Some simple strategies for regional employers to enhance employee health and wellbeing.
You may have noticed a lot of discussion in the media and the Work Health and Safety (WHS) industry about psychological and psychosocial hazards in the workplace, and encouraging employers, under a duty of care, to manage and mitigate such hazards as best possible.
There are a few simple steps you can take in your workplace, which include a focus on staff wellbeing, which can be achieved by providing a few key things, such as:
- Good quality supervision and support
- Personal development plans to guide their career pathway and development
- Providing autonomy in their workday where it’s reasonable
- Being flexible to accommodate personal circumstances when they happen
- Start conversations and listen to your team on ways to improve the workplace and follow through with action where possible
Another important way to build good morale in any workplace is to have visible, approachable managers who communicate about the business.
By helping staff see how their day-to-day input benefits and drives the business objectives, they see the relevance and big picture of what they do, and how they are contributing to the success of the business.
This can be motivating and empowering for all staff.
Of course, the nature of the workplace and the duties being performed can often influence your options for building and maintaining trust across your teams.
If you show you trust your staff to do their job with a level of independence and without relying on micromanagement, they will usually over-perform as a show of good faith.
It’s a true win-win for them and the workplace.
Again, this becomes easier to implement with good training, mentoring and support because your staff’s skills and capabilities will develop to support greater autonomy.
From a more physical perspective, providing the right tools, equipment, and PPE to allow staff to do their job well, safely and efficiently will definitely support your team’s overall wellbeing.
But, even with all these in place, injuries can still occur.
If or when this happens, make sure you have great procedures in place to support the injured worker by quickly connecting them with the right medical and treatment support.
And above all, support their return to work with appropriate duties as soon as it’s right for them.
If you can build just a few of the suggestions above into your daily business operations, your staff morale and engagement will improve, productivity will be optimised, absenteeism will go down, and overall recruitment and retention will help support your business growth and performance.
To learn more about how we can help your business, please contact us.
