Employee Health Promotion

Effective wellness programs are designed to meet the needs and interests of the employees. Ask employees what they are interested in, and what needs they have. People are more willing to participate and support wellness efforts if they are involved in the decision-making process. When planning a survey, keep the following hints in mind:

• Ask mostly closed form questions, especially if you will be sending the survey to a sizable number of employees. Closed form questions offer specific choices and are simple to tabulate.
• Invite comments, ideas and recommendations, or ask open-ended questions at the end of the survey. Open-ended items are more difficult to summarize.
• Include a brief explanatory cover letter with the survey with the signature of the business president. Make sure to include a statement about confidentiality and anonymity.
• Ask a group of representative employees to review the survey before it is distributed. Find out if the questions will be understood by employees and won’t be objected to.
• Include demographic information at the beginning, or end of the survey (gender, age, shift, site, department, etc.).
• Conduct a random drawing for a valued incentive item for all those who returned the survey. This might stimulate the response rate.

One rule to consider concerning surveys is if you have fewer than 500 employees, everyone ought to receive one. The benefit of everyone receiving a survey can be valuable. If you have over 500 employees, a sample of the work population from each department will suffice. The higher the response, the more valid and reliable the outcome. A minimum response of 40% to 50% is considered valuable.