Many of the attendees came into the session unsure about what is a ‘Psychosocial hazard’. What impacts our employees ability to perform at 100%? In majority of cases it’s their personal lives, So what can we do as employers to support people that are being impacted by a personal situation, what are the potential risks to our businesses and how do we prevent or mitigate these risks.
The session was led by Andrew Douglas from M+K lawyers and Dr Natasha Lazareski from PsyFlex and clearly outlined the legalities in a practical setting; finding the balance between our legal rights as an employer, and our moral obligation to keep each other safe.
So often in work places phases such as ‘oh that is just how they are’ or ‘stay away, he is in a bad mood today’ are accepted and not given a second thought. This session outlined the potential risks under those comments. What is causing the bad mood? what is the behaviour that makes others uncomfortable? is this impacting how much focus that employee or others have on their jobs? and if it causes a distraction what is the risk to our business? Distractions lead to injuries, so why do we accept these comments rather than talking about it with the employee to understand the potential risks. In most cases it’s the front line leader that picks up these observation but does not have the tools to have the conversation or the next steps once they have the information.
Providing our frontline leaders the education to identify behaviours, have conversations and understand their obligations and avenues to prevent and mitigate risks, will provide the ability to identify potential risks and offer support without causing defensiveness or concern. Creating a culture in the workplace that asking ‘Are you ok today, I am noticing this different behaviour’ is normal and expected; by building engagement into our teams so people will be open about any concerns that may impact their work.
For me the big take-out is trust, we need to build into our frontline leader group the power of trust so employees feel supported and comfortable to share information that may impact their ability to perform their duties and understand that the leader is not there to solve the problem but to provide a safe workplace..
Big thank-you to Form 2000 for hosting the event and making us all feel very welcome. A very valuable session that I hope becomes an key agenda item across all businesses in Australia. Just because the hazard isn’t physical doesn’t mean we avoid a significant risk to providing a safe workplace.
Kerry Dykes HR Business Partner – Operations, Sugar Australia