Lucy - BQ Magazine EditorIn business, where there is so much pressure to hit targets and streamline operations, it can sometimes become a truism that worker wellbeing is nice to have. Nice, but not essential. However, digging deeper will usually show that those businesses that focus on caring for people tend to outperform those that don’t. Indeed, far from being part of a box-ticking exercise, creating a safe, healthy working environment has direct, measurable returns.
Safer workers, stronger business
Workplace health and safety regulations exist to prevent harm, but when they are embraced rather than simply ticked off, they can become strategic assets. All over the world, statistics show that businesses with robust WHS practices see a reduction in injury-related costs, increase staff retention, and experience less in the way of disruption to workflows.
Whether it’s preventing slips on a warehouse floor or managing screen-time ergonomics in an office, proactive moves to defend safety will lead to fewer sick days and less downtime.
Businesses can lose several weeks’ worth of worker hours a year due to illness and injury. For smaller businesses, even one incident can negatively affect productivity and morale. Investment in prevention isn’t just an ethical consideration; it’s a smart financial decision too.
Staff retention starts with respect
The pandemic has led to one thing becoming absolutely clear: people want to feel safe and valued in the workplace. Employers who cultivate a culture of care are the ones who will habitually retain their best people. It’s not just a matter of reducing turnover costs, though this can certainly be a concern in a workplace where people tend to move on.
It’s also got a lot to do with preserving the institutional knowledge, collaborative confidence, and rapport with customers that comes with long-term employees.
Respect for wellbeing is also about a lot more than providing hard hats and setting out hazard signs. It means curating workloads to prevent burnout, providing access to mental health help, and ensuring the physical workplace is set up to support rather than hinder health.
A workplace that is clean, well ventilated and hygienic makes the point that employees matter. While there is a dollar cost to hiring commercial cleaning services, it is more than met by the savings you will make by keeping employees healthy and happy. Always be aware of the message your business decisions send.
The cost of doing nothing
It’s one thing to make the case for doing something; this then leaves a business with the choice to adopt changes or not. However, looking at it merely as a binary choice between continuing as normal and making a change does tend to understate the impact of not doing something.
Inaction is a choice as much as action is; and in this case, it can carry significant costs. Poor air quality, unsanitary conditions, and unsafe storage can all lead to acute injuries and long-term health conditions. Quite aside from employees not being in a condition to deliver their best, there can also be legal and reputational repercussions.
In addition, neglect can snowball into a poor workplace culture. When workers don’t see their employer taking health and safety seriously, it makes them more likely to actively disengage. The results can be absenteeism, presenteeism, and low morale, all of which can corrode a workplace and a business in both the long- and short-term.
Wellbeing as a strategy
Forward-looking companies are increasingly framing health and safety not as a requirement under regulatory principles, but as part of a broader approach to their business governance. Investors and stakeholders are beginning to see worker protection as a performance indicator. It’s about so much more than avoiding fines; more and more people are looking from the outside at companies in terms of how they treat employees.
They correctly surmise that a healthy and happy workforce is likely to deliver products and services of a higher quality.
Simple interventions taken unilaterally make a greater difference than reactive remedies. Ergonomic equipment, flexible schedules and working from home, and more natural light all add up to a significant contribution. Make your workplace more pleasant to work in, and the quality of work delivered will be higher; it’s not rocket science.
Building a competitive advantage
Much like everything we have covered already, there are two ways you can look at the way worker wellbeing can help you in a competitive marketplace. On one hand, you can consider how it would affect your business if you are considered less attuned to your employees’ needs than others. This, naturally, would see you fall back in the marketplace.
On the other hand, consider what you could achieve if you are seen to be ahead of the game. Picking up both employees and clients who would have gone elsewhere is reason enough to foster a high-quality environment.
Clean, safe, supportive workplaces tend to help employees be more task-focused, but more than that, they make it more likely that they will go the extra mile when it comes to collaboration and innovation.
When employees feel looked after and appreciated, they won’t just come in and do their jobs; they’ll be more likely to build on that and exceed expectations. And reputations grow, bad or good: when you gain a reputation for being a considerate employer, it means recruitment will be easier and more successful.
Protecting workers is the right thing to do. That is reason enough to do it and feel passionate about doing it. But if you need an additional reason to prioritise worker wellbeing, then it should be borne in mind that it’s a smart investment that will deliver results for your business. And it’s more than “just” the smiles on your employees’ faces when they come to work and collaborate on projects. It will actively impact the bottom line of your business.
In a post-pandemic world where employees are, more than ever, evaluating what matters most in a job, it is only going to help when you put their needs first without needing to be asked.