The Importance of Employee Welfare To Your Business

As a business owner, you must never underestimate the importance of employee welfare.

While you are paying them a wage and hopefully providing them with a break room, there is always more you could be doing. Your employees will benefit if you do, and consequently, so will your business.

Consider the following facets of employee welfare and relate them to your workplace.

#1: Employee stress

Consider this 2018 UK workplace stress survey

Within the report, studies found that 59% of adults suffered from stress in the workplace. One in ten adults stated that they took sick days off work because of it, and 32% of those surveyed reported problems with their productivity. Disturbingly, 45% of workers suggested their employers were doing little about the stress-related problems they were experiencing.

So, what about your business? Are you doing anything within your workplace to alleviate any stress-related issues your employees are having?

If you neglect this aspect of employee welfare, you are partly responsible for the ill health of the people you employ. Not only will you be faced with a gap in your team should anybody take time off work as a consequence, but you might also be hit with a compensation claim if an employee can prove that your actions (or lack of) have forced them to take time away from work because of a stress-related illness. Within both situations, your business will be hit financially.

Your business will also take a financial nosedive in tandem with your employees’ productivity levels. If they aren’t working to the max because of stress-induced insomnia, or because they are feeling worried and anxious at work, then your business will struggle to meet the targets needed to boost your profit margins. 

You will also see an issue with employee retention, as not only will you lose staff through sickness, but you might also see a walkout of your employees when they put their health before your business. Again, your business will suffer.

So, as a business owner, you need to find ways to manage the stress levels of your employees.

You can do this by operating an open-door policy, as your employees will then have the opportunity to explain why they are feeling stressed to you. You should then take the appropriate actions to support them by managing the situations that are causing them to suffer.

You should also treat your employees fairly. So, don’t give them more work they can handle, allow them to have more break times during the day, and be an encouraging boss instead of a tyrannical one. 

For more on managing your employees’ stress levels, check out the ideas in the following linked article on dealing with stress in the workplace. 

By doing more to assist your employees, you will make their lives better and improve the goings-on within your business too.

#2: Employee safety

Consider these UK health and safety statistics.

According to the research taken, there were over 550 thousand injuries reported at work between 2017 and 2018. 30.7 million working days were lost as a result of a workplace-related illness and accident. 1.4 million people suffer(ed) from a work-related illness. And within 2018/2019 figures (thus far), there have been 147 fatalities. You can learn more by following the previous link.

Consider these figures in relation to your business. What are you doing to ensure workplace safety within your company? 

Do you undertake regular risk assessments? Are you following safety rules and regulations? Or do you put your employees’ lives at risk on a daily basis through neglect or ignorance on what you should be doing? 

If you don’t focus on employee safety, it won’t only be your poor workers who suffer. Your business will suffer too, as you might be hit with compensation claims, gaps in your workforce, and a low rate of retention if your employees decide they can no longer work in your unsafe business. As a consequence of all of these, your business reputation will take a hit when word-of-mouth gets around about your unsafe practices. So, not only is the survivability rating of your employees at risk, but the same is true of your business.

So, think about what you should be doing within your business.

On a regular basis, you should risk-assess your business to find signs of fault and ill-repair around your property and equipment.

You should outsource to companies who specialise in safety equipment installation

You should pay for health and safety training for yourself and your employees, as this will ensure you are knowledgeable about compliance and safe practices.

And you should follow all government guidelines to improve safety in your workplace. 

By taking these steps, you will better protect your employees, and you will better protect your business too.

Finally

Using our suggestions, place more focus on the health and wellbeing of your employees if you have thus far been negligent in any way. This is important on a business level, but it’s also important on an ethical and moral level too. After all, how would you feel on a personal level if your employees suffered because of your business? Take action then, for the benefit of all you.