Wellness Program Needs and Interest Survey.

Successful health promotion programs are designed to meet the needs and interests of the staff. Ask staff what they’re interested in, and what needs they have.

Individuals  are more willing to participate and support wellness efforts when they’re involved in the decision-making process. Review the sample employee survey provided below.

Employee Interest Survey â.” can be edited (http – //www.ibx.com/pdfs/custom/worksite_wellness/employer_tools/employee_interest_survey.doc)

When developing a recent survey, keep the following hints in mind -

o  Ask mainly closed form questions, particularly when you will be sending the survey to a big number of staff members. Closed form questions provide specific choices and are easy to tabulate.

o  Invite comments, suggestions and recommendations, or ask open-ended questions at the end of the survey. Open-ended items are more challenging to summarize.

o  Include a brief explanatory cover letter with the survey with the signature of the organization president. Be sure to include a statement about confidentiality and anonymity.

o  Ask a group of representative employees to review the survey before it’s distributed. Find out if the questions are going to be understood by employees and won’t be objected to.

o  Include demographic information at the starting, or end of the survey (gender, age, shift, site, department, etc.).

o  Conduct a random drawing for a valued incentive item for all those who returned the survey. This could increase the response rate.

One rule to consider concerning surveys is if you have fewer than 500 staff members, everybody should receive one.  The advantage of everybody receiving a recent survey can be significant. When you have over 500 staff members, a sample of the work population from each department will suffice.

The higher the response, the more accurate and reliable the results. A minimum response of 40% to 50% is considered valuable.