Logistics is a fantastically rewarding industry in which to forge a career, but working in such a fast-paced, dynamic environment is not without its drawbacks, which can pose challenges to maintaining employee health and wellbeing. Nick Grinnell explains…
Happier, healthier employees work harder, take fewer sick days, and stay with a business for longer – that’s a fact. So, you may be asking yourself:
Improving employee wellbeing requires putting it at the heart of everything your business does, constantly asking with every business decision: ‘How will this affect our people?’
In practical terms, it looks like:
Businesses that achieve all these things benefit from more loyal, more committed and more motivated staff that work harder and smarter, boosting profitability and enabling increased resilience and innovation.
Operating in such a demanding, time-critical and cost-critical sector provides an additional challenge to logistics businesses striving to maintain a focus on employee wellbeing.
The well-intentioned desire to meet and even exceed client expectations, especially during peak periods, can easily mean such ‘nice-to-haves’ fall by the wayside in the rush to ‘get the job done’.
But if logistics is to remain an attractive sector in which to work in the buoyant post-Covid job market, then wellbeing must continue to be at the forefront.
Wellbeing in the workplace can be broadly split into initiatives that focus on the following areas:
Physical health
Focus on safety and comfort, providing your employees with good quality workwear, appropriate PPE and comfortable footwear. Educate your teams performing repetitive tasks and movements on how to avoid developing musculoskeletal disorders by taking regular breaks and stretching out their muscles. Enforce a mandatory lunch break, and provide water coolers so workers can stay hydrated throughout the day.
Find out more: Read our blog on reducing musculoskeletal disorders in logistics.
Mental health
Promoting good mental health in the workplace requires employers to take time to understand the causes of poor mental health and the risk factors for their employees, both within and outside of the workplace. Employers should encourage regular, open conversations about mental health at the whole-organisation level as well as at the level of individuals and their line manager or supervisor. Information, tools and signposting to further support if needed will help encourage employees to seek help if they are struggling.
Safety
Workplaces that pay little mind to employee wellbeing often have a poor safety record, with more reported accidents and near misses. To avoid this, work with your employees to identify potential risks, plan to mitigate them, and to effectively document and learn from any incidents. By involving employees in the process, you’ll ensure nothing is missed, as well as reinforce the importance of safety in the minds of your workforce.
Talent identification and training
Investing in your employees’ careers will pay dividends in terms of their loyalty to your company and their work ethic. Provide staff with a clear path for progression, and offer regular, relevant training to keep their skills fresh.
Employee engagement
Ensure good communication with staff, providing positive company updates that come from the top and recognise and reward successes achieved on the front line. Wellbeing ‘champions’ and employee groups will help foster a sense of belonging and can flag up issues that may not otherwise come to the attention of management until it is too late.
Community and volunteering
People increasingly want to work for businesses that give something back to the local community by way of charitable donations or volunteer work. Allow your employees to suggest causes close to their hearts, and ask them for suggestions on how your business can help others.
Businesses that see the best results in terms of employee wellbeing will have in place a programme of initiatives that together targets all of these areas.
At iSB Group, we work closely with clients to advise them on the specifics of improving wellbeing in their workplace, and to provide them with everything they need to keep their employees safe, happy and healthy at work. To find out more about how we are creating safer, happier workplaces, give our team a call.