Prioritize your people’s psychological health, safety and well-being
Prioritize your people’s psychological health, safety and well-being
Prioritizing the psychological as well as physical health, safety and well-being of your people reinforces trust and demonstrates to internal and external stakeholders that you are doing the right thing.
It’s essential to reinforce the psychological contract - the unwritten bond between worker and employer that unlocks motivation and potential - and supports both engagement and performance.
Unlocking your people's potential enhances organizational resilience, boosting innovation, creativity and agility.
Investing in social capital through a sense of belonging
Good relationships – at work and at home – provide the ‘social capital’ and sense of belonging required by individuals to maintain good mental health and engagement.
This incorporates the promotion of effective communication and social cohesion within the workplace to support good work relationships and engagement, and outside the workplace with family, friends and community.
Four key measures of success at this stage include:
- Consultation and participation
Through active listening, acting on what employees have to say and checking in regularly to see if it’s working.
- Collaboration and positive relationships
From leaders and line managers through to colleagues and contractors, positive relationships are built through openness, honesty and respectful two-way feedback.
- Work/life balance
Valuing and protecting time with family through flexible and hybrid working practices is one of the best ways you can build trust and show respect for people at all levels of your organisation.
- Social engagement
Recognizing the value of social engagement helps strengthen the bonds you share with your colleagues and community - not just through annual celebrations but through fundraising and giving back.
Building esteem through appreciation and recognition
Esteem is a critical step in reaching fulfilment. One of the reasons so many organizational well-being initiatives don’t bring long-term benefits, is that organizations fail to recognize this.
Esteem needs are driven out of the human desire for social acceptance and status – this is driven by external factors (e.g. being treated fairly, renumeration which reflects effort) and internal factors (e.g. self-confidence, competence, autonomy).
Four key measures of success at this stage include:
- Fair and respectful workplaces
When you have a voice in your company, everyone benefits. Organizations that embrace diversity and inclusion allow ideas and innovation to flourish.
- Effort/ reward balance
Recognizing your hard work and expertise is at the heart of building esteem. Appreciation - through positive recognition and opportunities to grow - creates loyalty.
- Career development
Providing ongoing learning and development instills a mindset of personal growth; and ensures that your organization has the skills to be future ready.
- Autonomy
There’s nothing like the feeling of being trusted. Empowering people to choose where, when and what to work on can maximize success by releasing creativity and expertise.
BSI experts insights
Make your people’s psychological health, safety and well-being a priority.
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Episode 7: Prioritizing people means delivering social value >An interview with Martin Townsend, Director for BSI Centre of Excellence for Sustainability
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Industry commentary and news >Read more insightful interviews on our blog page
