The Importance of Workplace Safety for Hiring and Retention

Every employee deserves a safe work environment. A safe workplace is free from hazards that can cause accidents and meets Occupational Health Safety (OHS) regulations. It should be an environment where employers and employees collaborate and communicate to reduce injuries and accidents.

A safe workplace reduces the number of accidents, which can affect employee retention and satisfaction levels. The employee's productivity also increases in a safe workplace, as they have no anxiety or fright due to previous accident experience. It also reduces your organization's occupational health costs and retraining time.

But how does safety impact employee retention, and how can you create a safer work environment? Read on and learn much more about workplace safety.

How Does Safety Impact Employee Retention?

Most employees consider their safety at the workplace, which affects their retention rate. Safety at the workplace means that you care about employee well-being.

When employees feel safe, they become loyal to the organization and stay longer. It also makes the employee more productive, making them realize their potential and helping the organization achieve its goals.

Safety at the workplace also prevents work-related injuries, which cost money as well as work time. When employees are free from injuries, they work without interruptions. When employees are injured frequently, their colleagues will likely leave for fear of hurting their bodies.

However, an unhurt employee is a healthy being, ready to conquer the world. Such an employee comes to work with high morale and is productive and satisfied. If you have such an employee, it is not easy to see them leave once they feel satisfied.

As a company, you can improve your employees' retention levels in different ways. Some of the techniques to use safety to retain employees include:

Conducting Physical Demands Analysis

Conducting Physical Demands Analysis

Do Post-Offer Testing

After identifying the risks, each job has put them in the company's job description. Then use that to create post-offer tests, which help your organization identify the right candidate who can work without a high chance of injury. The tests also increase the retention rate, as only capable workers who can work long-term receive the job offer.

Employee Engagement and Safety

Some studies show that employee engagement is crucial to the company’s safety level. Remember, despite the good safety measures your organization puts in place, they can only be useful if workers are fully engaged in implementing them.

So, as an employer, first engage the employees during the development of safety measures, as they are the ones that understand the risks of their job. Also, earn the employees' trust to enable them to implement the safety requirements. Engaging the employees in different ways, like holding different types of safety training.

Employee engagement helps the workers believe their employer cares about them. This motivates them, and they become more enthusiastic about the job. To increase the organization's employee engagement, introduce a safety communication plan.

The safety communication plan should contain important safety updates, set materials, and internal safety campaigns. Having your management participate in the engagement forums and encouraging your employees to voice their concerns is also good. Have health and safety representatives among the employees to enable them to share their safety issues freely without experiencing workplace violence.

Safety and Recruitment

Workplace safety is also important during the recruitment process. According to a study, most employees prioritize their workplace safety just as they consider the compensation rate and nature of the job. Most job seekers consider the prospective employer's workplace safety as it directly impacts their health and well-being.

The job seekers review or ask about the recruiting company’s workplace safety reputation before considering the offer. In most cases, an organization with a good reputation attracts top candidates, which is essential for growth. However, a company with a poor safety record finds recruiting the best and top-performing employees hard.

Analyze Workplace

If you analyze the workplace environment, the safety of your employees at the workplace becomes better. Your employees can also help and communicate the analysis process to the management.

First, let your management set an example by inspecting the workplace. For example, analyze the type of floors and how they affect your employees' safety. Apart from that, you should analyze the emergency exit routes and the equipment to know what is right and what needs replacement.

Analyzing the workplace helps the organization meet OHS regulations and ensures there are no potential hazards. While analyzing the workplace, it is also important for your management to set an example. For instance, if your job requires putting on safety goggles, let the management take the lead.

Offer Regular Training

A good employer trains its employees on safety measures on a regular basis. Regular safety training enables employees to stay alert and understand what safety measures to take. Conduct safety training to warn or alert the employees to hazards before they happen. Also, train your workers to handle the hazards when they occur and react after the incident.

Identifying the Company’s Need

Safety training objectives are essential for the implementation of the teaching. So while teaching your employees about safety, identify the company's needs first. Know the potential hazards, past incidents, and common types of hazards in the industry. Then identify what the training should revolve around.

Introducing the Right Communication Channels

Your company should also have the best communication channels where employees can report hazards. With a communication channel, the workers can know who to contact and when, and it should be a channel that everyone is free to use.

Workplace safety training helps your organization lower insurance costs. It also reduces workers' compensation for medical leave or costs. Furthermore, it improves employee satisfaction and retention, which is good for the organization’s name.

When developing the safety training plans and designs, ensure they align with your organization's culture and goals. Also, the training should be dynamic and updated regularly, as it should be an ongoing process.

Yasmine Mustafa

Yasmine Mustafa is the CEO & Co-Founder of ROAR, a technology company dedicated to cultivating safer workplaces. The company’s patented workplace panic button solution provides employees with one press of a button to protect your people, here and now.