Employee wellbeing surveys and consultation in Ireland

Before the invitation, explain the purpose: understanding working conditions and making support easier to reach, not assessing individual performance. Tell people how anonymity works, who sees the combined report and when you will share next steps. Do not ask for diagnoses or private medical histories.

Choose an appropriate participation window and give people a reasonable opportunity to respond. Include shift workers and employees who do not routinely use the app. Where enabled, ViscaCare offers an onboarding two-question check-in and a separate team survey; the team invitation does not depend on completing the check-in first.

Choosing your questions? Read the survey question examples and privacy guide before selecting or adapting a questionnaire.

Suggested introduction: “We want to understand how work feels for our team and where we can improve. Your answers are anonymous. We will review combined findings, explain the next steps and ask again after changes.”

Keep: the invitation date, questionnaire version, participation window, delivery channels and languages used. Sending an invitation is not proof that everyone opened or understood it.

When privacy thresholds allow a report, look for shared themes rather than trying to work out who answered. Consider workload, role clarity, relationships, support and how changes are communicated. Use findings alongside other workplace evidence and discussion with employees or their representatives.

Choose a manageable set of priorities. A favourable average can still hide a workplace problem; low participation is not evidence that everything is fine. If scores are withheld, continue consulting on working conditions without asking people to disclose their survey answers.

• What does the evidence suggest we should investigate?
• What practical change could reduce the pressure at its source?
• Who will take responsibility, and when will we review progress?

Keep: the review date, broad priorities and agreed next steps, not names attached to wellbeing scores.

Make confidential help easy to find while addressing the source of workplace pressures. Online Doctor access and an enabled Employee Assistance Programme can complement workplace action, but cannot fix unreasonable workloads or unclear responsibilities on their own. Only communicate services your organisation actually provides.

Share a short “You told us, we are doing” update using safe, broad themes. Record decisions, resources, action owners and review dates in your own action plan. Do not publish private reports or details that could identify someone.

Keep: what was offered, what changed, who owns each action and the date the team was informed.

A reminder gives employees another opportunity to participate. A follow-up after a workplace change checks whether conditions and controls need reviewing. They are different purposes: note which you are doing and why, rather than describing every reminder as a new assessment.

Agree a proportionate review date with your adviser. Section 19 requires risk assessments to be reviewed after significant change or where there is reason to believe they are no longer valid. Do not wait for the next annual survey when concerns need action sooner.

ViscaCare's annual questionnaire and reminders do not automatically create a separate before-and-after survey round. If a fresh assessment is needed, agree the approach first. Compare results only when questions, scoring and coverage are comparable; differences in participation can affect interpretation.

Keep: reminders, the reason for follow-up, the review date and what you decided to continue or change.

ViscaCare shows scores only with at least five responses. Teams with fewer than five staff receive no scores and can document consultation through dated process evidence and a signed owner review. Larger teams below the response threshold also retain process evidence without scores. Do not split results into language or other tiny groups.

Use reviewed translations and an explanation people understand. Selected-language invitations support inclusion; they do not create separate language-group results. Have wording reviewed by a fluent speaker before dispatch. A translated survey does not replace understandable safety information, training or meaningful consultation.

The private Owner's Record brings together dated invitations, reminders, delivery languages and participation evidence, with anonymous findings only where privacy thresholds allow. Delivery and participation records are separate from anonymous answer data. It cannot tell you which answers came from someone who opened, started or completed the survey.

Keep that record alongside your risk assessment, safety statement, action plan and review notes. Record the actions you actually took; a PDF cannot substitute for them. Authorised administrators can save the organisation's record for private review with their adviser.

Read how consultation connects to Irish employer and director responsibilities.