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Popular Evaluation Methods for Well-being Programs

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Introduction

The high importance of evaluation in well-being program success is documented and discussed in the CIPD report “Growing the Health and Well-being Agenda: From First Steps to Full Potential” is. The CIPD states that this importance lies in both achieving the best results and securing future budget.

There is further discussion on why evaluation is so important in our blog on hard data in wellness, but for this discussion we’re moving on to popular evaluation methods for wellness instead.

Latest CIPD Evaluation Methods

In the CIPD report mentioned above, in Table 2: Key Indicators on page 20 of the report, recommended evaluation methods are listed in accordance with the type of well-being program being implemented. The report states:

“The best approach is to identify the key organisational targets or goals the programme is designed to achieve and then to monitor achievement against those targets. Targets and goals can take many shapes. They can be organisational measures, or more closely related to employee health and job satisfaction. Staff surveys can, over a period of time, gauge how individuals are feeling about initiatives and measure a range of key indicators.”

These key indicators are broadly split into three groups:

  • Health Measures
  • Employee Satisfaction Measures
  • Organisational Measures

Health Measures

Available evaluation measures include the tracking of;

  • Lowered body mass
  • Reduced cholesterol/blood pressure
  • Return-to-work times
  • Increased exercise
  • Reduced substance abuse
  • Reduced anxiety/depression

Employee Satisfaction Measures

Available evaluation measures include the tracking of;

  • Employee engagement
  • Presenteeism
  • Organisational commitment
  • Job satisfaction
  • Voluntary resignations
  • Positive working relationships

Organisational Measures

Available evaluation measures include the tracking of;

  • Productivity and customer survey levels
  • Retention levels
  • Absence rates
  • Referral times to occupational health
  • Ethical and safety standards
  • Ill-health retirements

Lots of these methods are easy to capture – for example changes in absence can be recorded on a spreadsheet, as can referral times and voluntary resignation numbers.

However for those more difficult to measure indicators employee surveys are a popular method of obtaining data – for example to estimate substance abuse changes and positive working relationships.

The original table is pasted below:

Key Indicators

What BIA UK Measures

At BIA UK we’re fortunate that occupational physiotherapy lends itself so effectively to evaluation. Among the hard metrics we track and report on are;

  • MSK absence rates
  • Return-to-work times
  • Flare ups in chronic injuries
  • Average number of treatment episodes per patient
  • Employee satisfaction (via surveys)
  • Referrals to our service

We find evaluation of these components deliver hard metrics to the board, proving the worth of our service and offering a solid ROI.

Conclusion

Regardless of the type of well-being program, evaluation is possible and offers many benefits around securing future investment and improving results.

To read our top ten takeaways from the CIPD report mentioned above, you can download our free eGuide here.

FAQ eGuideAdditionally, to learn more about occupational physiotherapy and how this works to evaluate and improve organisational well-being, click here.