ISO45003 as a basis of your Business Strategy

The role of the leader in any workplace is to provide support , openness and trust to their team and enable collaboration and hence growth to the team and the individuals in it.

A good leader empowers their team to achieve more as a unit whilst striving to push individuals in their own personal ambitions. If you get this right, when an employee tells you that they are moving on, there is a sense of pride that they are going on to bigger and better things and that you, as their leader, has contributed to the success and played a positive role in their journey. If you get it wrong, then the employee leaves to get away from a toxic work environment, and you are left with a sense of guilt and questions of why they have leave.

Building a psychosocially safe working environment starts with this support and trust from the leaders. Ensuring there is a connected workforce who understand the purpose of their job and how it relates to the business objectives drives a sense of belonging and camaraderie. Where the leader serves the team, rather than the team feeling that they are serving the leader without a feeling of worth or value in their own job.

ISO45003 was released earlier this year and identifies 13 psychosocial factors in the workplace, ranging from Organisational Culture through leadership and to psychological protection. Familiarising yourself with these 13 factors and ensuring that your leaders use this standard as a benchmark to good practice is a great way to achieve the working environment where employees thrive and business excels.

The standard is not a Health and Safety or People Department document. It is a guide to a better business strategy. Getting these things right and in place means reduced attrition, reduced absenteeism and reduced presenteeism. It means improved morale, improved innovation and improved growth.

Start with increasing awareness at leadership level. Develop a better work culture and build resilience and coping skills to provide early intervention to any potential issues. These become preventative measures which will reduce the need for recovery systems and potential workers compensation costs.

Psychosocial safety in the workplace is not a nice to have. It's a good business strategy.