Employee Wellness : Workplace Physical Activity Programs: Employee Interest Survey

To succeed in encouraging physical activity during the workday, you must discover what employees need and want. They are the people whose behavior you are trying to influence, so it’s critical to be aware of 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 activity plan meets employees’ needs. Workers will not take part in something they’re not interested in.

Ask staff members what they want, and then enable changes that fit with their needs and working conditions. By way of example, staff members may not wish to do activities that make them sweat, because they do not want to shower at work.

Ask workers what the business could do to make it easier for them to be more physically active during the workday. If there’s a common behavior throughout your organization, a single change could affect a lot of individuals.

By way of example, suppose a sizable 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 significant as well.

If you’re launching a program that requires going outside, start in the spring. By the time winter arrives, participation is already a habit.

Involving workers is key to building physical activity participation rates. People are more willing to participate 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).
• Let workers know why you are doing the survey.
• Rather than using all open-ended questions, which can be long and tough 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 possible programs or environmental changes, be sure your workplace has the facilities and resources to offer them.