Workplace safety and employee morale have a dynamic relationship. The more you improve the safety of your workplace, the more morale will improve, and the more morale improves, the more dedicated and focused your employees will be.
But how exactly does this feedback loop work? And how can you implement it in your organization?
The Value of Workplace Safety
Workplace safety does demand an investment of time and money in most cases, but this investment is smaller than many business owners think. In many cases, you can substantially improve workplace safety with even a few hours or a few hundred dollars of investment. For example, training and educating your employees on aerial lift safety can produce an environment with far fewer aerial lift accidents.
The downstream benefits are enormous, and in many respects. Maintaining a safer workplace typically means you’ll have fewer accidents and therefore fewer insurance claims. You won’t have to worry about expensive lawsuits, and your insurance premiums can stay relatively low.
On top of that, higher safety means greater morale and productivity, boosting the output of your organization and helping it run smoothly. As an added bonus, maintaining a safe workplace environment is good for your reputation overall, which can assist your marketing and advertising efforts.
The Relationship Between Safety and Morale
One of the greatest benefits of workplace safety is improved employee morale, but the relationship between safety and morale is more complicated than it first seems. Workplaces with greater safety can positively influence morale in a variety of ways:
- Empowerment and confidence. For starters, when a workplace looks, feels, and seems safer, employees feel more empowered and confident. They feel much more comfortable in the organization, they’re less worried about injuries and accidents, and they can engage with their work much more effectively. This potentially increases productivity, and almost certainly makes employees feel better about the workplace environment overall.
- Perceived value. Maintaining a safer workplace is also a way to demonstrate that you value your employees. When employees feel like their employer truly values and appreciates them, they become more invested in the success of the organization and more motivated to do their best work. Only by prioritizing safety consistently can you benefit from employees feeling consistently valued.
- A competitive edge. We are fortunate to live in a time when workplace safety is practically a universal value. Nearly all organizations and individuals at least pretend to care about workplace safety, and most of them adhere to minimum OSHA standards by default. However, if you’re willing to invest more time and effort into making your workplace safe, and if you go above and beyond the minimum standards, you could get a competitive edge. Employees will be much more likely to leave your organization for a similar one if your safety records are top-notch.
- Fewer opportunities for resentment. Any injury or accident is going to send negative ripples throughout your organization. If your workplace is safer, injuries and accidents will be much less likely, and employees will, therefore, be less likely to begin resenting or hating your organization.
Of course, the relationship also goes in the other direction. Higher employee morale also leads to greater workplace safety:
- Vigilance. Employees with high morale and genuine investment in the organization are much more likely to be attentive and vigilant, especially in matters related to safety. You want people who are actively looking for potential hazards and opportunities to improve, and people with high morale are much more likely to fit this mold.
- Motivation. Morale is also a prerequisite for motivation. Your workers aren’t going to be motivated to work productively or do their best if they feel undervalued or disregarded. On the other end of the spectrum, when employees feel safe and appreciated, they’ll be much more motivated to do a great – and safe – job.
- Communication. Employees with high morale will be more likely to communicate with you in matters regarding safety. They’ll feel more comfortable coming forward with accident reports and ideas for how to improve further.
- Compliance with change. On top of that, when employees benefit from high morale, they tend to be much more compliant with changes. If you want to introduce new processes, policies, or procedures, it pays to have a team that feels good about where they work.
What Should You Start With?
Both employee morale and workplace safety seem important and have an influence on each other, so which one should you start with? Fortunately, you can work on both simultaneously. Start by examining your workplace culture and organizational values, so you can make any changes necessary to make safety a top priority. From there, you can work with employees to get feedback about your safety policies and start making meaningful changes for the better.