Lack Of Employee Wellbeing Affects Organisation's Productivity
An organisation's productivity and performance are influenced by its employees' wellbeing. Improving employee wellbeing increases employee performance and decreases uncertified sick leave, turnover, and stress-related compensation claims.
Reducing workplace stressors and avoiding distressing situations is not the only way to improve wellbeing. It is crucial to foster positive experiences at work as well as a positive attitude toward work.
Improving employee wellbeing improves employee performance and decreases uncertified sick leave, turnover, and stress-related compensation claims in organisations. It's not enough to reduce workplace stressors and avoid distressing situations to improve wellbeing. It's essential to foster positive experiences and positive emotions at work as well.
Hemant Sethi, Country Head, British Safety Council said, "Overall, workplace deaths in India are 20 times higher than in the UK: it is estimated that there are 48,000 work-related deaths in India each year, while there were 144 workplace fatalities in Britain in 2017."
The strongest influence on morale is the 'organisational climate': the overall conditions and culture of the workplace. It is likely that improving leadership, employee recognition processes, and decision making procedures will be the most effective way to raise morale and reduce stress. It can also reduce compensation costs and increase productivity.
"The world of work is rapidly changing, bringing both opportunities and considerable risks not only to businesses, the economy and the environment but also to the wellbeing, health and safety of employees. It is imperative that employers gain an understanding of what’s in store and take a strategic view on how to deal with these challenges. There is a great need in India for a culture change with regard to workplace health, safety and wellbeing," said Sethi.
Employers can take various measures for employee's mental wellbeing
Companies can have an EAP (employee assistance programme) in place if it is not already provided. Sethi said that, any employee having issues related to stress which could be attributed to factors such as work, relationships, their reporting manager, financial concerns, or lifestyle, could get in touch with the appointed expert organisation for counselling on a one-to-one basis with complete confidentiality. That would go a long way to alleviating the effects of stress that may be building up.
The other initiatives could be around stress-related training programmes for employees. The senior management could also communicate about the support the business will offer to employees experiencing mental health problems such as anxiety. Companies can also revise and update their occupational health policies to incorporate and cover the various aspects of mental health.
Women employee safety should be focused
Both organised and unorganised sectors pose different types of risks. If we consider the unorganised sectors, unskilled or semi-skilled women are mostly employed in construction and mining, both of which are considered high-risk industries. These sectors employ women without proper safety measures, as a high risk exists for life-changing accidents, health hazards, and death. Organisations need to address risks at all levels as they are often related to different forms of harassment (mental, sexual, or both).
Sethi said that, poor sanitation, hygiene and toilets, adds to the health risks faced by women at work. These should be addressed. New technological interventions to provide comfort in the workplace are also putting women’s safety at risk. These should be investigated.
More needs to be done in the area of gender sensitisation, increasing awareness of biases, providing equal access to opportunities and educating the workforce on emotional and mental wellbeing and safety. Organisations should focus on building an inclusive safety culture where everyone feels safe, he added.
How lack of employee health and safety affect productivity?
Sethi said, "We believe that it makes good business sense to invest in people, processes and technology to improve health, safety and well-being. The evidence is strong to support this economic argument, showing a 2:1 return on investment."
Health and safety practices that are sensible and proportionate reduce lost production time, absenteeism and sick leave, staff turnover, insurance premiums, liability costs, penalties, and legal costs. Saving money and reducing costs isn't the only aspect of it.
"Based on our work, we have seen several examples of companies gaining much broader benefit, such as a more engaged workforce, winning work and enhanced reputations," he said.
It is the measure of economic performance that indicates how efficiently inputs are converted into outputs. Many researches found that poor health whether physical or mental, contributes to persistent loss of earnings. When an employee is absent from work due to any illness, productivity is likely to be low. Considering this, employees should be encouraged to seek treatment immediately if they fall ill to ensure minimal disruption in productivity.
