Building a culture of trust to elevate total worker health & safety
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April 6, 2023 - Workplace safety isn't just about reducing accidents and injuries; it's about creating a culture that prioritizes the health and well-being of all workers. As organizations are still recovering from the operational repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is an opportune time to not just reassess where their workplace culture is but also to determine whether a total worker health approach should be used to meet long term environmental, health, and safety (EHS), quality, and business goals.
Why now?
We all know that the pandemic significantly impacted the way every organization operated. Now, the outcomes of measures utilized to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as remote working and social distancing guidelines, are coming to light.
What was meant to be a short-term solution has become the long-term norm for many industries. A 2022 McKinsey & Company study found that 6 in 10 workers in the U.S. had been given the opportunity to work from home at least once a week and in 2019, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) launched the Future of Work Initiative, applying total worker health to address issues that impact the workplace and workforces. It’s important to consider the psychological effects that working from home can have on employees, who may feel isolated or stressed due to lack of in-person contact. Many roles are now ‘hybrid’ and striking a balance of remote and office-based work to help mitigate the risk to employee mental health and business goals. However, it is also critical to consider how physical workplaces other than offices are designed and managed in the long term. Employees who work within industrial or other environments where remote work is not always or never an option (academia, research labs, healthcare, warehouses, emergency services, hospitality, and many others) need to have their concerns heard and responded to as well.
Remote or hybrid working models have been adopted so quickly that there’s been little time to assess the impacts on employee health and well-being. Now is the time to introduce a total worker health approach and long-term strategy to ensure worker health, productivity, and performance as we navigate the new working landscape.
Why culture?
Workplace culture encompasses the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of an organization to create a sustainable work environment. A healthy culture energizes employees and boosts morale, which in turn increases engagement, productivity, and communication.
From an influential perspective of culture, organizations will need to allocate the correct resources to truly move into a healthy space. It’s worth asking:
- How does focusing on a positive workplace culture help an organization?
- Who should be involved and how?
- How can this be done efficiently and successfully?
- How do we engage stakeholders?
Collaboration between leadership and employees is required to drive positive culture change and sustain it for long term success.
Al Roth will present this topic during SESHA’s 45th Annual Symposium. There, he will specifically address how various workplaces, especially those with industrial environments (e.g., semiconductor fabs) can learn to develop and sustain a culture that embraces total worker health and safety.
Read more from our health and safety experts in Surviving to thriving: Tackling workforce mental health and well-being and Future of work: Emerging global trends in EHS. Follow along with these and other EHS topics that should be at the top of your list at BSI’s Experts Corner. For more insight into the residual challenges created by the pandemic that companies are facing, take a look at BSI’s Prioritizing people initiative.
