Companies face an array of challenges when attempting to reshape their workplaces to make environments safe and productive, particularly during the sansdemic. Safety and health guidelines and regulations shift regularly. Additionally, employee expectations – particularly around mental health and well-being – continue to evolve.
Many employers also end up battling financial constraints, especially if gaps in their workforce are hindering productivity or requiring risky approaches, such as long-term, mandatory overtime. A lack of personnel can also make instituting changes harder, as the implementation or installation of new solutions may require manpower that the company lacks.
Fortunately, there are steps companies can take to reshape workspaces in the sansdemic.
Here are some solutions for safe and productive environments companies can explore.
Have Clear Safety Protocols and Procedures
Establishing clear safety protocols and procedures that are tailored to your specific workplace is essential for ensuring the well-being of employees. By doing so, it gives employees explicit guidelines on how to handle various tasks, particularly those with a degree of risk. In turn, they’re less likely to engage in dangerous behavior, reducing the odds of injuries or situations that could hinder productivity.
Offer Safety Training Regularly
Set policies and procedures are only beneficial if employees are aware of what’s needed from them. Since that’s the case, companies need to offer safety training regularly. Along with an initial safety course upon hire, have annual or semi-annual refreshers to remind workers of any safety requirements. Additionally, have additional training when new technologies, equipment, or procedures are introduced, ensuring they’re familiar with fresh protocols as soon as they become relevant.
Provide the Right Equipment
Ideally, having personal protective equipment (PPE) shouldn’t be a burden placed primarily on the shoulders of employees. Instead, companies should make the PPE available whenever possible, as that ensures it’s available when employees come in for their shifts. However, for PPE that needs to fit a specific worker – such as work boots – reimbursements, gift cards, or similar options that make the PPE affordable could be a viable substitute.
Companies should also look into equipment that supports proper ergonomics, as that can also reduce injuries. Adjustable height workstations, chairs of multiple sizes, and similar solutions can work well, as well as designing workspaces to support proper posture.
Have Formal Emergency Response Plans
Emergency response plans let employees know how to act when an urgent situation occurs. For example, it can tell them the paths to use if evacuating a facility is necessary, as well as where to head to ensure they’re accounted for after they exit. It can also outline what to do if equipment malfunctions or an injury happens, increasing the odds that they’ll proceed in a way that’s safer overall.
Make sure to create formal emergency plans based on situations that may arise in your specific workplace. Then, offer training on the procedures and conduct drills to help familiarize employees with how to respond.
Partner with a Recruitment Firm
While partnering with a recruitment agency may not look like a safety improvement on the surface, it can function as one. Recruitment firms provide companies with access to more talent, including for short-term and long-term needs. As a result, they can help a company continuously right-size their workforce and fill critical gaps faster. That can decrease the need for mandatory overtime, ensuring workers aren’t spread so thin that safety and well-being become an issue.
Contact PridStaff Bend Today
If you’d like to partner with a recruitment firm to make hiring simpler, PrideStaff Bend wants to hear from you. Contact us to learn more about our services today.
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