Icon Legend

Icons have been attached to particular tool characteristics to assist in identifying the attributes of each tool. The icons are used in the Cabin Guide (Summary of Characteristics of Recommended and Promising Tools), as well as in each tool summary.

For more detailed definitions of the following characteristics go to the Glossary.

Type of Tool

Current Practices Survey A type of situational assessment tool that collects individual responses from employees about their current behaviours (e.g., how much they eat/sleep, current levels of physical activity). Employees self-report their behaviours. Current practice is often combined with other types of situational assessment tools.

Health Risk Appraisal A type of situational assessment tool that collects clinical measures of health status (e.g., BMI, cholesterol, nutritional analysis, heart rate response to exercise.) The assessment of risk is based on clinical report/measures (i.e., it is not self-reported.) In most cases, a health risk assessment requires a professional to administer the assessment to all employees. The health risk assessment usually results in individualized results and an aggregate report for the workplace.

Interest Survey A type of situational assessment tool that collects the information from individual employees about the types of programs and services they are interested in. An interest survey usually results in an aggregate report for the workplace.

Needs Assessment A type of situational assessment tool that collects the self-reported needs of individual employees. Individual employees fill out the needs assessment and assess areas they would like to focus on. A needs assessment asks for employee opinion and usually results in individualized results and an aggregate report for the workplace.

Organizational Culture Survey A type of situational assessment that collects information from employees or employers about the organizational working environment. Elements of the organizational environment include leadership style, management practices, the way in which work is organized, employee autonomy and control, and social support.

Workplace Audit A type of situational assessment tool that provides a snapshot in time of what's happening in the workplace. The workplace audit collects information about what the workplace offers employees (e.g., showers, flextime.) One person or a small group of individuals from the workplace provide the information for the workplace audit. The information collected could be specific to only one aspect of comprehensive workplace health promotion (i.e., organizational culture, occupational health and safety, lifestyle practices) or two or three of these categories.

Evaluation

Evaluation Validity/Reliability evaluation conducted

Access

Canadian Developed in Canada

Cost This tool has a cost

No Cost This tool is free

Proprietary This tool is private / proprietary and cannot be distributed

Public Domain This tool is public domain and can be distributed / copied

Aspects of comprehensive workplace health promotion

Lifestyle Practice One of three aspects of comprehensive workplace health promotion, which generally refers to efforts to change the employees' behaviour. Examples of issues to encourage employees to act upon may include tobacco use, alcohol and drug use, nutrition, immunization and physical activity.

Occupational Health + Safety One of three aspects of comprehensive workplace health promotion, which generally refers to efforts to reduce the physical and chemical hazards in a work environment with the goal of reducing work-related injury, illness and disability. Many activities fall under the category of occupational health and safety, including ergonomics, injury prevention, hazard identification and control, emergency response problems, disability case management, and medical services.

Organizational Culture One of three aspects of comprehensive workplace health promotion, which generally refers to efforts to change or improve the organizational working environment. Elements of the organizational environment include leadership style, management practices, the way in which work is organized, employee autonomy and control, and social support.

Implementation Information

Completion Time 10-30 min. Completion Time: between 10 - 30 minutes

Completion Time 5-10 min. Completion Time: between 5 - 10 minutes

Completion Time over 30 min. Completion Time: over 30 minutes

Employee Completion Employee completes this tool

Employer/Committee Completion Employer completes this tool

External Implementation The tool is implemented by someone outside the workplace (e.g., consultant, company, etc.) The term "external" refers to accessing resources for the process from outside the workplace. For example, the analysis of a situational assessment tool is done externally.

Internal Implementation The tool is implemented by the workplace. The term "internal" refers to resources or processes that are rallied from within the existing resource of the workplace. For example, the analysis of a situational assessment tool is done in-house by in-house staff.