The survey says…
…gauging the temperature of your staff is a great way to ensure their health and wellbeing are always a priority. Laura Wood, our specialist contributor, outlines why you should carry one out.
Workplace wellbeing relates to all aspects of working life, from the quality and safety of the physical environment, to how staff feel about their work, their working environment, the climate at work and organisational culture.
To ensure that the people we support are safe, well and receive high-quality care and support, we need to ensure that the wellbeing of our staff is a priority. There is a strong correlation between productivity levels and the general health and wellbeing of people. Ultimately, we want staff to be safe, happy, healthy, and satisfied and engaged at work.
Wellbeing surveys are becoming increasingly popular and are an effective method of measuring, monitoring, and improving the health and wellbeing of your employees.
When should you carry out a wellbeing survey on staff?
Monitoring the wellbeing of your staff could be particularly important during times of change. If you are restructuring, opening new services or increasing service user capacity, for example, then these changes can cause a huge cultural shift. It can be a stressful time for staff and understanding their needs and their overall health and wellbeing during these times can help to reduce absence and staff turnover, and significantly improve productivity.
What does a Wellbeing survey aim to achieve?
A good wellbeing survey will measure the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of your employees, as well as identifying areas where you can improve wellbeing within the workplace. These improvements could be as simple as changing the lighting in certain areas of the environment, increasing communication throughout the organisation, or creating a small breakout area.
You need to ensure that you define your aim and then set your questions to gauge staff wellness. Some of the core components could be:
- COVID-19 – positive life changes, main issues affecting wellbeing, workplace risk, homeworking, shielding
- Physical wellbeing – medical issues, waist, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, sleep, exercise, healthy eating, alcohol, musculoskeletal, smoking
- Mental wellbeing – resilience, mood, stress, coping skills
- Personal wellbeing – finance, relationships, caring, work-life balance
- Behaviour – goals and motivation
- Organisation/Culture – staff job satisfaction, work environment, work-life balance
- Leadership – do staff feel supported and have positive role models in the organisation?
An employee wellbeing survey is a perfect starting point to listen to your staff and ensure that their concerns are acted upon.
Ensure that the survey has no more than 15 questions and importantly, ensure that the results are shared with staff, communicating your actions for addressing their feedback.
You can create your own survey; however, many companies provide this and have various templates or bespoke material to meet your organisational aims.
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Further Information
This quarter we are producing a number of blogs centred around Building a Better Workforce Together. If you are a QCS customer, check out our new Recruitment Guide in the Resource Centre.
Otherwise….
Being a Carer Friendly Workplace – https://www.qcs.co.uk/being-a-carer-friendly-workplace/
Employee Assistance Programmes for Your Workplace – https://www.qcs.co.uk/employee-assistance-programmes-for-your-workplace/
