Employer Wellness : Workplace Physical Activity Programs: Employee Interest Survey
To succeed in encouraging physical activity during work, you must learn what staff members need and want. They are the individuals whose behavior you are trying to impact, so it’s important to know their needs and gain their backing.
The Employee Interest Survey
Ask staff members questions that allow you to assess such key characteristics as age, gender, social relationships, family responsibilities and current physical exercise participation.
It’s valuable to know this information so that your physical exercise initiative meets employees’ needs. Workers will not participate in something they’re not interested in.
Ask staff members what they want, and then implement changes that fit with their needs and working conditions. For example, staff members may not want to do activities that make them sweat, because they do not want to shower at work.
Ask workers what the business might do to make it easier for them to be more physically active during work. If there’s a common behavior throughout your organization, a single change might affect an abundance of people.
For example, suppose a big group shows interest in biking to work. They may want to shower and change after their commute. You might give priority to installing workplace showers and changing facilities. Secure bike storage might be valuable as well.
If you’re launching a program that requires going outside, begin in the spring. By the time winter arrives, participation is already a habit.
Involving workers is key to expanding physical activity participation rates. People are more willing to take part in and support physical activity initiatives when they are involved in decision making.
The following tips will help you produce your own employee interest survey:
• Keep it short (no longer than ten minutes to complete).
• Make sure staff members know why you are doing the survey.
• Rather than using all open-ended questions, which can be long and difficult to analyze, ask people to choose from a drop-down list of possible responses.
• Ask for comments and ideas in one open-ended question at the end.
• Make it confidential and anonymous. Do not request information that may identify a person.
• If you’re including a list of potential programs or environmental changes, see that your workplace has the facilities and resources to offer them.