Mental health directly affects employee productivity. Psychological stress can have a significant negative impact on performance, so creating a psychologically safe workplace should always be a priority for any employer.
With a strong correlation between flexibility and happy staff, one of my biggest tips for creating a high-performing, loyal workforce is to encourage a flexible workplace. Happy people are productive people, and a flexible employer gets results.
Letting people work hours that go best with their lifestyle is key. People appreciate being able to choose hours at their own discretion, particularly those with big responsibilities at home (for example, parents and carers).
Location flexibility is also beneficial. Removing a long daily commute can really reduce stress levels, especially as it allows more time for rest or exercise. Additionally, a noisy office can be hard to concentrate in, so for someone who needs a quiet environment, it's great to be able to just work from home that day if it is beneficial. I have found this very helpful myself when writing reports.
Ultimately, productivity is what matters. There should be systems in place to quantify work and review performance. However, how employees hit their targets can be flexible. As long as they are meeting their KPIs, when or where they're clocking on and off isn't important.
My own work life is very flexible and autonomous.
I began working at Konekt Workcare in 2020, when, like a lot of people, I had to deal with COVID-19 challenges such as home schooling, a lack of boundaries between work and home life, and so on.
The flexibility we were given to choose whatever schedule suited our circumstances was amazing. As a mum, I could arrange my hours depending on my family needs. It still became a bit too much for me to manage full-time work with everything else, and I was grateful to be allowed to go part-time for a few months.
I can personally attest that happy workers enjoy their jobs. They produce quality work and meet their goals. They also stay with the company for much longer, which means less money gets spent on recruiting and you end up with employees who are great company ambassadors.
Konekt Workcare is an injury management and prevention organisation, with a key part of our work being helping injured workers return to work. Our customers in the corporate sector include CBA, ANZ, Telstra, Virgin Air, NSW Government and DVA.
When working with clients in the return-to-work space, we try very hard to return a worker to the employer that they were working with at the time of the injury as our first priority. In this way we minimise the loss incurred by all parties.
Where this is not possible for medical or other reasons, we work closely with a worker to identify the skills and interests they have and how they will match with a new role. We then help to prepare the worker physically and mentally for a role shift and help them to source and secure appropriate work that meets their needs.
We also make sure that we communicate agreed plans and goals and synthesise medical and psychosocial information coming from the many stakeholders involved in a case.
Our consultants treat each case with an individual and holistic approach that looks at the unique barriers each client is facing and uses a strong clinical framework, to help them overcome these barriers. It is very rewarding!
Our team is led by welcoming, open and supportive management. You can learn more about job opportunities at Konekt here, and subscribe for more articles on rehabilitation, healthy workplaces and helping employers create productive and happy workforces.
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