
Some General Tips For Improving Employee Wellness:
1. Make wellness an everyday discussion and practice
Start the discussion. Encourage the discussion. Check in with your clients about whether or not wellness is intrinsically woven into their workplace culture. Employers should make it known to their employees that it’s important to regularly assess their own well-being and communicate about it openly. They should normalize talk around wellness and make it clear that it is a company priority, so that wellness programs don’t feel out of place or forced.
2. Reward self-care and wellness initiatives
Employees can be encouraged to prioritize their health by being offered rewards for healthy decisions and habits. The best motivation is a monetary reward or incentive. A great way to facilitate this is by offering fitness, mental health, and personal development reimbursements or incentives.
3. 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, employers can incorporate wellness 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 a habit.
Final Thoughts
By recognizing the benefits of employee surveys and knowing how to harness their results, you can bring a valuable set of tools to your clients and shape their organizational success. These surveys act as powerful instruments for gaining insight into the needs, preferences, and experiences of employees, ultimately enabling companies to make informed decisions and implement positive change. Moreover, leveraging employee surveys can set your clients apart as employers of choice. When organizations demonstrate a commitment to listening to their employees’ voices and acting on their feedback, they cultivate a culture of trust, transparency, and dedication to improvement.
In essence, employee surveys are not merely data collection tools; they are catalysts for organizational transformation and prosperity. By embracing their importance and incorporating them into your service offerings, you can play a pivotal role in driving positive change and fostering sustainable success for your clients.
Want to Try It Out Yourself?
Click the Button below to fill out the form.
We’ll send the Survey Template to your email.
To learn more about how you can support your clients in designing wellness programs that work for their employees, check out our resources library or schedule a call to talk to one of our Benefits Specialists.
