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Rest: A Workplace Safety Requirement

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Rest and workplace safety

Psychological research shows proven results that taking breaks from your work, in moderation, significantly increases productivity. Yet this is counter-intuitive to how many of our workplaces and even how our culture functions. Is this true for your work place? If so, there’s a few reasons why rest should be prioritized in safety staffing particularly.

Why is rest important in safety staffing?

Rest is important to safety for reasons that are probably fairly obvious. However, it’s so easy to lose perspective when the pressures and responsibilities of a job weigh on our shoulders. Adequate rest is critical to focus and decision-making. Ensuring safety staff have scheduled breaks allows your jobsite to be safer and more efficient.  

Staff fatigue can contribute to carelessness, lack of clarity, and higher risk for your company. A higher quantity of lower quality work should not be the goal of an employer. Particularly in safety staffing, cognitive energy is critical to effective work.  In the end, denying appropriate job-site rest only leads to increased liability, decreased productivity, and unmotivated staff.

Are breaks required on job sites?

Unfortunately, OSHA does not provide required mandates for employee breaks. There are not actually any federal laws in place to regulate work:break ratios. Some states do have guidelines for break requirements, but even here only 22 of the 50 states have these in place.

Therefore, standards for rest and break balance must be generated by the company. Even when these policies are in place it is not uncommon for employees to forego taking advantage of available breaks in an effort to get ahead or make an impression in the workplace. As a company, a culture that encourages rest must be encouraged.

How to implement a good break culture.

If you’re looking to begin to implement policies for rest in your workplace, here are some general rules of thumb to consider.

During a normal work shift of 8 or more hours:

  • • 15-20 minute breaks once or twice throughout the shift.
  • • A meal break of 30 minutes to an hour.

Once your break policies are in place, it is helpful for the manager and employee to introduce the practice in a way that encourages and uplifts utilizing the practice. Staff who feel safe to do so will be more likely to take advantage of the offer. Leadership should also honor the policy by taking advantage of it themselves. This results in a safer and more productive environment for staff and employer!

Your investment in creating a culture that honors proper balance and safety is worth it.

Deceptive Winter Hydration

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winter dehydration

With colder temperatures and less tangible loss of fluids, it’s easy to lose track of your hydration. Being mindful of your fluid intake and hydration levels is a lot harder to do when you’re not seeing beads of sweat of feeling the effects of scorching heat. However, this only increases the threat of dehydration.

Dehydration is a year-round threat. It occurs any time you use or lose more fluids than you take in, causing your body to lack what it needs to continue its normal functioning. This can occur regardless of temperature. Appropriate water intake is critical to your body’s functioning, and it will begin to shut down without appropriate fluid levels.

Some common misconceptions for winter months may be that if you’re not sweating you’re not losing as much fluids, or a lack of thirst indicates adequate hydration. However, the winter simply presents new challenges for hydration. The air is drier and requires higher lung functioning. The harder our bodies work, the more fluids are needed. Our bodies are also naturally processing fluids throughout the day, so replenishment is necessary regardless of external circumstances.

Signs of Dehydration

  • • Extreme thirst
  • • Less frequent urination
  • • Dark-colored urine
  • • Fatigue
  • • Dizziness
  • • Confusion

Be mindful of these symptoms for yourself and those around you. The deceptive nature of colder weather may compromise the safety others.

Combatting Winter Dehydration

The first step is mindfulness. Now you know that hydration is a critical component of health and safety regardless of the season.

Make a plan for intaking the same amount of fluids, even when you’re not prompted by thirst. Set a goal for ounces consumed per day and use that to determine effective hydration.

Be mindful that not all liquids are created equal. Common beverages of choice in the cold, such as coffee or tea with caffeine, actually have the opposite effect. The same is true for soda. Water is the best hydrator, but in colder months herbal teas that are caffeine free can be beneficial as well.

Consider the safety of yourself and others as you consider making a concerted effort toward hydration. It is easy to prevent, but also easy to experience. Make a system and implement accountability in hydration on your team.

Recruiting Tips To Build Your Best Team

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recruiting tips

Helping companies with staffing needs is our business and we know the challenges of recruiting talent in today’s labor market.  Our clients have found significant value in staying focused on their core business by outsourcing much of the recruiting burden to us.

But for those who want to tackle recruiting internally, this post shares some basic tips for critical recruiting fundamentals that will help you build your best team.

1. Have an Effective Job Posting

Everybody has a job posting as you can’t really post a job without one; but, you need a good job posting.  What makes a good job post?

  • • An appealing post will describe some positive attributes of the employer
  • • A job post should be clear and concise about the description of the job role
  • • A good post will sound appealing to the target candidate pool
  • • The job post should provide enough detail to clarify required candidate qualifications

2. Advertise Your Job Post to Reach Your Target Audience

Armed with effective job posting copy, you are ready to promote or advertise your job.  There are a few things to consider when promoting your job posts.

  • • Target the right audience and best platform to advertise your job. Different job boards appeal to different candidates so you need to put your jobs on the most appropriate board or combination for the target audience.
  • • Consider the “key words” for search engine optimization, SEO, in the title of your job post. Using effective key words will put your post higher in search results which affects how many people see your job.
  • • Sponsor or promote your post where available to maintain a page one to page two position in search results. Different recruiting sites have differing costs for sponsoring job posts so the optimum dollar amount will vary by recruiting site and the competing or similar jobs on each site.

3. Phone Screen Selected Candidates

A prepared phone interview to screen candidates selected from your applicant pool is an important step in the recruiting process.  The phone screen assures the candidate matches their resume and can communicate the same.  A thirty minute conversation by phone saves time by avoiding wasted time in bad interviews.

