Safety's Vital Role in Employee Engagement

This blog is the last blog post in a series of posts about creating high-performance teams.

To date, we have explored the first six rules of the 7 NEW Rules of Employee Engagement: Culture, Resources, Communication, Appreciation, Well-being, and Enthusiasm. Today, we will dive into the seventh and final rule of the 7 NEW Rules of Employee Engagement, Safety, and its key role in strengthening employee engagement, while maintaining and creating an attentive work environment.

Rule # 7 SAFETY:
Encourage employees to work both efficiently and safely. Recognize those employees who maintain a safe and healthy working environment for themselves and others.

How Employee Engagement Impacts Safety

You may be logically asking yourself, “how does safety fit into my employee engagement strategy?” Though this rule may not be as apparent as the others, it is one of the most important. Workplace safety & health are not just moral issues, but financial issues, too. The deep costs associated with unsafe work behaviors may come as a great surprise to you.

Research by the SHRM Foundation shows one such example:

“… in one manufacturing company, engaged employees were five times less likely to have a safety incident and seven times less likely to have a safety incident involving lost time. This had a significant impact on cost.”

Further, a 2013 Gallup Study found that companies in the top quartile of employee engagement compared with those in the bottom quartile exhibited:

• 48% fewer safety accidents
• 21% higher productivity
• 22% higher profitability
• 41% higher quality
• 37% reduced absenteeism

These numbers are staggering, aren’t they? Clearly, employee engagement has a substantial impact on workplace safety.

How Safety Impacts Employee Engagement

An engaged workforce is more likely to take an active interest in the well-being of their organization. They will want to strengthen profitability and productivity because they see that their contributions are being appreciated. Employees will not only work more deliberately and efficiently, but will be proactive in preventing on-the-job accidents.

Maintaining a Safe & Engaged Work Environment

By engaging your employees to maintain a safe and healthy work environment through the use of recognition, your organization will have a higher likelihood of exceeding organizational goals. Your organization can create a culture of safety and recognition by recognizing employees for such proactive behavior as:

• Participation in Safety Training and Meetings
• Making Suggestions
• Reporting Near-Misses
• Mentorship Programs

How C.A. Short Company Helps Employee Engagement

C.A. Short Company’s People Are™ employee engagement platform empowers an organization to create a culture of recognition through all aspects of the business, including safety. By incorporating the three-dimensional descriptors of recognition, formal, informal, and day-to-day, companies are able to keep business objectives top of mind, while achieving the strategic goals it has in place.