In this podcast episode, DecisionWise President, Matthew Wride, discusses how focusing on not only the physical aspects of safety, but also the emotional and psychological aspects can greatly improve the employee experience.
Safety is something we typically consider a “satisfaction” element; meaning something that must be met on a basic level for most people to be satisfied with their jobs. But when you start to consider the emotional and psychological dimensions of safety, such as whether an individual can trust their employer, it plays into whether that individual feels engaged in their job.
As a manager, you should ask yourself, “How do I start building an environment where people feel safe?” It starts with openly setting expectations, modeling the behaviors that you want, and emphasizing that it’s something you’re going to watch for with every meeting and interaction.
The goal is for your employees to reach a point where they can say, “I feel heard” or “I feel understood.” If your employees are only telling that you everything is okay, it means they don’t feel comfortable bringing up concerns and you have a problem.
One company with a strong safety focus is Hugo Boss. They recently made changes to enhance safety, such as having employees switch tasks every two hours to avoid the injuries that come from performing repetitive tasks and burnout. They also looked at other health and wellness improvements, such as teaching yoga and mindfulness habits. These changes have resulted in a 0% injury rate and through the act of working on safety, the employees have felt cared for.
