All organizations have their own culture, which makes them distinct from other companies. Workplace culture is essential because it links to employee hiring and engagement, retention rate, productivity, employee satisfaction, and other vital aspects of the business.
Company culture in a remote team, hybrid, or even in a traditional setup is essential, and it needs to be appropriately communicated. The first step in building a company culture is to have the proper communication strategy. With it, you will set the tone for everyone on what the company believes in, its values, and what kind of work ethics and leadership is expected.
For some companies, one of the values taught in their workplace culture is safety. A culture of safety is an organization’s shared perceptions, beliefs, values, and attitudes that combine to create a commitment to safety and an effort to minimize harm. Safety culture is crucial as it sets the bar high for everyone- that safety standards must be taken seriously and should be in place for all processes. Building a safe culture also promotes a sense of commitment and accountability for all employees to prioritize safety.
So what are the communication strategies that an organization can do to achieve a safety culture? Here are some tips.
Explain your current standing
First things first, if you want to improve your safety culture status, make sure to make everyone understand the company’s current status. This step can make everyone realize the strengths of the company’s strategies and areas of improvement. It can also help them be committed to the new plans that will be communicated.
Discuss the benefits of the strategies
There are many safety programs available, and each has its own benefits. Make sure to choose the best strategies based on the need of your business.
Once you have chosen the best strategies, discuss them with all the employees. Highlight the benefits of the plans and the reason behind the program. Make sure also to use positive communication instead of talking over the punishments for not following the rules and procedures.
Make the message resonate
It is not enough to introduce the safety plans of your workplace. Instead, repeat your messages over time. You can create regular schedules to reinforce the safety plans and get implanted in the company’s culture. You can also conduct several trainings and seminars for everyone in the organization to emphasize the importance of safety. The more you repeat and reiterate your message, the more it is to be remembered and implemented.
Use technology to communicate
Because of the rise of the hybrid working environment and remote workers, utilize communication tools so that everyone is on the same page. Have a collaboration tool wherein employees can connect and interact with each other. Employee engagement apps can also be maximized to place their suggestions and comments and create a buzz on safety. A project management tool can also be applied to stay on top of projects and tasks related to implementing safety.
Celebrate milestones and achievements
For a communication strategy to be effective, you should discuss strategies and reward people for a good job. Celebrate milestones, such as decreased workplace threats or a consistent implementation of safety procedures. You should also reward publicly those who strictly follow and give importance to safety. Share the story to everyone to get buy-in, then cite the individuals.
This technique improves employee morale and reinforces positive behavior. Soon, you may have more individuals engaged in the safety culture. You also get to strengthen a shared goal and create a strong organizational commitment.
There are different ways to celebrate achievements- you can mention someone in an online meeting, have an online program, inject mentioning it on quarterly reviews, or have a small event for this.
Follow-up with actions
Ensure that it is not just the strategy that is communicated. Sometimes, the plan fails not because it was not good but because of poor execution. Make sure that everyone knows the specific tasks. Get clear with instructions so that employees can do what is expected.
For leaders, ensure that your team members follow up with actions after listening or reading a communication on safety. Ask for their commitments and follow through on the status. If you don’t take safety seriously, no one ever will.
Lead by example
The best way to get everyone into the safety culture is for leaders to lead by example. From executives and top management to middle managers and supervisors, leaders should be the first to take it seriously. Leaders’ influence will make everyone follow what is being preached to them.
As they say, safety is everyone’s concern. It is not just the responsibility of the leaders or a specific department. Everyone should be involved in ensuring that the workplace is safe. An organization with a safety culture will benefit from it long-term.
Guest post by Regi Publico