Gather your data

Gather data to understand your workplace and your employees.

One of the best ways to give your program a great start is to ask employees what they want to see. You need to understand the current health and wellness environment of your workplace and gauge the interest level of your employees. By doing both these things, your wellness committee can effectively plan strategic interventions.

Below you will find two survey’s. The responses to these surveys will be used in planning your workplace wellness program for all employees

Find out what employees want to learn about to improve their health. What are their concerns? What gets in the way of their health? What motivates them? One way to do this is through an Employee Wellness Survey. Employee meetings or feedback from a committee made up of all departments could also serve this purpose. The key is to really listen to your employees about what they need and would be interested in doing to improve their health and to make sure that you provide opportunities annually to gather additional feedback as your organization changes.

Scan your work environment for things that support or limit employees’ health habits. These may be policies (formal or informal), physical structures or the work culture. The Workplace Assessment Survey is a tool that complements the employee survey. It can help your organization identify opportunities to support employee health through policy and environmental changes.

After you have surveyed employees and assessed your work site, it’s time to plan your workplace wellness program. Be sure to look critically at the themes and gaps identified in both of the survey results. Is there a high interest level in certain topics? Are there gaps in your workplace policies? Use this information to begin creating a plan for your program.

Use your workplace assessment and employee survey information

Once you have had the chance to assess employees’ interests and your work environment, choose which wellness topics or themes are best suited for your workplace. Then use the “educate, act, support” mindset to start brainstorming around the first focus of your wellness program.

  • Did you identify gaps in workplace policies?
  • Are you interested in creating a wellness policy?
  • Were any physical environment changes identified?
  • Is there a wellness topic that was identified as a major interest by your employees?