Employee Health Promotion

To succeed in encouraging physical exercise during work, you must find out what employees need and want. They are the individuals whose behavior you are trying to influence, so it’s vital to be aware of their needs and gain their backing.

The Employee Interest Survey

Ask employees questions that let you assess such key characteristics as age, sex, social relationships, family responsibilities and current physical exercise participation. It’s valuable to know this information so that your physical exercise plan meets employees’ needs. Workers will not participate in something they’re not interested in. Ask employees what they want, and then enable changes that fit with their needs and working conditions. For example, employees may not want to do activities that make them sweat, because they do not want to shower at work. Ask employees what the business might do to make it easier for them to be more physically active during work. If there’s a common trend throughout your organization, a single change might affect much individuals. For example, suppose a sizable group shows interest in biking to work. They may want to shower and change after their commute. You might give priority to installing workplace showers and changing facilities. Secure bike storage might be valuable as well. If you’re starting a program that requires going outside, begin in the spring. By the time winter arrives, participation is already a habit. Involving employees is key to increasing physical exercise participation rates. People are more willing to participate in and support physical exercise pushes when they are involved in decision making. The following tips will help you produce your own employee interest survey:

• Keep it short (no longer than 10 minutes to complete).
• See that employees know why you are doing the survey.
• Rather than using all open-ended questions, which can be long and difficult to analyze, ask them to choose from a drop-down list of possible responses.
• Ask for comments and ideas in one open-ended question at the end.
• Make it confidential and anonymous. Do not request information that may identify a person.
• If you’re including a list of potential programs or environmental changes, be sure your workplace has the facilities and resources to offer them.