Wellness Program – Needs Assessment.

An initial health screening can include a recent survey of employees’ interests as part of the assessment. Successful wellness programs are designed to meet the needs and interests of the staff.

The information you need to get from a recent survey depends on the scope of your health promotion program. A sample survey could be acquired in the HOPE Publications Web site.

If you plan to adapt this sample survey or create your own survey, keep the following hints in mind -

o  Ask primarily closed-choice questions, particularly when you will be sending the survey to a big number of personnel. Closed-choice questions provide specific options and are easy to tabulate. You could want to use a computer for data entry and analysis.

o  Invite comments, suggestions and recommendations, or ask open-ended questions after 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 corporation president. Be sure to include a statement about confidentiality and anonymity.

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

o  Include demographic information at the beginning or end of the survey. Consider various ways that you may analyze the responses by demographic characteristics (gender, age, shift, site, department, etc.).

When considering who ought to get the survey, a simple rule is if you’ve under 500 workforce, everybody ought to receive one.  The public relations advantage of everybody receiving a recent survey may be significant.

Over 500 staff, a sample of the work population will suffice. A sample saves on costs and time. You might want to consider consulting with a statistician to determine an appropriate sample size for your workplace.

Needs surveys are confidential and anonymous; they don’t request information that may identify a individuals.

Getting support from senior level management is critical to the success of the health promotion program.

One way to do this is to survey managers (see forms) and conduct interviews with decision-makers in the company. You can use the surveys here or make up your own.

If you decide to do your own, keep the survey short. It should not take more than ten minutes to complete.

The interview process can also serve to educating management. Give concise fact sheets on the benefits of health promotion programs for management.

When surveys and interviews are completed, tally the surveys and write brief summaries of the interviews. Provide these reports to management.

Once completed present a brief executive summary to management. Highlight several fascinating findings that could be used immediately to make decisions about the wellness program.

Utilize charts and graphs to make your points. Prepare a detailed report for wellness committee members itemizing each response. Provide a short article about the survey in the company newsletter.

The higher the response the more precise and reliable the results. A minimum response of 40% to 50% is acceptable.