  • • The phone screen should include the required candidate qualifications.
  • • Review both parties’ expectations of the job to minimize risk of obvious deal breakers from turning up in a face to face interview.
  • • Get a broad feel for salary expectations from the candidate

4. The Face-to-Face Interview

Be prepared for the face to face interview.  There are several parts to the face to face interview that we focus upon.

  • • Use a written interview guide to ensure you cover all the key points to support a robust interview.
  • • Have more than one employer representative participate in the interview process if practical. It’s good to have more than one perspective for the best results.
  • • The first and most basic element is confirming the person matches the resume or application. Some people look great on paper but struggle to tell you the same story in person.
  • • Include a few behavioral questions along the line of work problems they have solved, communicating in difficult situations examples, obstacles they have overcome, etc.
  • • Character and integrity; arguably the most important traits after basic competency for building a good team. Pay careful attention to character, integrity and reliability indicators throughout the interview.  Ask a few charged questions about doing the right thing even when it costs you personally or how they respond to authority for example.
  • • Be open and honest about challenges of job or work environment. In over 20 years of management, I’ve never seen a job that was not challenging in multiple ways.
  • • Ask the candidate to score their interest level for you at the close of the interview. I am very weary of a candidate who can not sincerely tell me they are interested and want the job.
  • • Lastly, score the candidate privately immediately after the interview. A simple 1 – 10 score with 10 being a perfect candidate and 1 being “really bad fit.”  We are naturally biased toward the most recent interviews so it’s important to score the candidates at the time we meet them.

5. Take the Hiring Process Seriously

This may sound obvious and it should, but I see business peers short cut a robust hiring process with regularity.

  • • Don’t hire a friend or relative because you know them. Interview a friend or relative because you know them every time and encourage them to perform well through the interview process. Hiring a friend is easy while firing them for poor performance is painful for the business, the employee and the friendship.
  • • The hiring process is part of the public relations and branding of your business. Be professional and represent your business as professional to the industry you serve.  It’s a small world.

Following a consistent and effective recruiting process for your business is fundamental to strong performance.  It’s good for the business and good for the employees.  Invest the time to make sure recruiting is done well or find someone to help you.  The strength of your team depends on it.

On Boarding: Why the Bother?

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on boarding employees

There are as many approaches to On Boarding an employee as there are employers.  Some have a methodical process that slow rolls the employee into their new position while others apply the sink or swim technique with a steep curve right to action.

Wherever your business falls along the On Boarding continuum, there are a few fundamental On Boarding process elements that pay large dividends in contributing to the success of your employees.  Technical skills and ongoing training are beyond the scope of this post.  Here we are covering the general steps to ensure a new employee integrates into your work environment well and as intended.  I recommend your check your current process to confirm the following are included.

1. Employee Files.

All required employee data, forms and signatures should be checked and completed as step 1 upon employment.  This may sound obvious, but I have seen employers allow employees begin work without I-9 documentation; thinking it is ok for the worker to bring it in later.  I have other examples but this one makes the point.

The data and form requirements to hire an employee all have purpose.  Any missing form, data or signature imposes risk to the employer, employees and customers.  Under the example of missing I-9 data, an accident involving the new employee may not have insurance coverage.  Employer liability normally protected may fall squarely upon the employer without the protection of insurance you pay for.  Any medical expense to the new employee may also go without medical benefit protection if they are not proven legal as an employee.

Step 1 in the On Boarding process is to review and confirm all required data, forms and signatures are complete and on file with the employer.

2. Orientation

Once you have confirmed that any new employee is properly processed and documented into your work environment, you should provide an Orientation session.  Orientation should be designed to communicate what the employee should expect, how they can seek help and what you are looking for from them through the On Boarding process.

Employees who are comfortable and confident in their surroundings are better learners. Your goal as an employer through Orientation is to ensure the new employee learns what you need them to know as effectively and quickly as practical.  Help the employees by making them comfortable and familiar with where they are, what they should be doing and what you expect of them through the On Boarding process. Smaller businesses don’t often have well organized Orientation programs for new hires but the needs are the same in small or large organizations.  The costs of new employees stumbling and bumbling through their first few days or weeks on the job is as negatively impactful to a small company as it is to a large company, maybe more so.

Make Step 2 of On Boarding a clear Orientation including:

  • • Familiarity with the physical environment
  • • What the employee should expect
  • • How the employee can seek help
  • • What the employer expects from the new hire through the On Boarding period

3. Supervisor One on One.

Every job is a distinct but a common need amongst employees is they benefit from a coach.  Whether a high level professional position or a line level worker, we perform better when we have someone to lead us in the right direction and talk us through obstacles.

The Supervisor One on One is a great time to take Orientation to the details of the individual job requirements.  Have the Supervisor or Manager position themselves as the “Coach” who is there to lead and ensure the success of the new employee.  The Supervisor One on One serves a dual purpose regarding establishing accountability.  The Supervisor One on One establishes the accountabilities of the new employee while also making the Supervisor accountable for the success of their individual team members.

Step 3 of the On Boarding process is to establish the relationship between a new employee and their Supervisor or Manager as one of mutual accountability.

As mentioned at the beginning of this blog, every situation is unique and On Boarding processes will vary widely by company and role.  I recommend you review your On Boarding process if you have one or create one if you don’t.  Take the time to maximize the likelihood that your new hires come up to speed safely and confidently so you and they wind up being successful.

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 concerns 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.

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.