Employee Engagement Surveys: Supporting Wellness and Work-Life Balance

Aug 16

Employee engagement surveys are a powerful tool for measuring employee satisfaction and identifying areas for improvement in the workplace. However, it is important to remember that employees are not just cogs in a machine, but whole people with complex lives and needs. By focusing on supporting employee wellness and work-life balance, companies can not only improve their engagement scores but also create a more positive and productive workplace culture.

Creating Your Employee Engagement Surveys

Surveys can provide essential data for improving employee wellness and work-life balance. When creating and interpreting the results of your surveys, you will need to keep a few things in mind:

Design your survey with an action plan in mind. Gathering data is fantastic, but it doesn’t amount to much if there is no follow through. You can’t always predict the outcomes, but if you focus each survey on a few specific points, you can prepare yourself with the resources and action needed to react to almost any result.

Survey often, especially if you find an area where your organization could use improvement. This will help you track progress on your follow-up plans and help you better understand the employee experience as you navigate change.

Avoid confirmation bias. One of the easiest traps to fall into while conducting and reading the results of your employee engagement surveys is confirmation bias. Whether it’s a conscious decision or not, this bias can be detrimental in both the creation of and interpretation of employee engagement survey results. The best way to avoid falling into the confirmation bias trap is to approach these surveys with a desire to improve. Try not to lump results into good or bad feedback. Don’t avoid posing questions that challenge the status quo. Be ready and willing to accept the data without bending it to fit your desired outcome.

Enlist the help of experts to interpret data. Depending on the amount of questions, the question format, and your employee size, reading the results of your surveys may be more complicated than it seems. Platforms such as Lattice, Culture Amp, or Hey Taco have built-in survey analytics that interpret your results for you. If you are conducting surveys outside of a platform with this feature, consider enlisting the help of a statistician or survey methodologist, for both the preparation and interpretation of the results.

Examples of Employee Engagement Survey Questions that Focus on Work-Life Balance and Wellness

Here are some sample employee engagement survey questions:

Do you feel that your work is meaningful and fulfilling?
How satisfied are you with your overall work experience?
Do you feel that your work-life balance is appropriate?
- Much too busy
- Somewhat too busy
- Appropriate
- Somewhat too relaxed
- Much too relaxed
Do you feel that you have access to the resources and support you need to do your job effectively?
How would you rate your relationship with your supervisor?
Do you feel that your contributions to the organization are valued?
How satisfied are you with your compensation and benefits?
Do you feel that you have opportunities for career growth and development?
How would you rate the overall culture and atmosphere of the workplace?
Do you feel that the company takes employee feedback into account when making decisions?
Have you used the benefits provided by the company to support your mental and/or physical health?
- Yes
- No
Do you believe that the company values and supports employee wellness?
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly agree

Summary

The importance of having an engaged team cannot be overstated. According to a study by Wellable,* companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21% more profitable and 17% more productive than those with disengaged staff. Engaged employees outperform their peers because they tend to be more innovative, efficient, and have higher customer retention rates. We also know that 72% of candidates consider the work-life balance an important factor for selecting a job. ** With these figures in mind, it is clear that having an up-to-date and accurate reflection of your team’s work-life balance experience is crucial to keeping productivity and engagement high. Employee engagement surveys are a fantastic way to get these figures in a direct and repeatable way.

Conclusion

Thank you for joining us as we explored the relationship between employee engagement surveys, wellness and work-life balance. HENSLEE could not be more excited to celebrate wellness and work-life balance and what better way, than to engage your employees in honest, thoughtful discourse. The way we do business is constantly changing, which is all the more reason to revisit your employee wellness and work-life balance efforts. We hope that we’ve inspired you and your organization to ask your employees for feedback, and welcome the opportunity to evolve and offer more support. Thank you for your continued support and remember to LEAD WITH HEART.