Research shows that 25% of employees in companies feel physically drained and emotionally exhausted after work. 16% of employees say they experience insomnia regularly because of work stress.

It’s no startling news that work stress has increased tremendously in the past decade. But this work stress is having a detrimental effect on the physical and mental wellbeing of employees. A study in the US shows how American businesses lose over $300 billion annually because of illness-related absenteeism, low productivity, accidents, attrition, and workplace insurance costs. These costs aside, there is also the often-irreparable psychological and physiological damage that work pressures have on employees.

It is every companies’ responsibility to preserve the health and integrity of its workforce by implementing workplace wellness programs. Doing so ensures a happier and more loyal staff, and significantly reduces the costs that come with workplace illnesses.

What is an employee wellness survey?

The only way companies can make a valuable impact on employee wellness is to have programs in place that introduce health and wellness into the company. Employee wellness surveys are tools which companies can use to collect first-hand information about their staff:

• Physical health
• Mental wellbeing
• Job satisfaction
• Workplace productivity
• Happiness with the company’s workplace wellness programs

Employee wellness surveys can be a great tool to gauge whether the staff is at-risk for job dissatisfaction and attrition. Companies can mindfully implement measures that make their employees feel happy and comfortable, empowering them to be productive for much longer.

Employers can use employee wellness surveys to identify whether they have enough measures in place to manage and reduce workplace stress. Through health and wellness survey questions, employers can learn whether their wellness programs yield the desired results.

Components of an employee wellness survey

An employee wellness survey isn’t just a random bunch of questions related to fitness, health, and wellness. Employee wellness surveys include well-thought-out questions that cover a variety of facets that come under the broad category of wellness, such as:

• Environmental wellness – Your staff’s accessibility to natural sunlight, fresh air, clean water, and greenery.
• Social wellness – Availability of extracurricular activities and clubs in the company, that employees can join/participate in and socialize freely.
• Physical wellness – Implementation of exercise routines. Availability of gym facility on the premises and nutritious & organic food. Implementation of workplace ergonomics.
• Emotional wellness – Experiences that offer emotional support to stressed employees, for example, on-site counseling, yoga & meditation, and fireside chats with managers.
• Spiritual wellness – The state of the company’s culture – whether it is inclusive and accepting of all faiths of worship and beliefs or not. Additionally, qualitative motivators at work.
• Intellectual wellness – Culture of intellectual participation and creativity in the company and availability of opportunities to innovate, experiment, and try new roles.
• Occupational wellness – Opportunities that provide occupational satisfaction to employees, either through better work-life balance or through higher & flexible career growth in the company.

When you’re writing health and wellness survey questions for your employee wellness survey, remember to include questions that pertain to all of these categories of wellness.

Top 50 health and wellness survey questions to ask in your employee wellness survey

Here we’ve made a list of the top 50 wellness survey questions for employees, which you can include in the employee wellness survey you create for your company:

