Your Workplace Safety Reputation: It Matters More Than You Think
Table of Contents
Lowering customer attrition rates
Improving employee retention
A positive safety reputation
Working alone policy
Safety records
Invest in safety in the workplace
Benjamin Franklin once said, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” Hence, it’s crucial to continuously monitor and cultivate the public’s perceptions of your company. It's a fact that organizations with strong, positive safety reputations attract better people – both employees and customers alike.
Your company’s safety reputation is as much of an asset to your business as your employees, as your physical workplace and equipment are, and ultimately, as your bottom line is. What isn’t very well known is how impactful your reputation is on retaining customers and relationships, reducing employee turnover, and, of course, workplace safety. Here at SafetyLine, we always say that investing in workplace safety is the soundest safety investment you can make. As you read above, investing time, money, and resources into workplace safety impacts and benefits almost every facet of the organization, including its operations, and of course, its people.
Lowering customer attrition rates
A good reputation is a crucial asset in attracting and retaining customers. It plays a significant role in building loyalty, cultivating a sense of community, and working towards brand advocacy amongst customers. A positive reputation also provides a sense of reassurance and confidence that customers are making the right choice when they choose you. This is important at every stage of the customer decision-making process, whether it be information search and evaluation of alternatives, to making the final purchase and progressing into post-purchase processes. Especially if you are a company in the worker safety industry (such as SafetyLine), an admired workplace safety reputation is a glowing testimonial to the organization as you are not only talking the proverbial talk but walking the walk as well. A positive reputation acts as a reliable backbone to your organization that guides consumers through the purchase process. Furthermore, post-purchase processes require much less effort if customers are confident that they will still be accounted for even after making the purchase.
Improving employee retention
There are two sides to a brand’s reputation: industry and employee.
In order to hire and retain valuable talent, your company must focus on its reputation amongst current and potential employees. Simply put, in addition to your customers, a positive reputation helps you keep your employees around, too. When you consider training costs, hiring expenses, and lost productivity associated with new hires, the financial benefits of a low employee turnover over are huge. And with unprecedented numbers of workers now working from home and remotely, safety must be reevaluated as well as new safety hazards in the new work environment. Now, more than ever, companies should be investing in safety for increased employee retention, alone – work safety has become a significant issue since the pandemic started. A positive reputation has a positive impact on employee morale and overall satisfaction with employment at your company. If employees feel safe, happy, and proud to be a part of a particular organization, they are unlikely to shop around for a better position at a different company.
A positive safety reputation
So, what components have to come together to make up a good safety reputation? In addition to positive employee relations, consistency, good communication, and a sense of community, a safe work environment is essential. First and foremost, if you don’t provide a safe workplace for your employees, no one will want to come to work. Ask yourself: what is your company’s reputation for safety? Chances are, if you are only doing what you need to meet minimum legal requirements, you’re not doing enough. Likewise, if your company is only reacting once an incident has occurred and not taking any preventative, proactive safety measures, it’s time to re-think your strategy and time to look at the big picture of your workplace safety. In summary, positive safety culture is cultivated through proactive safety measures. SafetyLine gives you the tools to work towards this and prevent incidents before they happen. With SafetyLine, your company will be confident in its abilities to monitor and locate employees and resolve situations when emergencies happen. Our emergency panic button, motion-activated safety features, and check-in monitoring will enable your company to deliver an effective safety monitoring service 100% of the time.
Working alone policy
One common factor with all organizations that have positive safety reputations is that they all have developed and implemented lone worker safety policies within their remote and telework team. A lone worker safety policy ensures that all relevant safety protocols and systems are documented, communicated, as well as implemented consistently and regularly. Not only does a well-developed lone worker safety policy act as a reliable go-to guide for workers to follow, but it also shows that the organization cares about its employees and is proactively taking action to increase their safety, even if it is not legally required.
There are a number of steps organizations must take when developing their policy, including the first action of creating a policy purpose statement or paragraph that outlines why this was created, how it benefits workers, and how it complements company values and goals. Thankfully, we have a lone worker policy template available to help guide you through the process.
Safety records
In order to demonstrate their success as a safe place to work, organizations must regularly update and report their safety record. As a whole, the organization’s safety reputation benefits greatly from a positive safety record, but so do the managers and workers who are putting the safety protocols into practice, resulting in a safe and productive workplace.
Additionally, by looking at past safety records and how safety work safety can be improved, the organization can foresee or anticipate any accidents before they happen. Because of this, it is very important for an organization’s to documents as many details about the safety-related incident as possible. This includes:
The circumstances and 5 Ws of the incident/emergency.
Who
What
When
Where
Why
Any relevant safety training and education the employees have received.
Hazard assessments were performed in the discussed workplace.
Any emergency response plans.
Invest in safety in the workplace
Overall, a company that values safety will catch the eye of valuable clients and employees alike. Not only will a good reputation for safety build positive brand perceptions, but it will keep those around that matter most to you (your customers and your employees). A reputation for safety is something that can so easily be damaged; whether it is a careless accident, poor reaction time, or an incident that's handled badly - your company’s ability to provide a safe workplace environment for its people is essential. Investing in an automated safety monitoring system like SafetyLine not only shows people that you care, but it will also truly serve as a mechanism to keep your people safe.