Introduction
Collecting information from your employees must contribute to the reflection to identify actions to implement. You thus avoid carrying out actions only by intuition or out of interest. In fact, experience has shown that it is easy but ineffective to do activities that were not identified as a result of a rigorous exercise. Without that exercise, it is not unusual to realize that the effects are very limited, even non-existent, that the entire strategy creates skepticism among employees and management in the face of a lack of relevance and impacts, eventually reducing resources or budgets allocated in the medium term. In the end, no one wins.
Context
Objective of collecting individual data To know your employees’ opinions and needs when it comes to workplace health and well-being so you can prioritize positive responses to implement.
Specific objectives
- To know risk factors, suggestions, employee satisfaction, their habits/lifestyle and their motivation to change them.
- To know their experience and appreciation of daily workplace relationships, management practices and to identify potential solutions.
Actions for employers
Reminder: 20 points to consider in collecting individual data
At the strategy preparation stage- Put in place a clear procedure to ensure confidentiality of personal information during collection, data processing and distribution of results. No personal information should be recognizable, let alone distributed.
- Identify a person who will be responsible for the survey who ideally is independent of colleagues and management. An occupational or health professional can coordinate the process, internally or by calling on the services of recognized external experts. Using external service providers will promote objectivity as well as the perception of confidentiality and “watertightness” of the process.
- Use a validated questionnaire to ensure credibility, facilitate the analysis and interpretation of results and save data processing time.
- Decide on which segmentation you wish to use to obtain detailed results. Identifying criteria such as administrative unit or sector of the company, geographical region, position level, sociodemographic data, etc., will allow you to create more specific reports. From there, it will be easier to develop action plans that take into account issues that are more specific to certain groups.
- Questions asked should cover the individual’s physical/psychological and social health, organizational policies and practices that promote health, and the workplace’s physical and social environment. For questions about lifestyle, measure risk factors but also intentions to change.
- You can choose a provider that offers not only the questionnaire and the presentation of a consolidated report, but also a personalized return for the employee based on the responses they provided in the questionnaire. This personalized return maximizes the chances of changes in behaviour, as it includes tailored recommendations. Ask to see examples of consolidated reports and statements given to employees before choosing your survey provider
- Ensure that this watertight process is communicated, so that employees have confidence and complete the survey authentically.Based on the rules of distribution that are generally used, it is recommended that you survey at least 30 respondents to preserve confidentiality and ensure a certain reliability of results.
- Offer the questionnaire, to be completed on a voluntary basis, to all executives and employees, including those who are absent.
- Communicate clearly via the Health and Well-being Committee and/or through ambassadors who are identified and sent to different services of the organization. Some employees may be reluctant to complete the questionnaire. Committee members or ambassadors can play a reassuring role for them.
- A visible commitment and a communication from management can explain the reasons for the survey and how the process will unfold.
- Make it easy to complete the questionnaire, ideally online, during work hours to maximize the participation rate. The larger your sample size, the more representative it will be of your internal population, and the more precise your reading of needs will be: and, as a result, the better the selection of useful responses to prioritize. With a 10 or 15% response rate, your report will not reflect reality. At 40 or 50%, you will get a reliable reading. Some employers manage to get a participation rate of up to 90%. They have communicated and explained well, may have given incentives, and made it easy to complete the survey.
- It should note the overall response rate and the response rate based on certain characteristics (for example, types and levels of jobs, gender, age groups, region, etc., that you agreed upon ahead of time) to ensure that the sample of respondents is representative of all employees.
- It can include specific sections based on certain criteria so you can then develop a specific strategy based on a sector or type of job, for example.
- It should identify good practices and successes, problems raised by employees, their risk factors for their physical/psychological/social health, and needs and concerns expressed by staff.
- It should contain informed observations, as well as concrete recommendations, ideally compared with relevant benchmark data.
- Once the survey results are known, one or more discussion groups with employees can be formed to work more in depth on understanding problems and on the suggestions for actions to put in place.
- A presentation of the report to upper management is needed to make them aware of issues and needs, and to seek their endorsement afterwards.
- You will benefit by opening up the dialogue with employees, too, through presentations and discussions on the results of this data collection. Sharing about issues and possible solutions allows for stronger ownership of actions to be implemented. A discussion by sector allows you to address the realities specific to certain groups.
- You can take into account the results of the data collection and administrative elements to prioritize responses by taking into account the importance of certain problems and the feasibility of actions.