1. Are health and fitness important to you?
2. Do you follow an exercise routine?
3. Would you join a fitness club (.i.e. running club, cycling club, yoga club, etc.), if we start one in the company? Please state your preferred fitness club, if any.
4. Is our company gym well-equipped for your fitness needs?
5. Do you smoke?
6. Do you chew tobacco?
7. Do you consume alcohol?
8. Do you skip breakfast or lunch while at work?
9. Do you like the menu we offer at the office cafeteria?
10. According to you, how healthy is the food that we provide in the office cafeteria? (Very healthy, Healthy, Not healthy enough, Terrible)
11. Do you snack in-between meals, while working?
12. Would you prefer it if we offered healthy snacks in the cafeteria?
13. How much water do you drink per day?
14. What beverages do you consume while working?
15. Have you undergone any medical examinations lately?
16. Do you have a medical insurance plan for yourself?
17. How much screen time are you exposed to daily at work?
18. Have you experienced any eyesight problems because of the screen time?
19. Does your neck, upper back, lower back, or elbows hurt while you work?
20. Do you slouch when sitting at your desk?
21. Are the chairs, tables, and furniture suitable to maintain a good posture while working?
22. Do you get up to stretch your legs while working, or are you seated until break time?
23. How often do you go out of the building to get fresh air and sunlight?
24. Is the layout of our office comfortable and spacious?
25. Do you feel there could be workplace accidents because of the office layout? If yes, please state what kind.
26. Do you require any health/sanitary products to be made available for use in the restrooms?
27. Do you feel our company offers enough social clubs, talks/seminars, and engagement activities?
28. Are you part of any extracurricular club in the company (i.e., singing club, chess club, book club, etc.)?
29. Have you attended any on-site seminars/talks on a subject that you enjoy?
30. Have you participated in any volunteering activities that we organize every year?
31. Do your managers encourage you to participate in extracurricular activities at work?
32. Are you stressed at work?
33. Do you experience sleeplessness because of work pressure?
34. Do you experience any physical distress (i.e. headaches, dizziness, blood pressure, etc.) because of work stress?
35. Do you follow any routines to alleviate stress (. i.e. meditation, gratitude journal, etc.)?
36. Would you be willing to participate in weekly meditation sessions of 30-45 minutes?
37. Do you think the breaks provided are long enough for you to mentally recuperate?
38. Do you feel you have a work-life balance in this job?
39. How often do you stretch to post-work hours?
40. Are there any changes you recommend that can improve your work-life balance?
41. What motivates you to come to work each day?
42. Do you feel the lines of communication in the company are open if you need to talk to someone?
43. Would you feel less stressed if we implement a weekly, team-wise fireside chat program?
44. Do you think that senior management and HR are tolerant of your feelings, experiences, and beliefs?
45. Are you bored with your job?
46. Do you feel like you have a flexible career trajectory in our company?
47. What can the company do to make your job more satisfying?
48. Would you recommend our company to family or friends for employment?
49. Are you satisfied with the wellness programs we have implemented at the workplace?
50. Please recommend any employee wellness programs that you’d like us to implement.

Running a successful employee wellness survey at your company

Now that you know what type of questions you can ask as part of your employee wellness survey, let’s look at how you can implement your employee wellness survey in the workplace:

Ask questions that matter

An employee wellness survey’s objective is to find out details about your team’s health and wellbeing. This is why you need to ask questions that truly get to the heart of this issue. While you shouldn’t get too specific with your questions, you should ask questions that matter.

For example, instead of asking, “How many minutes do you exercise every day?“, ask, “Do you have an exercise routine.” You’ll know how fitness-conscious your employees are.

The best employee wellness surveys take under 10 minutes to complete. So, keep the list of wellness survey questions for employees short.

• Get the managers onboard

The truth is, not every manager puts the same amount of focus on employee wellness. But manager commitment is necessary if you want your employee wellness survey to be successful. After all, only a manager who genuinely cares about his employees’ well-being will actively encourage his/her team to participate in the survey.

Before you implement a company-wide employee wellness survey, it’s necessary to reach out to managers with the right material – eBooks about employee wellbeing and emails about the impending survey – to get them on board your plan.

• Communicate with your staff using various channels

Once your managers buy-into the survey, it’s time to inform your employees. While email is the best method of communication, you can also use your company’s internal social platform to update your staff. Posting on LinkedIn and even sending out a company newsletter with the survey’s announcement, its importance, and details about the survey submission deadline will be helpful.

• Reward your employees for participating in the survey

Whether it’s a lack of time or lack of interest, you’ll always have some employees who refuse to participate in company-wide surveys. To encourage such individuals to cooperate, you need to reward them with something they’d enjoy. For example, meal coupons, discount vouchers to an online store, a gift card, etc.

Benefits of conducting employee wellness surveys regularly

Employee wellness surveys offer numerous benefits to companies. They help companies:

• Understand their staff’s outlook on wellness and health.
• Evaluate the amount of stress their workforce is experiencing.
• Identify if there are proper stress management mechanisms in place.
• Find out if the right health measures have been implemented or not.
• Identify any gaps in their current wellness programs.
• Craft the ideal medical insurance policies for their staff.
• Implement workplace ergonomics practices.
• Develop office policies that offer work-life balance.
• Increase employee job satisfaction and productivity while reducing attrition.

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