When Beyond Blue’s CEO, Georgie Harman, recently spoke at Comcare's Psychosocial Health and Safety Forum, she pointed out that while employers and company officers are often skilled at designing systems and processes, they frequently overlook the importance of simply sitting down with workers and asking, ‘How does it feel to work here?’
They tend to forget to ask workers questions like, ‘Is your job clear? Have we designed your job well? Are your workloads manageable? What would make a difference to you on a day-to-day basis? What do you think some of the solutions are?’
Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) are uniquely positioned to ensure that meaningful consultation occurs with a focus on work design and organization, rather than just resilience training and yoga classes.
‘I think we've all got to get better as leaders of just going back to those basic tenets of just listening and talking and sitting and reflecting,’ Harman said.
‘It doesn't cost a thing, right?’
Source: OHS Alert, 11 October