Wellness Program – Needs Assessment.

An initial medical 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 members.

The information you need to get from a recent survey depends on the scope of your program. A sample survey may be obtained 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 –

• Ask mainly closed-choice questions, in particular if you will be sending the survey to a big number of staff members. Closed-choice questions provide specific options and are easy to tabulate. You could want to use a computer for data entry and analysis.

• Invite comments, suggestions and recommendations, or ask open-ended questions at the end of 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. Be certain to include a statement about confidentiality and anonymity.

• Ask a group of representative staff members to review the survey before it is distributed. Find out when the questions will be understood by staff members and will not be objected to.

• Include demographic information at the starting 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 if you’ve under 500 staff members, everyone should receive one. the public relations benefit of everyone receiving a recent survey may be significant.

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

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

Getting support from management is vital 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.

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 wellness programs for management.

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

Once completed present a brief executive summary to management. Highlight a few interesting findings that may 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 valid and reliable the results. A minimum response of 40 percent to 50 percent is acceptable.