Starting with An Employee Wellness Survey

Employee Wellness Programs: Starting with an Employee Wellness Survey 

The CDC’s Strategies for Building a Workplace Wellness Program recommends starting by completing a workplace wellness assessment. The CDC worksite Health ScoreCard is a useful tool to measure policy and programs already existing at your school. Wellness assessments can also include an employee survey to understand the current wellness needs and interests of employees and co-workers.  

Things to Consider:  

    • Decide How you Will Use your Data and get Leadership Buy-in: Determine how the data will be used to start or improve your employee wellness program. For example, your goal might be to identify what your employees want from a program, or to expand an existing program into a new area of employee wellness. Don’t forget to discuss your ideas with administrators to secure leadership buy-in. Your ideas might align with existing employee wellness goals, creating synergy and maximizing resources.  
    • Developing the Survey: When you begin to write the survey questions, be intentional with what questions you ask to ensure you have valuable responses and data to inform your decisions when building an employee wellness program. Include open-ended questions to hear new thoughts or ideas. Consider the time it might take to answer the questions and an employee’s willingness to answer personal questions. You might decide that an anonymous survey is best to get honest feedback.  
    • Notifying Employees: Be sure to communicate with employees when the survey will be available and how you plan to use the information collected. Give employees a deadline to complete the survey. Surveys can be created and distributed to employees through Google Forms or Microsoft Forms to make data collection and analysis easy. 
    • Share the Results: Once the surveys are completed, share the results and next steps with the staff. Keep employees engaged in the process and assure them their voices are heard.  

Sample Survey Questions:  

The following questions can be used to create your own employee wellness survey. Some questions and answers might not be viable or relevant for your district or building. Questions can be modified to suit your school.  

Multiple Choice: 

  1. How would you rate your overall health and well-being on a scale from 1-10? 
  2. My employer prioritizes my health and wellbeing. 
    • Agree 
    • Somewhat agree 
    • Neither agree nor disagree 
    • Somewhat disagree 
    • Disagree 
  3. I am aware of the Employee Assistance Program and the benefits it provides. 
    • Agree 
    • Somewhat agree 
    • Neither agree nor disagree 
    • Somewhat disagree 
    • Disagree 
  4. How satisfied are you with current wellness programs? 
    • Very satisfied 
    • Satisfied 
    • Neutral 
    • Dissatisfied 
    • Very dissatisfied 
  5. How often do you find your workload stressful? 
    • Always 
    • Often 
    • Sometimes 
    • Hardly ever  
    • Never 
  6. I can successfully balance work and personal life.  
    • Agree 
    • Somewhat agree 
    • Neither agree nor disagree 
    • Somewhat disagree 
    • Disagree 
  7. I have time to take breaks during the day.  
    • Agree 
    • Somewhat agree 
    • Neither agree nor disagree 
    • Somewhat disagree 
    • Disagree 
  8. How connected do you feel to your colleagues on a scale from 1-10? 
    • I feel supported by my team when facing challenges.  
    • Agree 
    • Somewhat agree 
    • Neither agree nor disagree 
    • Somewhat disagree 
    • Disagree 
  9. My job gives me a sense of purpose.  
    • Agree 
    • Somewhat agree 
    • Neither agree nor disagree 
    • Somewhat disagree 
    • Disagree 
  10. What is your biggest barrier to being physically active or exercising? 
    • Affordability of gym membership 
    • Lack of time 
    • Lack of knowledge about how to exercise 
    • I don’t like exercising 
    • Other 
      • Open-ended response to share 
  11. What is your biggest barrier to eating a balanced diet?  
    • Affordability of healthy foods 
    • Lack of knowledge regarding healthy diets  
    • Lack of knowledge regarding healthy food preparation 
    • Unhealthy options available in cafeterias or vending machines 
    • Other 
      • Open-ended response to share 
  12. What is your biggest barrier to positive mental health? 
    • Work stress 
    • Home stress 
    • Busy schedule 
    • Coworkers 
    • Relationships outside of work 
    • Other 
      • Open-ended response to share 
  13. Please indicate the employee wellness activities or programs you would be interested in learning more about or participating in.  
    • Healthy food and drink in the cafeteria 
    • Community garden on site 
    • Walking groups 
    • Stress management workshops 
    • Workspace ergonomics 
    • Wellness or relaxation spaces 
    • Personal finance course 
  14. What dimension of wellness do you think could use the most improvement at work? 
    • Emotional (counseling and mental health seminars) 
    • Physical (physical activity challenges or classes) 
    • Social (social events or parties) 
    • Financial (financial planning support) 
    • Occupational (mentoring/advancement planning) 
    • Environmental (new wellness policies or facility improvements) 
    • Spiritual (meditation, mindfulness or connection to purpose) 
    • Intellectual (continuing education) 

Open-ended:  

  1. What are three aspects of your health and well-being that you would like to improve? 
  2. What are your top three suggestions for programs your employer can offer to improve health and well-being? 
  3. What current employee wellness initiatives do you find the most beneficial?