Managing A Workplace Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Why the checklist? If all you do is put out fires – you are bound to run out of water! You are more strategic and more apt to succeed if you mitigate the chance of a workplace wildfire through proactive thought and planning.

Here is a checklist – quick and dirty, yes and no. Run through it quickly and give yourself an honest appraisal. What’s missing in your overall safety and wellness strategies at work, and what can you do?

  1. Is there a workplace policy and strategy for stress prevention at work? When was it updated? Who else knows what the policy states for stress prevention at work?

  2. Are there procedures to prohibit discrimination and for treating employees fairly? If so, what are they? What is still needed?

  3. Is informal communication encouraged between managers and employees and amongst the employees themselves? Where do you see the evidence of it in your workplace? When was the last time you were part of that type of communication?

  4. Is training provided to raise awareness of respectful conduct? When was the last time? Is it online in exclusion or together for an interactive experience and discussion?

  5. Are there checklist procedures to deal with workplace violence, abuse, and harassment? How often are you seeing it used? Do all the managers and supervisors know how to prevent it and deal with it if it occurs? (policies and manuals do not imply individual knowledge)

  6. Is a rapid and culturally sensitive intervention available to help those involved in offensive behavior? Do they know it exists? Should you update posted material and send fresh emails to educate?

  7. Are working areas in the workplace organized to protect employees against violence from clients or the public? When was the last time you ran an inspection with that in mind? It’s great that you have a safety committee – but do managers take the time to SEE the workplace?

  8. Is there seamless communication between supervisors and employees to discuss any concerns within the workplace? What are they? Who has used them in the past six months? How did it turn out? What could you do to determine the level of satisfaction of the parties?

  9. Are employees informed regularly about important workplace decisions using adequate means? How would a random selection of 50% of your employees answer this question? Do you know the answer to that question?

  10. Is there an organizational framework and strategy to prevent offensive behavior and deal with it promptly and adequately if it does occur? Can you describe it? Could your CEO or Managing VP? How does preventative differ from responsive?

We designed these questions to trigger thoughts about the health and safety of employees at work. Unfortunately, the downside of not having positive answers to each of the questions above is that the employees within the workplace become disengaged, which can spell trouble.