Employee safety in the workplace is of vital importance. If it isn’t, it absolutely should be. Prioritizing employee safety not only protects workers from physical harm, but also leads to improvements in morale, productivity, and job satisfaction.
Every employer is urged to be responsible enough to provide a safe and healthy working environment for their staff. This responsibility includes providing appropriate safety equipment and training, as well as regularly inspecting and maintaining equipment and facilities. (Among many other responsibilities.)
Yet, employees feel like employers are not doing enough to ensure their safety in the workplace. In fact, nearly three-fourths of employees don’t think their employers are following through on safety promises (and 65% believe their employers are not making an active effort to improve safety training), according to AlertMedia’s State of Employee Safety Report.
Think back on the numerous crises that have shaken the global workforce in the past few years – mainly since the pandemic. Economic concerns, civil unrest, geopolitical issues and severe weather events, to name a few. Naturally, this led to a paradigm shift in employees’ worldviews and senses of security beyond their domestic confines – a.k.a remote workplaces. This is a shared experience among many employees across various industries and geographies.
It makes sense that most employees feel safer at home than they do in the office, according to the survey. They don’t have to leave their safety confines and be in the mix of public health emergencies, workplace violence, crime and severe weather.
Physical health and safety is one thing. Mental health is another, and many employees faced various mental states due to the pandemic, which then played into a part of the Great Resignation. Even with a call for mental health support, two-thirds of employees today say their employer is not making an active effort to support their mental health. In fact, 62% say their organization does not provide resources for mental health and 67% say their workplace culture does not allow for open dialogue about mental health.
Mental health is very real, and it needs to be included among other top safety protocols for workers. It doesn’t matter if they work in the office or at home, employers need to listen to the call for safety training, especially when employees believe the world is more dangerous today than it was a few years ago.
“Employees everywhere experienced multiple crises over the past few years,” said Christopher Kenessey, CEO at AlertMedia. “These events impact how employees show up to work daily, and we’re seeing a growing desire among workers for employers to implement a more integrated and hands-on approach to ensuring their safety, regardless of whether they’re working in the office, from home, in the field or while traveling for business.”
Now, that’s not to say employers are sitting on their hands and doing entirely nothing when it comes to safety. Employees understand that. Still, they just want their employers to understand the deeper reasons why many remain apprehensive.
Edited by
Alex Passett
