You’ve worked hard to get your business where it is. You’ve hired well, made strategic acquisitions and put the hours in to create a strong foundation for future success.
So how do you work to maintain that workplace culture you’ve focused on building?
It may not be your first thought, but the importance of health and safety – and in particular, avoiding workplace accidents – is one area you should focus a lot of attention.
Benefits of a strong culture
You know how important culture is to businesses. A positive company culture can be the difference between a candidate choosing to work for you or a competitor. If they feel a firm is going to offer a welcoming environment, where they can develop their skills, they’re more likely to choose that one.
It also has a hugely significant effect on retention. If you’re trying to keep your talented staff members, company culture can be just as important as factors like salary, benefits and development.
When your workforce is your most important resource, it makes sense to prioritise the elements of work that they prioritise.
Why is safety so important to culture?
Health and safety shouldn’t be the main priority of your company’s culture – rather, it should fit seamlessly into the way your team operates.
Accidents usually mean time off for the victims. That means a drop in productivity, as well as worry on the part of the person who suffered the injury. If they’re afraid they’ll be hurt again, they might not be fully dedicated to their roles. They may even start looking elsewhere – and when workers start leaving, that hurts morale across the business.
If there’s been an accident in the workplace, you might then have to start worrying about the injured person’s colleagues. They will be concerned about the risk to themselves, as well as their teammate’s health. So it becomes even more important to prevent accidents happening in the first place.
How to maintain health and safety
Ensuring you’re doing all you can to keep safety levels as high as possible will help show workers that you take their safety seriously. This will likely make them feel more valued, which can then have a hugely positive impact on company culture.
Instead of simply telling workers that they need to adhere to safety rules, you might prefer to show them how important it is. This could be done through workshops and risk assessments. You can also get workers involved by requesting their insights into how to improve the way things are done at work.
This helps them take ownership of safety at work, while giving you the chance to benefit from their unique knowledge of the workplace. Once they’ve bought into the importance of safety at work, you’ll likely see an increase in how seriously people take the issue. This will help to lower the chance of an accident happening.
Workplace culture is always going to be about more than just health and safety. But it can play a role in maintaining your company’s. By showing that you take your team’s health seriously, you’ll help to make them feel more valued and respected.
