Do you feel safe at your workplace?
A safety failure has obvious impact to productivity at work—injuries cause time off, investigations, fines and even litigation. According to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), businesses spend $170 billion each year on costs from occupational injuries and illnesses. Even beyond these direct costs, it turns out that safety, both physical and emotional, plays a huge role in workplace culture, environment and productivity.
Physical Safety Matters
Research has found that when employees are in fear of their physical safety—when they are concerned about the possibility of physical violence in the workplace—they are more likely to suffer from stress, emotional exhaustion and cynicism. There’s a direct link between fear and employee burn-out.
Increase Productivity through Good Health
Further, job strain is directly tied to use of health care services, such as general practitioners and specialists. The number of general doctor visits for those in high strain jobs has been observed to be 26% higher than those with low job strain. In a safer environment, with less job strain, employees aren’t taking time away from work to see a doctor, and they are physically better able to be productive.
Happy Employees Are More Productive
Meanwhile, happiness at work has also been correlated to increases in productivity—up to 12% more, according to researchers at the University of Warwick. In fact, that study showed that when companies invest in employee support and safety, their employees have higher satisfaction in their jobs: Safe, happy workers are more effective in their time management, and they are more inclined to strive for excellence.
Emotional Safety Builds Productive Culture
With a trusted leader and an emotionally safe work environment, employees are willing to bring forward their ideas, concerns and ask for help. This leads employees to be a more effective workforce producing higher quality product.
Thus, in order for employees to thrive, companies must have a supportive culture, along with physically safe settings. So contact us at Embark IT: Let us help you discover solutions that will bring a new sense of safety and security to your clients and employees alike.