Doctors Richard Milani and Carl Lavie studied 185 employers at a single workplace. The subject was to study the effect of employee wellness survey. The verdict was loud and clear like many reports have stated. Every dollar invested yielded 6$ in health care savings. This is not the only example of the practical necessity of a corporate wellness survey.

MD Anderson Cancer Centre found that with the creation of a worker’s compensation and injury care unit within their employee and health well-being department, lost works were reduced by 80%, worker’s insurance comp by 50%, and the company saved 1.5 million dollars in six years. These and a long list of facts prove that these surveys carry immense importance.

Not only their effective implementation helps the company financially, but the companies also manages to enjoy a healthy relationship with their employees beyond the work. The employees feel a greater sense of loyalty towards the company and a greater sense of responsibility towards its success. There are some must ask questions in these employee wellness surveys.

Let’s go through them one by one: –

• Would you recommend this organisation as a great place to work?

  The question has a high correlation with employee engagement. The question will measure not just how satisfied they feel with their experience at the organisation but how likely are they to recommend it to anyone else. The responses are a great way to tell if the employers are also enjoying their work, their relationship with the managers and the organisation at large, and also that they won’t quit unless they were forced to or had an emergency.

• How many hours on an average are you sitting?

  Questions like this affect two major issues of a corporate wellness program. The first is the employee’s inclination to move. The second issue is the climate at work in general and overall dynamic to understand what an employee considers acceptable. Sitting also increases the chances of dangerous diseases like Diabetes and Cancer. Healthy response from employees is a good indicator of their daily experience.

• Which are the wellness services have you used and how valuable are these services?

  On the basis of a few things, it is very easy to perceive that the services offered are popular. But just popularity alone doesn’t prove its value. Mostly, a 5-point scale of extremely valuable to not at all valuable can point to the actual perceived value of the program from the employees for whom the program is intended.

• How likely are you to recommend the program to a friend or colleague? What was the reason to choose that score?

  There are two basic categories of the score here. The first category is the score of detractors and ranges from 0 to 6. The second category is a score of 9 to 10 which is known as the net promoter scare which has become a benchmark across the industry to measure employee loyalty. The feedback also gives an insight into the program’s effectiveness and the reason for the score given can help improve the program.

• Do you see career growth and developmental opportunities at this organisation?

  A clear cut and progressive clear path is everyone’s wish. It is very vital for the employees to get a positive and clear understanding of the way their career is headed to. If the perception is that their career is not moving in a direction they want to then their loyalty is bound to suffer. They are quite likely to try to find that career somewhere else then.

• Do you think your opinions count at work?

  Being heard and when opinions matter at work are the things that empower an employee. A 2018 Employee Engagement Trends Report affirmed the importance of employees getting to speak their minds without any hesitation. The response to this question will help understand how much you as a company are willing to listen to feedback or new ideas. Negative feedback indicates that the organisation needs to bring some changes.

• Anything else you like to share?

  Every information cannot be filled in a Yes or No box. This question will serve as a perfect end to the survey and get any other information that may have been left out of the questionnaire. It doesn’t matter if the response is positive or not. The information will serve much value to the company and kind of response will be a show of employees who are highly engaged with the company.

Corporate wellness in its entirety is a motivational and a monumental issue for employers. Organisations in this day and age can’t afford to be reactive as employee retention is a big headache for many companies. Time has come in the eyes of experts for companies to get in the offense of employee engagement than defence. It’s a process that can be a little complicated but the rewards are plenty and worth it.