November 6, 2023

Employee Wellbeing Survey: Guide to create it + 20 key questions

News

Our average working life is 45 years. If we spend working 40 hours a week, this means a total of 12 years working non-stop. A time long enough to look for companies in which we feel safe, happy and valued. For this reason, more and more employers are taking the initiative to create wellness programs that not only help attract the best talent, but also build loyalty, maximize commitment, and improve productivity.

In this sense, an employee well-being survey becomes your great ally. Through collaborators’ feedback, you obtain valuable information that will allow you to respond to their needs with actual and direct actions.

Do you want to know more about how you can improve the quality of life of your employees? Then keep reading!

Why is employee well-being so important?

Is it true that happiness makes us more productive?

During recent research at the University of Warwick, some of the participants were shown a clip from a comedy film or treated to chocolate, drinks and fruit to raise their level of happiness.

In parallel, others were asked about recent family tragedies, such as the loss of loved ones, to assess whether a lower level of happiness correlates with lower productivity.

The result was that the team with a higher level of happiness increased their productivity by approximately 12%.

It is no secret that companies like Google invest in providing support to their employees and, as a consequence, the satisfaction of their team is higher: 37% more than that of other companies in the same sector.

So yes, promoting emotional well-being at work is beneficial for employee efficiency and production.

How to measure the well-being of workers?

One of the key performance indicators in People departments is the turnover rate. If it’s low, it means that employees are happy with their work and will remain in the company.

However, if it is high, it’s a reflection that something is not working as it should and employees prefer to look for new professional opportunities rather than stay one more minute at their job.

While it is true that the turnover rate is an indicator that can help measure the level of well-being, the truth is that it remains on the surface indicating what is happening, but not why it is happening.

To improve the quality of life of the teams, it is essential to know them, understand what they value about the company, what makes them committed, and what makes them prefer to go elsewhere.

A workplace wellness survey is a tool that gives you just that: the answers you need to address the problem and create specific solutions that truly improve the employee experience. This way, it will be much easier to manage your people so that they are happy and satisfied.

What is an employee well-being survey?

A workplace well-being survey is much more than a simple questionnaire; It is a vital tool that provides a detailed snapshot of the emotional and physical state of workers.

At its core, it consists of a set of questions carefully designed to assess not only how team members feel about their environment, but also how this environment may be affecting their overall quality of life.

So, they go beyond simply assessing tangible aspects, such as whether a chair is comfortable or whether the lighting is adequate. In reality, they delve into more complex and nuanced terrain, exploring the quality of daily interactions, the feeling of belonging or the level of perceived stress, among others.

For example, they can reveal whether an employee feels valued for their work, whether they believe there are opportunities for growth within the organization, or whether they feel part of a cohesive and collaborative team.

It is important to note that these surveys also take into account the interpersonal relationship that the employee has with his or her colleagues, superiors and subordinates.

In this sense, team dynamics, mutual respect and clarity in communication are crucial aspects that often determine whether a worker feels satisfied and motivated in their position.

Thus, workplace well-being surveys not only seek to identify areas for improvement in the physical work environment, but also seek to understand the mental and emotional health of employees, ensuring that companies can implement changes that benefit everyone.

How to carry out an effective employee well-being survey?

Designing an effective survey is a bit of an art and a science. The key is meticulous design and careful implementation. To help you in this task, here we leave you how to do each step:

Set clear goals. Before you dive into creating the survey, it’s essential to define what you hope to achieve with it. Are you trying to identify specific problem areas or evaluating the effectiveness of a new wellness initiative? By having clarity on your goals, you can design questions that provide you with specific, actionable answers.
Diversity of issues. Not all questions should be asked the same way. Mix closed-ended questions, such as multiple choice or Likert scales, that provide clear quantitative data, with open-ended questions that allow employees to share their feelings and experiences in depth. This combination ensures that you get a complete and nuanced picture of your team’s well-being.
Confidentiality guarantee. Sincerity is essential for a survey to be effective. Be sure to clearly communicate to employees that their responses are anonymous and that there will be no retaliation for sharing their honest feedback. This transparency is the determining factor in obtaining the information we really need.
Use the right technology. With the abundance of digital survey platforms available, select one that suits your needs. Look for tools that offer ease of use, flexible design options, and robust data analysis capabilities. A good platform can make collecting, measuring, and interpreting responses much easier. Team _ Insights is a good option for this!
Action and monitoring. Once you’ve collected and analyzed the data, the real work begins now. So don’t let your employees’ voices fall into the void: design an action plan based on the results and communicate the changes and solutions you will implement. In addition, it is essential to carry out regular follow-ups to evaluate the impact of these actions and demonstrate to your team that their opinions are taken into account.

20 key questions for your workplace well-being survey

In this type of questionnaire, it is useful to use a Likert scale. In this way, employees will not be able to limit themselves to a yes or no answer, but rather they will be able to respond by establishing ranges, making the results more precise and meaningful.

With that said, here is the list of questions!