Health and Wellness Programs : Wellness Program – Needs Assessment.
An initial biometric 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 workers.
The information you need to get from a recent survey depends on the scope of your program. A sample survey can be acquired in the HOPE Publications Web site.
When you plan to adapt this sample survey or create your own survey, keep the following hints in mind –
• Ask primarily closed-choice questions, specifically when you’ll be sending the survey to a big number of staff members. Closed-choice questions provide specific choices and are easy to tabulate. You might want to use a computer for data entry and analysis.
• Invite comments, suggestions and recommendations, or ask open-ended questions after the survey. Open-ended items are more challenging to summarize.
• Include a brief explanatory cover letter with the survey with the signature of the corporation president. Make certain to include a statement about confidentiality and anonymity.
• Ask a group of representative staff to review the survey before it’s distributed. Find out when the questions will be understood by staff and will not be objected to.
• Include demographic information at the beginning or end of the survey. Consider various ways that you might analyze the responses by demographic characteristics (gender, age, shift, site, department, etc.).
When considering who should get the survey, a simple rule is when you’ve under 500 personnel, everybody should receive one. the public relations benefit of everybody receiving a recent survey could be significant.
Over 500 staff members, a sample of the work population will suffice. A sample saves on costs and time. You could want to consider consulting with a statistician to determine an appropriate sample size for your worksite.
Needs surveys are confidential and anonymous; they do not request information that may identify a person.
Getting support from management is crucial to the success of the program.
One way to do this is to survey managers (see forms) and conduct interviews with decision-makers in the organization. You can use the surveys here or make up your own.
When 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 as a means of educating management. Give concise fact sheets on the advantages 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 a few intriguing findings that can be used immediately to make decisions about the program.
Utilize charts and graphs to make your points. Prepare a detailed report for wellness committee members itemizing each response. Give a short article about the survey in the corporation newsletter.
The higher the response the more accurate and reliable the results. A minimum response of 40% to 50% is acceptable.