Posted by Winston Salem | Posted in Wellness Tips, winston salem wellness | Posted on 24-04-2009
To succeed in encouraging physical exercise during the workday, you must discover what employees need and want. They are the people whose behavior you are trying to impact, so it’s important to be aware of their needs and gain their reinforcement.
The Employee Interest Survey
Ask workers questions that let you assess such key characteristics as age, gender, social relationships, family responsibilities and current physical activity participation.
It’s valuable to know this information so that your physical exercise program meets employees’ needs. Staff Members aren’t going to take part in something they’re not interested in.
Ask workers what they want, and then start changes that fit with their needs and working conditions. By way of example, workers may not want to do activities that make them sweat, because they do not want to shower at work.
Ask staff members what the organization could do to make it easier for them to be more physically active during the workday. If there’s a common trend throughout your organization, a single change could affect a lot 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 significant as well.
If you’re starting a program that requires going outside, start in the spring. By the time winter comes around, participation is already a habit.
Involving workers is key to increasing physical exercise participation rates. People are more willing to take part in and support physical exercise 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 workers know why you are doing the survey.
• Rather than using all open-ended questions, which can be long and difficult to analyze, ask them to choose from a drop-down list of possible responses.
• Ask for comments and suggestions 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.