How a workplace health and safety program can help your business

As a business owner, you know the importance of keeping your people safe. Not only is it a moral responsibility, but it is also a legal one. In addition, having a good health and safety program in place makes really good business sense. It helps to reduce absenteeism, improve employee morale, and ultimately boosts productivity and revenue.

Here we explain in more detail why having a health and safety program in place is good for business:

Improved morale and less turnover

As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers are finding it a real challenge to attract and retain talent. The “great resignation” saw many positions vacated – and employers have been finding those positions difficult to fill.

Having a good health and safety program in place is one way to show your employees that you care about their well-being. This sets the environment for better employee morale and lower employee turnover.

Reduced absenteeism

When employees are ill or injured, they need to take time off to recover. This, in turn, will mean lower productivity for your business because either you will have fewer workers to cover a given task, or you will need to spend more time training the workers that are covering for your injured employee.

A health and safety program that incorporates preventative measures means that there will be fewer job-related accidents or illnesses and, therefore, less absenteeism.

Better customer service

Many employers don’t think about their health and safety program as directly impacting customer service, but it does.

For example, suppose you have sales reps who regularly deal with the same customers. In that case, having those people on disability leave can lead to customer service inconsistencies. But even if you don’t have sales reps per se, any employee that deals directly with the public will likely provide much better customer service if they enjoy their work and feel valued by their employer.

Positive brand reputation

In a world of social media and online reviews, your company’s track record for health and safety can make it into the public eye.

Having a health and safety program is good for your company’s brand and reputation. And since many consumers today want to work with ethical companies that have good reputations, this could be extremely important to your bottom line.

Lower premiums on your workplace safety insurance

Finally, having a health and safety program in place can help to save your business money. Like most types of insurance, if you have to make a claim on your WSIB or WCB insurance, it could cause your premiums to go up.

Making safety a priority in your workplace reduces the potential for accidents (and therefore claims), thereby saving your business money.

Contact TeksMed today

Although you do your best as an employer to keep your workers safe, there may still be times when employees become ill or injured and you need to have a disability management and return to work program to support your employees. Contact TeksMed today to learn how to get these programs in place before you need them.