From the Staffing Experts

ResponsAble Safety Staffing From the Staffing Experts blog archives.

Improving the Health and Performance of Your Employees

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improving health and performance of employees

Employees working in industrial environments face many Health, Safety and Environmental challenges. Managers are tasked with ensuring that employee performance is at its best, which is only possible by making sure that workers are healthy, alert, and ready to perform their roles at a high level.  So much priority is placed upon Safety and Environmental stewardship that general employee health can feel like an afterthought or just not command the attention it deserves.  Following are three important areas of focus for industrial managers to help keep employee Health as a priority in your company culture.

 

1. Build a Health-Conscious Workplace Culture

One of the most important factors in the health and safety of employees is the workplace culture cultivated by their employer. If it is clear to your employees that you value a healthy and productive workforce, they will tend to view these as important qualities, as well. Employers often underestimate just how much influence they can have in forming their workplace culture and the lives of their employees (even outside of work).

Employers should encourage healthy behavior in general. This can take a variety of forms, from giving employees opportunities to express their concerns to encouraging healthy behaviors and rewarding personal health goals. Create and maintain a workplace “ buzz” around health campaigns such as rewarding weight loss goals, sponsorship of company teams in local fitness events, posting and celebrating employee health accomplishments.   By capitalizing on employee concern for their own health and the health of those they work with, managers can go a long way toward ensuring that the workplace is constantly increasing in general health and associated productivity.

The most important part of this process is making sure that your employees feel comfortable expressing their health goals and keeping general health as a topic of discussion. If employees do not feel like they will be heard or worse that managers don’t want to waste energy on the health conversation, they will tend to keep quiet and the positive chatter will die down.  A lack of public enthusiasm makes it increasingly difficult to improve the health of a workforce. To help make your employees more comfortable generating a buzz, make sure to give them both formal and informal opportunities to contribute.  A good way to invite employee contributions is to form a “Health & Activity Committee.”  Invite people who are eager to lead and zealous for the cause to lead the committee with the express purpose of generating participation from the general employee base; and don’t neglect their families.

 

2. Ensure Employees Have Sound Training

As with Safety and Environmental compliance, proper employee training is vital to the health of employees in any workplace.  Be sure to include personal health topics in your Health, Safety and Environmental training.  Examples of topics that deserve attention are the impact of diet on weight control; the benefits of daily exercise routine; proper hydration; the impact of tobacco and alcohol over time.

Routinely provide health data to employees designed to encourage moving to a more healthy lifestyle. This will provide reference materials to refresh themselves on various best practices and encourage healthy choices by individuals at the their own pace.

Check with your employees regularly on what topics they might find of interest. Make sure to ask them for feedback on any health benefits they have experienced over time; weight loss, lower blood pressure, feeling better, more energy.

 

3. Take Employee Health Seriously

Our workplaces tend to support the axiom, “ hard drives out soft.”  It means some hard requirements will always take priority over less pressing activities. The focus on General Employee Health tends to get pushed around by the more regulatory controlled issues of Environmental and Safety compliance.  But Employee Health should be taken seriously.  Employee Health has a direct correlation to business costs, productivity, safety performance, and employee engagement.  A more physically fit workforce will be more productive with lower incidence of lost time.

Both your Health Benefits and Workmans Comp providers, whether a large in house team or independent provider, can serve as great resources for training materials, health data, and benefits to both the company and the individuals.  Take Employee Health seriously for a real benefit to both the company and your employees.

Tips to Effectively Manage Employee Turnover

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employee turnover

Keeping Costs Low and Morale Up During Employee Turnover

Employee turnover can be a difficult problem for industrial companies. Turnover presents many challenges: ensuring new employees have adequate training, maintaining safety and procedural standards in the workplace, preventing slowdown and inefficiency on the line, preventing increased costs to the company, and maintaining morale among remaining employees whose workload might fluctuate with the added responsibility of keeping up with demand and instructing new co-workers. This article will offer some tips and insights into how you can avoid or minimize many of these problems, which would otherwise be detrimental to your company’s growth.

