Assessing Worker Well-Being

Concern about worker well-being continues to increase. In February 2026, more than half of US employees are languishing at work, while fewer than half are flourishing, according to a new national study from the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society at the University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business. 

It's often difficult to understand and measure the level of well-being at a company. However, NIOSH offers a number of tools, all free, to assist companies. 

Its Worker Well-Being Questionnaire provides an integrated assessment of worker well-being examines a variety of factors, including quality of working life, circumstances outside of work, and physical and mental health status.

The NIOSH WellBQ comprises the five domains of worker well-being identified by NIOSH and the RAND Corporation. The domains are described in Expanding the Paradigm of Occupational Safety and Health: A New Framework for Worker Well-Being:

1. Work Evaluation and Experience
2. Workplace Policies and Culture
3. Workplace Physical Environment and Safety Climate
4. Health Status
5. Home, Community, and Society

Free Resources to Help Implementation

To help companies, the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) partnered with the NIOSH TWH program to launch the HERO Worker Well-Being Clearinghouse. HERO developed a free online platform to make the NIOSH WellBQ readily available for employers and organizations.

The online portal can be used to administer the NIOSH WellBQ. The clearinghouse is also an open-source database that houses de-identified data from uses of the NIOSH WellBQ. 

This data can also be used for benchmarking to gain deeper insights into overall worker well-being trends and dynamics.

For guidance on developing interventions after using the NIOSH WellBQ, please see the workbook Fundamentals of Total Worker Health Approaches.

Additional resources listed below can help improve worker well-being following the results of the questionnaire:

• Tip sheets to encourage employee input
• Training for professionals and leaders 
• Supportive Workplaces: online training for managers and workers
• Healthy Workplace Participatory Program