Health Promotion Strategies

To succeed in encouraging physical activity during the workday, you must find out what workers need and want. They’re the people  whose behaviour you are attempting to influence, so it’s crucial to understand their needs and gain their support.

The Staff Member Interest Survey

Ask staff members questions that allow you to assess such key characteristics as age, gender, social relationships, family responsibilities and current physical activity participation.

It’s important to know this information so that your physical activity initiative meets employees’ needs. Staff Members are not going to participate in something they are not interested in.

Ask workers what they want, and then implement changes that fit with their needs and working conditions. for example, workers may not want to do activities that make them sweat, because they don’t want to shower at work.

Ask employees 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 might want to shower and change after their commute. You might give priority to installing workplace showers and changing facilities. Secure bicycle storage might  be important as well.

If you’re launching a program that requires going outside, start in the spring. By the time winter comes around, participation is already a habit.

Involving staff members is key to increasing physical activity participation rates. People  are more willing to participate in and support physical activity programs when they are involved in decision making.

The following tips will help you produce your own staff member interest survey –

• Keep it short (no longer than 10 minutes to complete).

• Let workers know why you are doing the survey.

• Rather than using all open-ended questions, which may be long and difficult to analyze, ask individuals  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. Don’t request information that may identify a person.

• If you are including a list of potential programs or environmental changes, be sure your workplace has the facilities and resources to offer them.