 

1. Create an Encouraging Environment for New Employees

One of the most important things that a workplace can do to improve productivity is to maintain high employee morale. This goes for seasoned workers as well as new hires. Even an experienced employee who is new to your company will perform far more effectively in an environment where they feel they have room to ask questions, get help, voice concerns, and build confidence in their role. In addition to this, make sure your new employees are familiar with the policies and procedures of your company, from safety protocols to where they should submit their time sheets at the end of a pay period.

 

2. Listen to the Concerns of Remaining Employees

It’s vital to keep morale high during times of intense employee turnover. Remaining employees might wonder what their workload may look like or how floor efficiency could be impacted. It is important to clearly communicate your expectations to your employees. However, it is just as important to hear their concerns and work with them to find solutions. Giving your employees a voice during periods of change enables them to feel heard and keeps workforce morale from dipping, which is key for any company trying to avoid a serious drop in efficiency. If remaining workers feel respected, this can help prevent exacerbating turnover as well as encourage employees to come to you for help solving problems in the future.

 

3. Connect New Employees and Experienced Employees

New employees will work and learn much more effectively if they’re able to shadow experienced employees, ask them questions, and come to them for insight. This also will help experienced employees feel as if they’re a part of the growth of the company and are involved in improving the effectiveness of the workplace. It can also help reduce training costs and improve the learning curve for those new to the job, increasing profitability in the long run.

 

4. Make Sure There Are Enough New Workers

As soon as possible, ensure that your company is making enough new hires to pick up slack in production and relieve the workload of remaining employees. Inevitably, the more strain added to a workforce, the less efficiently it will operate. Therefore, this is a problem you will want to solve as soon as you are able; current employees will want to see that their hard work will be relieved. From the standpoint of productivity, workers who are stretched too thin will struggle with morale and efficiency, so making sure this issue is addressed as quickly as possible is important.

 

5. Manage Costs Without Slowing Down

Companies often shudder at the thought of employee turnover, with good reason: The associated costs can balloon up to twice the salary of a retained worker. However, there are various other ways these costs can be reduced. One of the most effective is to entrust hiring to an outside company that specializes in matching qualified employees with positions like the ones you need filled. While upfront costs might seem to make this a more expensive option, in reality, the money you will save by receiving qualified replacements quickly will be far more than the fees associated with a hiring service. These services help you replace employees quickly, allowing you to save money that would have been lost during the long period of inadequate staff, slowed productivity, and training.

There will inevitably be challenges with employee turnover, but with the proper resources and methods, you can minimize the difficulties your company will encounter in the process.

How to Motivate Your Employees to Follow Your Safety Programs

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Among the most common concerns of safety professionals today is the best way to keep employees motivated when it comes to safety. Even when you understand the importance of safety, it can be difficult to encourage employees to get on board with your safety efforts. If you are still seeing a lack of buy-in from employees on your safety program, it may be time to re-evaluate your approach. Take a look at the following best practices for ideas on how to motivate your employees to become more committed and enthusiastic about your safety practices.

 

Include Safety as an Important Element in Your Culture

From the moment prospective candidates arrive for an interview, it should be crystal clear that safety is a core value in your organization. You can do this by including safety training and reminders in the onboarding process. It takes more than just teaching employees about safety in their early days in your organization to keep them committed, however. Make a point of reminding your employees about the importance of safety by introducing a safety topic on a daily basis. This will keep safety at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

 

Engage Employees with a Leadership-Down Approach

It can often be difficult for employees to remain motivated to follow safety programs when they do not see buy-in from their leadership. To avoid this problem, make sure your leadership team is also committed to setting a positive example for everyone. Not only should leaders be held accountable for following the same practices expected of their employees, but it’s also a good idea for leaders to set aside time to encourage feedback from employees.

 

Use Positive Reinforcement

When it comes to encouraging employees to follow safety programs, positive reinforcement can go a long way. With this strategy, you are encouraging employees to repeat desired behavior by offering positive consequences for said behavior. Studies have shown that employee satisfaction tends to rise when employees feel as though they are appreciated by management and actually making a difference. Consider this for a moment. If employees feel as though following safety protocols makes no difference whatsoever, are they likely to follow those protocols? By comparison, when employees understand that following safety practices makes a significant difference in keeping everyone safe and that their actions are appreciated by management, they will be much more likely to follow safety programs.

