Step 6 – Measure Progress

It is important for workplace health programs to collect information in order to keep track of progress and to determine if their goals have been met. Evaluating the impact of the program on the organization and employees is necessary. Specifically, program evaluation generates the information needed to guide the development of more effective workplace health initiatives. It’s also important to keep in mind the length of time your workplace health initiative/program has been in operation.¹ Most workplace health promotion strategies do not see immediate results. In fact, research tells us that most often it takes 5 to 10 years to see significant pay-offs from workplace health programs.

Strategies

Reflect
Reviewing and reflecting upon what your committee has accomplished will help you answer a number of important questions: What is working well? What elements need to be improved? What needs to be done to improve the situation? Who will be responsible for getting it done? When will it be done? You may find the sample evaluation chart (MS Word / PDF) helpful when working through this process.

Evaluate
Evaluation is an important way to measure the success of your activities. Evaluation can be as simple as getting feedback and keeping track of numbers of participants. You may find the evaluation fact sheet (MS Word / PDF) helpful when working through this process. This information will help you “fine tune” your wellness strategies to meet the needs of your employees and justify continuing or expanding your activities. Key elements to a successful workplace health program are highlighted in the Program checklist (MS Word / PDF)

Checklist

• Has the committee reviewed their action plan and made the necessary modifications?
• Has the committee evaluated its activities, and how have you measured this?
• Are the majority of employees participating in the planned health and wellness activities?  What about hard-to-reach groups?  Have potential barriers to participation been removed?
• Has the committee revisited the results of staff surveys and other data collected to ensure they are meeting employee health and wellness needs?
• Has the committee communicated activity results to employers and employees?
• Does the committee have a plan to continue to monitor and measure success?

Links and Resources

1. The Health Communication Unit
   This resource focuses on key aspects of evaluation within the Comprehensive Workplace Health Promotion (CWHP) framework. It is designed for busy practitioners who support the development of CWHP initiatives in their community and would like to access practical, 'how-to' information about program evaluation.