Short on time or resource but want to launch an employee pulse survey? This blog provides you with an essential list of questions to include in your pulse survey to generate a picture of employee wellbeing.
Even just these 5 questions will set you on the journey to better employee mental health & wellbeing, which you can use when you’ve begun the journey to prioritising wellbeing at your organisation.
We’ve also included our recommended options for answers, so that you gather data which is a starting point for making an employee wellbeing action plan. Take what you need.
The 5 essential questions
1. Where do you feel you currently sit on the mental health continuum?
- In crisis (very anxious, very low mood, taking time off work, exhausted, very poor sleep)
- Struggling (anxious, depressed, poor sleep, poor appetite, poor performance)
- Surviving (worried, stressed, irritable, sad, disturbed sleep)
- Thriving (positive, calm, performing, sleeping well, normal social activity)
- Excelling (cheerful, joyful, energetic, high performance, at your full potential)
2. Which mental health support tools, if any, have you accessed at work?
Then list your current mental health and wellbeing support tools. Here are some examples…
- Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
- Occupational Health (OH)
- Wellbeing apps (e.g. meditation, habit tracking)
- Wellbeing information resources (e.g. booklets, leaflets, websites, intranet)
- Mental health first aiders / wellbeing champions
- None of these/not used any tools
- Other (open text)
3. How would you rate the support tools you’ve accessed through work?
Provide a scale of 1-10 and ask people to pick the number that best represents them.
4. “Without effective mental health support, I would…”
(0 = Unlikely, 5 = Likely)
Here, we’re measuring potential impact of employee mental health on sickness absence, staff attrition, and productivity.
Provide these 3 different response items, with a scale of 0-5.
- Take time off work
- Look for another job
- Be less productive at work
5. What are the main factors affecting your mental health (either positively or negatively) at work at the moment?
Provide an open text box
6. What would the ideal mental health and wellbeing support look like for you?
Provide an open text box
So there you have it, the 5 questions we think should be in any starter-for-10 pulse survey for employee wellbeing.
If you’d like more guidance on running an employee wellbeing survey, or aren’t sure where to start when it comes to building your employee wellbeing ecosystem, just get in touch here.
We’re here to help!