 

With that said, it’s also important to ensure that safety mishaps are not ignored. Unfortunately, there is sometimes a tendency to simply sweep minor mishaps under the rug. This can be detrimental when you are trying to encourage employee buy-in to a safety program. It is essential for organizational leadership to be diligent when it comes to addressing safety issues. These issues should be addressed as opportunities for learning on everyone’s part.

 

Encourage Employees to Feel Ownership of Safety Programs

Employees are naturally more likely to be motivated and committed to safety programs when they play a role in those programs. This can be accomplished by reminding staff that their commitment to safety practices makes a difference in terms of not only themselves but also their co-workers and the workplace as a whole. Providing employees with a variety of avenues for offering feedback on their safety program is another great way to encourage buy-in and motivation. Organizations can also give safety incentives by allowing employees to serve on problem-solving committees and even conduct safety evaluations.

 

Actually Put Employee Feedback to Work When Assessing Safety Programs

When requesting employees to give feedback on safety issues, it’s crucial that you use that information to reassess the effectiveness of your program. After all, front-line employees can often give valuable information that can help your organization to improve safety practices. Furthermore, employees need to see that their feedback and opinions matter. Make a point to act on feedback in a timely manner and let employees know that their participation is appreciated.

 

Ultimately, employees must be committed and motivated for your organization’s safety program to work. By ensuring new employees know from the beginning that safety is a priority at your organizational culture, using positive reinforcement to let employees know they are appreciated, and listening to their ideas, you will be able to make your workplace more compliant and safer for everyone.

Resolving Conflict and Moving On

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Whether in the work place or at home, we all have them, face them, suffer from them, manage them one way or another; conflicts.  They may be arguments, consequences of our actions or consequences of other’s actions, but how we choose to move forward when they occur is of substantial impact.

I first wrote “of great impact” but thought often results of how we handle conflicts are not so “great.”

While there may be some inevitable consequences of a conflict, our response to the situation and other people involved can go a long way to making the best of it and often produce some net positive outcomes for our relationships.

Here I look to offer some quick tips on navigating the aftermath of conflict when you find yourself in the middle of one.

Simply put, you should:

  1. Become Objective
  2. Find Common Ground and Seek Understanding
  3. Resolve the Conflict and Let’s Move On

But, lets dive in to more detail.

1. Become Objective

We are pre-disposed to our own perspectives on things – meaning we are biased by ourselves.  It is important to have a balanced and neutral view of what has happened where conflict is acting upon our relationships.  You are not likely to find agreeable remedies for the ills of the situation if the cold hard facts are dusted over.

Easier said than done I know.  Find at least one and probably two objective advisors to help you work out your objectivity.  Don’t go to people who you know agree with you or who always avoid confrontation as you’re wasting time and not likely to become objective as a result. Do talk to people of high character and who are willing to speak with you honestly.

Write down on paper the activities, actions, events that make up the conflict.  Just the facts of what happened without anyone’s opinion tainting the story.  Read the story as it happened making sure to purge your bias or opinion and just consider the simple facts.

2. Find Common Ground and Seek Understanding

Where emotional damage has occurred, it’s good to begin repair as soon as practical.  Seeking common ground and understanding can seem complicated and sometimes it is.  But it is also often much less difficult than we make it where our emotions are in charge.  Where you have become objective, you can more readily see reasonable common ground and understanding to begin down the road of mutual agreement.

To the extent that it depends upon you, seek to understand the other party’s position.  Honor my favorite cliché; “there’s two sides to every story and the truth is always in the middle.”  With an objective, fact-based perspective of events and sincere consideration of the other person’s position, I often see potential compromise more clearly.

Make a list of things where you and the other party are not conflicted; common ground.  Avoid the temptation as it arises to list all the things you don’t agree upon!  Erase those.  Then get back to listing the areas where you are in agreement or at least can be in agreement.

Develop empathy for why the other party may feel the way they do.  Empathy does not have to mean you agree with the other party or conceding how you feel as wrong but simply that you understand how or why they may feel the way they do.

Make a list of solutions that bring yourself and the other party together on whatever caused the conflict.  Note that this usually requires that you compromise on something.  If you find that you can never afford to compromise due to the importance of your position, recognize that you might be the problem and consider going back to number “1)” above.

