Other suggestions or comments on the workplace mental health survey

Don't make the survey a performance task that follows a process. Only by anchoring the entire link to employees' true feelings and taking into account privacy protection and cost feasibility can real results be achieved.

Last year, when I was doing EAP (employee assistance program) research support for a leading short video company, as soon as I contacted HR, I was handed a general template found online. Half of the 35 questions were very sharp questions such as "Do you have depression?" and "Have you ever had thoughts of self-harm?" The company's more than 2,000 employees were also required to fill it out within three days, and it was included in the department KPI. I called them back directly at that time - if this kind of questionnaire is sent out, it will be of no use except to collect a bunch of invalid data with all "no/very satisfied" selected. It may also make employees feel that the company is looking for "unstable elements", which will intensify their resistance. To be honest, this kind of survey based on a universal scale is like prescribing the same cold medicine to all patients. No matter you have stomachache or allergies, it will be useless and may have side effects.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the two directions that have been quarreling in the industry now, and each has its own position. The "efficiency school" represented by HR believes that the survey should not take up too much working time. It is best to have no more than 10 questions and a summary report can be produced within a week to facilitate quick implementation and adjustment. ； The "professional faction" represented by professional psychological institutions insists on giving priority to the scientific nature of the scale and covering multiple dimensions such as job burnout, social support, work-family spillover effects, etc. Without 30 questions, it is impossible to measure real problems. The two sides have been arguing for almost ten years without reaching a unified conclusion. In fact, there is no need to be black and white.

The compromise plan we gave at that time was actually nothing fancy. It just gave the choice back to employees. Ordinary employees received a simplified version of the questionnaire, with a total of 12 questions, all of which were specific situational questions, such as "Have you ever been so tired when you got home from get off work in the past week that you didn't want to talk?" "Have you been able to find someone to turn to when you encountered work problems?" There are no vague psychological terms and it can be completed in 5 minutes. ； And if they are willing to participate in more in-depth research, employees who actively sign up can receive a 50 yuan JD card, fill out the full version of the professional scale, and receive an additional free one-on-one psychological consultation. The effective sample size finally collected was 40% more than the original target, and both needs were met.

Don’t think that once the questionnaire is designed, it’s done. The subsequent disclosure of results is the most likely place for mistakes to be made. A customer in the manufacturing industry had been through a big trap before. They announced the survey results of the workshop directly at the regular department meeting, saying, "32% of the employees in your team are moderately burned out." As a result, the supervisor scorned the employees when he returned, thinking that his management ability was being questioned. Instead, he targeted employees who filled out the negative options. It was not a big deal at first, but in the end, three old employees were fired. Therefore, our current requirements for all clients are that the results must be disclosed in layers: only the employees themselves can view individual survey results, and department-level data only provide HRBP and department heads with aggregated statistical values ​​without personal information. Supervisors must sign a confidentiality agreement, and direct accountability for leaks will prevent employees' feedback from turning into a handle against themselves.

There is another point that many people overlook: Don’t just chase negative emotions when investigating. I have previously contacted an enterprise SaaS startup company. In addition to the regular emotional and stress questions, their survey also added several positive questions, such as "Which of the company's current benefits do you think can best improve your happiness?" "What type of cross-department activities do you most look forward to organized by the company?" Finally, the statistics The most frequently asked questions were “the permission to bring pets to work” and “Frisbee game”. They later set every Wednesday as “Pet Open Day” and organized cross-department Frisbee games twice a month. With just these two small adjustments, the quarterly turnover rate dropped by 12%, which was much more effective than holding ten emotional counseling lectures.

Oh, by the way, don’t limit your survey targets to full-time employees sitting in offices. Those groups that are easily ignored are often high-risk areas for psychological problems. When I was doing research for a chain of takeout sites, at the beginning, the operation wanted to send an online questionnaire directly to the rider group, requiring everyone to fill it out within three days, but I stopped him immediately - the riders didn't even have time to look at their phones when running orders, so how could they have time to sit down and fill out the questionnaire for 20 minutes? Later, we printed a small card with a QR code and placed it in the rest area of ​​the site. After filling it out, you can get a bottle of iced Coke. The questionnaire was also streamlined to 8 questions, all related to the actual work of the riders, such as "Have you ever encountered malicious complaints and don't know who to deal with?"

In fact, my biggest feeling after doing so many surveys is that many companies conduct mental health surveys, but their starting point is wrong at the beginning: either they are gathering reporting materials to meet the requirements of their superiors, or they are afraid that something will happen to employees and the company will take responsibility and want to "pass the blame" in advance, without any intention of actually solving the problem. If you really want to do this well, to put it bluntly, there is only one criterion: for the survey you conducted, are you, as an employee, willing to fill it in truthfully? If you are afraid that you will be judged by filling in the negative options, then this survey will be in vain and will be a complete waste of everyone's time.