These days, managers and team leaders are expected to check on their employees regularly to determine their performance and well-being levels. The world is going forward at a fast pace, and workplaces follow suit, so employers need to have conversations about well-being with their employees.
Over the last few years, both employers and employees have learned that communication and social interactions are paramount for overall mental health. Workplaces have recently dealt with a societal disconnection between individuals at work and at home; hence, wellness surveys have become crucial. Nowadays, wellness and mental health are preeminent in manager’s agendas because they want to support their teams through workplace benefits, resource groups, and health initiatives.
Suppose you want to run a wellness survey to better understand your employees’ experience in your company; here is a list of questions you should ask.
Are you satisfied and happy with your professional life?
This is one of the most straightforward questions you could ask your employees. It’s important to encourage them to reply sincerely and take advantage of the opportunity to share their thoughts regarding their job. This discussion could bring up issues you need to address so you can make your workplace a more welcoming environment.
If you manage a large workforce, running a survey to find out how satisfied the workers are with their job is the best way to get feedback. Collecting the answers allows you to analyse data quickly and maximise the outcome.
Happiness is important at the workplace because your employees spend a big part of their days at work, and this time contributes to their overall wellness.
How do you balance work and life?
Understanding if your employees have a strategy to balance work and life is also paramount. This balance is essential to prevent burnout, improve performance, and improve well-being. When your employees feel they can balance the two, your retention rates increase and your business gets multiple benefits.
Suppose your workers fail to balance their work and personal lives; you must identify the areas of their job that prevent them from doing it and force them to work extra hours or stress them out.
Do you find the work environment safe?
Safety is one of your employees’ fundamental needs, and you should ensure it’s met in your workplace. Everyone is entitled to work in a space that poses no dangers to their health and safety. Your role as an employer or manager is to assess the working conditions and ensure everything is properly controlled. Additionally, when you provide the employees with a safe work environment, you lower your company’s chance of being liable to a personal injury claim.
Therefore, this is another question you should add to the survey, so you can identify any potential hazards that might threaten your workforce’s safety.
It would also be useful to add boxes around the premises where your employees can leave anonymous notes to share their concerns regarding workplace safety.
Can you share your thoughts?
Asking your team if they can speak up about their concerns at work offers you an insight into the kind of culture you promote. You want to create a transparent work environment where they can feel encouraged to speak up when they face issues or have questions related to the job.
Having a voice is one of the most important factors that impact our well-being. It would be best to let your workers know that their ideas and opinions are valuable and they actively transform the work environment.
Would you change something in the workplace?
This question is meant to help you identify the things that niggle your employees. For example, some employees might feel they need more work-from-home days. Others might think that the extra work affects their personal life and find it necessary to hire new talent to lower the workload.
Your purpose is to present your workspace as somewhere people can express their feelings. Employees must be transparent about their thoughts so you can provide them with the necessary conditions to improve their performance.
What motivates you at work?
Motivation is something employees might lose at some point. People are motivated by numerous things, from their passion for work to the power it offers them, status, and inevitably the financial reward. It would be best if you employ strategies that harness motivation in a way that influences positive productivity. Finding what motivates each of your workers can help you identify the benefits they’re looking for in a workplace so you can meet their needs.
How to ask your employee’s well-being questions
Besides asking the right questions, you also need to learn how to do it. Here are three tips to help you.
Always ask sincerely. Show your employees that you care about their opinions and value their answers. Don’t simply read from a form, but engage with them and validate their feelings.
Ask in a humbling way. At the end of the day, you aim to learn more about how you can improve their satisfaction with the workplace. Be prepared for answers you might not like if you ask them to be honest. This is the moment to listen and be objective. Hear their thoughts and feelings, and be patient because it might take them some time to open up to you.
Ask frequently. It’s best to check your team’s well-being regularly so you can solve issues before they escalate. Often, employees are afraid to be transparent the first time you run a survey, so you need to show them that you’re devoted to providing them with an environment that promotes well-being and mental health. Remind them to offer feedback regularly, and they might feel more comfortable to share their feelings.
Engage in conversations with your employees even if there is a better time to review their work. Everyone likes to establish a connection with their managers and team leaders and feel like their opinions are valued.
Last but not least, be ready to take action and implement new strategies after having critical conversations with your employees.