3. Resolve the Conflict and Let’s Move On

Put your mind to resolving the conflict, including your willingness to compromise where possible.  You have solutions you are willing to work on and you need to be prepared for differing ideas from the other party.  If you both have ideas and can work some compromise into a conversation to share the ideas, you are very close to resolving any conflict.

This whole approach is predicated upon the fact that you can not control other people.  You control you.  We each must work to the extent that it depends upon us and invite others to work with us for common solutions.

Invite the other party to an open conversation where you offer your solutions for their consideration and be prepared to receive their ideas in return.

If the other party is not willing to work in good faith, so be it.  You must work in consideration of others to the extent it depends upon you.

Your solutions and offer of compromise should remain an open invitation as this demonstrates to the other party that you’re sincere and not just trying to negotiate a win for your position.  This is not a trick to get them to compromise off of their position but a sincere approach to find common ground and resolve understandable differences.

With that standing offer, you can move on.

What Could Go Wrong, Preventing Workplace Hazards

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With supporting safe work environments being our mission, it helps to start with some statistics to help establish how we can best succeed.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there were approximately 2.9 million nonfatal work-place injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2016.  That translates to a rate of 2.9 cases per 100 full time equivalent workers.

The industry with the highest number of reported injuries remains manufacturing where nearly 20% of all days away from work cases, DAFW, were described as falls, slips or trips.

It always surprises me to see falls, slips and trips as the single largest category of DAFW.  I picture some dangerous machine or other ominous physical third party playing the lead role in injuries, not something of my own doing without any help required.

As I put these thoughts into writing, it sounds a little harsh.  Aren’t there physical hazards in play to allow me to fall, slip or trip?  Well it depends on how you look at it which is the segue to my point.

The First Rule of Safety – Know Your Job

Under OSHA’s General Duty Clause, Sec 5(b), we are instructed to “comply with occupational safety and health standards” and all OSHA regulations that apply to our “own actions and conduct.”

Employers are responsible for providing a workplace “free from recognized hazards” under OSHA rules; but, individuals must own their actions and conduct at all times.  So let’s consider the importance of Knowing Your Job in preventing workplace hazards.

Knowing Your Job includes a broad array of factors including but not limited to

  • • Materials and Equipment
  • • Procedures
  • • Possible Hazards
  • • Unexpected Hazards

Being an expert in our own safety demands that we put significant energy into each of these categories to assure we work safe to the extent that we are able.  Survey each bullet category from the perspective of “Knowing Your Job.”

Materials and Equipment

Common examples under Materials and Equipment include MSDS and the handling of chemicals or proper operation of machinery.  An employer can provide excellent MSDS tools and solid training on proper mechanical operation, but we must commit ourselves to study, understand and apply the available information and training.

We need to accept our responsibility as professionals to seek out and know the materials in our work environment and how to safely operate / maintain our equipment.

Procedures

It is critical to learn from the experience of those who’ve gone before us.  Procedures are the product of that experience put into a communication for our benefit which includes our safety.  If we are not familiar with proper procedures or we disregard the procedure for the sake of time or other priority, we are accepting great risk and increasing the likelihood of unsafe conditions and injury.

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse” and neither is ignorance of proper procedures.  Find them, read them and ask questions where you are unclear.

Possible Hazards

Some hazards are predictable.  Pinch points, electrocution, inhalation, fire, confined space, slip, fall, tripping.  I put the last three last on purpose to show how the data reflects we are prioritizing slip, fall and trip hazards.

Most manufacturing environment procedures require inspection of work areas prior to starting work.  Recall that under the OSHA General Duty Clause we are responsible for our own actions and conduct.  What are we seeing in our pre-work inspections where slip, trip and fall are concerned?

Accidents happen but preventable accidents must be prevented and slip, trip and fall incidents can often be prevented.

We need to raise awareness regarding the frequency of slip, trip, fall events and the injuries they cause.  If you’re a manager, lead by implementing slip, trip, fall hazards recognition and mitigation.  Remove those hazards where possible and teach skills to minimize the risk where you have minimized the presence of the hazard.  As employees we need to look for slip, trip, fall hazards before we start work.  We can’t fall into complacency with the greatest cause of days away from work.

