Different organisations may have different approaches to embedding a health and safety culture in the workplace.
It is possible to embed employee wellness into health and safety measures but it’s not a quick fix. Things around the workplace won’t improve immediately, but differences will be visible over time.
Money and resources can be tight but we’re going to let you know of some simple yet effective actions. Actions you can start taking today.
A Positive Safety Culture
Organisations should carry out honest safety inspections as well as reports. Then managers know which areas they should be focusing on.
A positive safety culture should:
- Introduce working practices and rules for controlling hazards
- Keep a positive attitude towards risk management
- Have the capacity to learn from any accidents or incidents that occur whilst striving for improvement
Ways to Embed Wellbeing into Health and Safety
Assess areas within your organisation. This could help you identify improvements to make to the health and safety culture within your organisation.
Here’s 4 effective ways to make sure wellness is the centre of importance at your workplace.
Explicit Commitment
The views of your employees matter and only by listening to them will they feel supported. So listen to them – what do they have to say about this idea? Do they have an opinion or feedback on the wellbeing practices?
Asking them questions and actually listening to their answers shows commitment. And then taking action proves your dedication to improving wellbeing. Just make sure both you and your employees stay realistic.
Implementing a wellbeing policy, or updating and amending pre-existing policies, shows how seriously you take the wellbeing of your employees.
Take Initiative
Advocate workplace wellbeing behaviours or task individuals as management personnel. Allow employees to receive a form of wellbeing training.
In terms of within the organisation, you could create a subdivision within an HR department that focuses solely on wellbeing. If staffed with correctly trained employees, they can offer guidance and support to other staff in the workplace.
Additionally, it’s better for wellbeing to come naturally in the workplace. It probably shouldn’t feel like something separate, especially when our wellbeing is so connected in every aspect of our lives – social, financial, physical, mental, emotional.
So instead of adding separate wellbeing programmes, they could be employed into core programmes. Making them an integral part of the organisation, not just something that feels like an afterthought.
Communicate Effectively
Wellbeing isn’t just some strategy to make sure people have a good day at work. Wellbeing measures aim to connect a very real issue with a solution for peoples’ experiences at work.
It’s a good idea to think properly about the best way to advertise a wellbeing practice. When promoting mindfulness, for example, not everyone will truly get what mindfulness is or if they do, they might not think it relevant to them. But it is. Mindfulness is relevant and beneficial to everyone, whether they’re currently struggling or not.
So communicating effectively with employees is key. Instead of advertising it as ‘mindfulness’, approach it as techniques for staying calm. Or you could even promote mindfulness in problem and solution format: ‘stress acknowledgement and how to handle it’, as one such example.
More people might come to a workshop as such, even if they think they don’t need it. Because it’s always handy to know how to manage stress whilst at work.
Tackle All Causes
Of course, high demands can lead to high levels of work-related stress. Sometimes pressure is just what we need to be motivated and productive. But other times, too much pressure can feel enclosing and overwhelming and it can make us feel ill.
Recognising stress and when it’s becoming a problem is quite essential in the workplace. Employees knowing how to spot the signs, not just for themselves but for other colleagues can help tremendously in strategizing solutions. It also creates a more inviting space for employees to talk about their troubles.
Though it can sometimes be bothersome to always be asked the ‘are you okay?’ question, knowing that somebody has paid enough attention to notice a behavioural difference shows that they care. It shows that they take wellbeing seriously. It’s not just something to cross off the list, it’s part of the organisation – part of their health and safety culture.
Aside from stress, when many people talk about wellbeing, they typically only focus on the same two types: mental and physical. But wellbeing goes beyond that. It’s also about how we’re doing emotionally, socially, and financially.
Creating wellbeing programmes and tasks that cover all areas is more inclusive. What may just start as financial or social struggle for an employee can soon spiral, affecting their previously good mental and physical wellbeing.
Make sure to see all employees. Even if, from the outside, they look like they’re not struggling.
Wellbeing Culture
Employee wellbeing is both a responsibility and an organisational value to employers. Good employee wellbeing leads to increased productivity, employee satisfaction and a healthier working environment.
Organisations thrive when their employees are happy, healthy, and productive.
Wellspace: Our App
Our wellbeing app offers a proactive workspace as well as workshops and events that will support your company. So your team will be supported, too.
We can offer specialist advice on wellbeing questions – employee health and wellbeing sessions from Wellspace are expert-led, with 3 levels of learning.
Contact us for more information or call us on 0808 178 0748. One of our team experts will be happy to chat with you!
