Many companies adopt Employee Assistance Programs to raise the quality of their employees wellbeing. Organizations using proactive EAP are able to act upon the insights generated by such programs. These programs should let companies know how many of their workers are struggling with chronic stress and other mental health issues so that they can plan wellbeing initiatives strategically.

If they’re using a more proactive EAP like Uprise Health, they’ll receive periodic updates on the progress being made by their staff concerning their mental wellbeing. This progress is measured via specific indices, which are collected and aggregated in a manner similar to employee engagement surveys.

Uprise Health measures employee wellbeing through its Wellbeing Check Survey. It scores individuals’ psychological health on a scale of 100, which compares it to the general population. It also categorizes employee wellbeing into one of five groups, surviving, poor, average, good, and thriving, depending on their responses to its survey.

Should You Share these Results With Your Employees?

Some companies may want to share the general results of the EAP surveys with their employees. This is one of the first steps which transforms insights into action.

There are a number of reasons why organizations should let their staff know about the survey results

  • Fosters a culture of transparency within the company
  • Helps employees to feel a sense of belonging and that they are not alone
  • Creates a level of accountability where the employer can commit to making positive change in problem areas

How Can EAP Survey Results Be Shared Effectively?

Here’s how to share EAP survey results with employees in a way that allows for action to be taken on the details they reveal.

1. Distribute Company-Wide

Organizations can provide the results of wellbeing surveys to their employees; so that they know how their colleagues’ are coping and what their general workplace’s psychological health is like.

If you are a larger company, you can first share the results company wide followed by sharing them at smaller unit levels. This allows for individual departments to compare their results with wider company’s measures. It also may highlight where more effort from higher management should be spent to improve conditions for employees at risk for mental health concerns and turnover.

2. Have Leaders Analyze the Survey Results

There should be a preliminary evaluation of the results by leaders, managers and HR. However, leaders should bear ultimate responsibility for the results. If they find that there are aspects of workplace culture that need to be amended, they should make the commitment to fix them.

It is very important that when leaders take ownership of these results, they base their wellbeing action plan upon it. This plan will be more effective and strategic if it also aligns with other organizational goals.

3. Organize Team Discussions

It can be extremely useful for an initial discussion among leaders and HR to be followed up with deliberation among units or teams within the organization. Managers can go over the survey results with employees under their supervision and have them contribute their ideas for tackling the problems revealed by the survey.

This level of transparency has a range of benefits. It makes mental health a conversation within teams, shows that management cares about employee wellbeing and provides rich feedback on what the company can do better around mental health and wellbeing.

4. Determine a Course of Action

This should be done after analysis and team discussions and should be based on the outcomes of these previous processes. Suggestions raised at the various units may be considered by the leaders and crafted into courses of action.

If it’s decided that significant changes should be made to workplace policies, such resolutions should be communicated to employees. Changes (depending on the needs of specific companies) may include the introduction of flexible working hours, greater employee access to management, physical changes to workspaces, and a reordering of workloads, among others.

5. Track Improvements and Make Additional Changes

Results from subsequent EAP surveys may reveal the extent to which the changes implemented have succeeded (or failed) to work. If scores and feedback haven’t improved, then it’s worth going back to employees and speaking about it again. See where modified plans may be more useful. It’s important to note that changes may not take place company-wide but may in fact be team or department specific based on their unique needs.

Companies can help their employees achieve better mental health if they can properly leverage the information provided by EAP surveys. By sharing insights from programs like Uprise Health with workers, organizations can begin on the path to strengthening their employees’ psychological fitness and allow them to contribute more to company growth.