Unexpected Hazards

Potential dangers that arise on the job, often the result of changing conditions, can cause unsafe conditions.  The catch all description is “anything that doesn’t seem right.”  We need to be alert and sensitive to things that don’t seem right and take action to confirm, and if necessary, correct.  Many slip, trip, fall hazards are the result of unexpected hazards.  A liquid spill, tools on the ground, loose cords, all can result in a slip or trip.

Be vigilant with work area inspections.   Hold yourself accountable for housekeeping and don’t be afraid to hold other accountable.  Think about your technique when climbing or descending and avoid rushing when carrying things.

Know Your Job – Preventing Workplace Hazards

Knowing your job includes knowing the hazards at all times.  To the extent that it depends on you, know the risks and be pro-active in mitigating those risks.  Your diligence and commitment are your greatest tools.

How To Effectively (and Easily) Onboard Temp Workers

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temp workers

We have a long-term client who wasn’t crazy about using temporary staffing agencies before he met us. I remember the first time I was sitting face-to-face with Dave. Based on his previous experiences, he had many objections for using temp workers to staff his safety needs.

  • • “They don’t follow our procedures for taking time off.”
  • • “They don’t fill out the time sheets properly.”
  • • “They always get lost and then show-up late.”
  • • “They aren’t pro-active like our employees. They wait to be told what to do.”

Many of the objections seemed like they would occur for current employees, too. I asked Dave why it was different. He said that it wasn’t and that was his point.

This was a challenge for me because I had not had similar complaints from our customers.

Digging a little deeper, we figured out the problem. When I asked what they did to onboard temp workers, he looked confused.

“I am hiring temp workers so I don’t have to onboard them.”

I get that. I do. And we specialize in providing trained staff.

However, they are trained in safety. There are many things that the temporary workers will not know about your specific company or facility.

I explained to Dave that our workers know confined space procedures or are qualified safety techs with all of the appropriate certifications, but they may not know the client’s specific internal procedures.

However, I did offer a quick solution.

We, ResponsAble, have a standard orientation program with all of our employees to ensure that they know our processes and general information about the job.

I explained that we can also review Dave’s onboarding information during this orientation, as we do regularly for many other customers. We typically meet with clients and gather information about the employees’ responsibilities and the company’s internal protocols.

“Really? The other staffing agencies have never done this.”

Proper Onboarding of Temp Workers Improves Performance

 

Fortunately, it is part of our hiring process.

We want to please the customer, but we also have a responsibility to our employees. They don’t like being confused or uninformed either. And believe me, many of them are frustrated when they are not given proper instruction.

After our meeting and through a couple of specific job opportunities, Dave came back and said that proper onboarding of temps greatly improved the performance and experience.

Tips for Preparing an Onboarding Plan for Temporary Workers

 

If you are hiring temp workers for a safety job, or a laborer, here are several items you may need to review with them:

  • • Upcoming work schedule for the next week and how/where future schedules will be communicated to them.
  • • Proper procedure on the job for calling in sick, communicating if late, etc.
  • • What documentation or written excuse is required to come back from a sick day.
  • • Where they should report to for each shift.
  • • Who their direct supervisor is on the shifts.
  • • What to do if they complete what they are working on (i.e. clean work area, let supervisor know, etc).
  • • Dress code.
  • • Vacation and holiday protocol and pay, if applicable.
  • • Who to speak with if they are having any difficulty or have questions.
  • • What time keeping device or form to fill out.
  • • Who approves their time sheets.
  • • When and where do time sheets need to be turned in.
  • • Any other facility specific rules or protocols.

This is just a beginning list.

However if you are the manager in charge of temporary workers, developing a standard checklist and reviewing with new employees’ “Day One” will enhance their performance and your experience with temp workers.

It’s a win-win and you are able to gain all of the other advantages of using a safety staffing company:

  • Get safety trained staff.
  • Avoid time-consuming administrative and payroll setup for short-term needs.
  • Eliminate workman’s comp insurance and other requirements for full-time employees.
  • Send one check to pay the temp agency rather than several, weekly payroll checks.
  • Replace true poor performance immediately without all of the HR red tape.

 

If you’re in need of safety techs, confined space attendants, or laborers, call us for an estimate and a review of the personnel we have available in our extensive database. And, if you want to focus on your upcoming job, give us the details and we will onboard our team for you.