Safety and productivity go hand-in-hand with any successful company. Business leaders who want their operations to work like a well-oiled machine should focus on training and communication to ensure that their teams can work at a high level and feel confident in their every decision. Here are the five tips to consider when you want to increase productivity in the safest way possible.

This week’s article is written by the wonderful Katie Brenneman. Thank you, Katie, for writing this for me.

Learn About Issues At Your Workplace.

The first step is to look around the office or warehouse and find potential threats or issues that may cause harm and hamper the employee’s ability to function. For instance, if your workplace requires a lot of constant movement, going to and from desks or production floors, eliminate clutter on the ground that may hurt an employee or require them to take a longer route, which in turn, slows down their work.

Another issue that can cause harm and hamper productivity is using digital devices at work. If your employees bring cell phones into the office, they could be so distracted that they trip or could fall into another employee. If they’re using smartphones at their desk, they won’t be focused on their work, and their productivity will likely dip. Look at all potential red flags so you can speak to them and create a better workplace.

Train How To Avoid The Issues.

Once you’re aware of the significant issues, it’s time to educate the team. To truly reduce human error, it’s necessary to have continuous training sessions throughout the year, especially when a new threat is found. Educate your teams on how to use the equipment at your office, and once a safe routine is established, create a standard operating procedure that each employee must follow when they use that tool.

Since everyone at the office is busy, some folks may forget a safety protocol or the best way to bend and lift merchandise, so put up safety checklists and posters around the office. Your employees can refer to them when they walk by. If they notice that someone in the office is doing something incorrectly, they can identify it and take the proper actions, which may include correcting the behaviour or going to management.

If you want your employees to excel in their work and not have to call out due to injury or stress, then continuous training must be a part of your regular routine.

Communication Is Key.

The next best way to keep your teams productive and safe is to have a culture of constant communication where your team feels comfortable expressing concerns. If an employee is completing a task in a way that will slow down the project or lead to injury, then your workers should feel comfortable enough to approach them and talk about the issue at hand.

Management needs to create a safe space for open communication. Encourage the employees to talk to one another and also to approach their supervisor with ideas. Your staff is on the ground floor, so they can see first-hand when a task could be more streamlined and if they believe a piece of equipment or a process may be dangerous. You need to have an open-door policy and welcome all feedback, and once you get it, actively listen and provide a solution.

When your employees can openly communicate and are part of the process, they’ll feel appreciated, and they’ll want to keep sharing their ideas. The ideas they provide can make their lives easier and potentially lead to increased corporate profits.

Improve Mental Health With Streamlined Processes.

While there are plenty of physical dangers around any workplace, it’s easy to forget how your workplace may be creating anxiety or mental health issues. Employees can start feeling stressed and anxious if they’re working too hard and are scheduled for long hours without the proper breaks or time to rest. In addition to being stressed, when your employees are tired, their work will also struggle, and your company will suffer as a result.

Mental health can also suffer when an employee is constantly assigned unnecessary tasks or has to complete repetitive work all day long. The minutiae can be very stressful, so you need to look at the workflow and make the necessary tweaks. Have your management team take a deep dive into every process your agents complete and then have them look for areas of improvement where they could reduce repetition, eliminate unnecessary multitasking, and ensure the employees aren’t working too long without breaks.

You may even find a chance to automate many menial tasks and take them completely off your employee’s plate, so your workers can focus on more important functions. On top of that, they won’t get headaches completing all that repetitive work.

Put Training Materials On the Cloud.

Finally, ensure that your team always has the necessary resources at their fingertips. The best way to do that is by adding all training documents to the cloud so that employees can access them anytime, even if they work remotely. With the information readily available, the employees can complete their tasks on a timely basis and not stress out about not having what they need.

It’s essential that you identify all potential risks and start training your staff today so they’re confident in everything they do and they don’t worry about their mental and physical health. Make it obvious that you want your employees to succeed, and you may find that they return the favour with outstanding work.

Katie Brenneman is a passionate writer specialising in lifestyle, mental health, education, and fitness-related content. When she isn’t writing, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or hiking with her dog, Charlie. To connect with Katie, you can follow her on Twitter.

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