7 Causes of a Sick Workplace

There are 7 common causes of how our workplaces become ‘sick’ with employers often oblivious to the warning signs. 

Jason works on the production line of a manufacturing business and he relies on the workers before him on the line to provide him with quality product so he can perform his job and he needs to do the same for the workers after him on the line. 

One day there is a change of factory manager and she is new to their industry and keen to prove herself , rapidly implementing changes that don’t make sense. 

Jason and his work mates become increasingly frustrated, and it doesn’t take long for some of them to resign. However Jason stays because his family needs him to keep this job, but every day becomes more difficult for him as the manager hires unskilled workers or people who don’t’ even show up. 

This puts massive pressure on Jason and others who have stayed and workplace accidents and staff taking sick days is becoming more and more common. 

This is a story of how bad hiring decisions can make a workplace sick.

Employers are legally mandated to provide healthy and safe workplaces, and we also have a societal responsibility to support diversity and inclusivity whilst promoting mental and physical wellbeing.  Taking care of business this way results in reduced profit seepage through improved employee engagements, greater employee retention, reduced absenteeism, significantly reduced personal grievances, improved customer service and better business resilience.  

We spend more than ½ our awake lives in the workplace so if we all enjoy quality working conditions, we will create stronger communities. 

So let us briefly look at 7 ways our workplaces become sick. 

1. Bullying in the workplace is often measured by the number of incidences but one incidence is too many and employers need to aim to uphold a zero-tolerance policy of this insidious disease. 

2.  Indifference and indecision are productivity killers whether these are acted out by employers or employees. 

3. Recognition and feedback are important for employees because everyone needs a sense of value and belonging in the workplace whether someone prefers a simple pat on the back or a more public display of recognition. 

4.  Lack of clear career pathways doesn’t allow employees to envisage a future with a business.  Businesses can expect to retain an employee for 3 - 5 years but without a career pathway an employee’s tenure will be much less resulting in a negative ROI or Return On Investment.

5. Bad leadership negatively impacts all employee touch points in the business significantly reducing engagement and productivity. 

6. Lack of empathetic leadership disables growth, development, tolerance, and success. 

7. Poor Hiring Practices can be disastrous.  Your team’s success starts with great hiring decisions. 

There are many elements within a business causing workplace sickness, overwhelmed managers, social injustices, lack of training etc. and this doesn’t make the business bad but failure to address these issues makes for bad business. 

If you are a courageous employer, we can identify the strengths in your business and the opportunities for growth and development please contact us to find out more about rolling out our Digital Health Check with your employees.  It will give you true insights into your daily operations and I promise only good things will come of it.