• Industries
    • Major Capital Projects
    • Construction and Infrastructure
    • Manufacturing
  • Services
    • Transformation Consultants
    • High Integrity Turnarounds™
    • Safety Consultants
    • Leadership and Organizational Performance
    • High Performance Projects™
    • The School of Coaching
  • Impact
    • What Clients Say
    • Client Results
  • Insights
    • Articles, Blogs & Poetry
    • Press Releases
    • Events
    • Transformation Talks Podcast
    • News
  • People
    • Senior Partners
    • Partners
    • Managing Consultants
    • Board of Directors
    • Founders
  • About Us
    • Our History
    • Our Vision
    • Our Perspective
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Let's Talk

Engaging the Workforce Is a Key to Health & Safety Excellence

Published by JMJ Associates at October 22, 2018
JMJ Associates Logo
Latest News
  • From the Web

Engaging the Workforce Is a Key to Health & Safety Excellence

Latest Blogs

Oct 22, 2018


Dr. Fulwiler will be presenting a keynote address at EHS Today’s Safety Leadership Conference 2018, “Engagement–The Path to Health & Safety Excellence.” The conference will be held Nov. 6-8 in Louisville, Ky. For more information, go to safetyleadershipconference.com.

The most recent Gallup Poll of the State of the American Workforce, a survey of more than 195,600 workers, found that only 33% are actively engaged, 16% are actively disengaged, and 51% are simply not engaged. Engaged workers are highly involved, enthusiastic and energized about their work and workplace. Not-engaged workers are emotionally unattached to their work or workplace and not energized about their work. Actively disengaged workers tend to be unhappy, resentful and counterproductive.

I found this to be absolutely startling but also a tremendous opportunity to improve not just health and safety results but also other critical business outputs. I first became interested in transformational leadership and the topic of engaging the workforce in 2010 when the Gallup Poll showed 28% engaged, 19% counterproductive and 53% not engaged. Looking at Gallup’s data over the past several years the numbers vary but on average seem to be about 30% engaged, 20% actively disengaged and 50% not engaged.

A 2016 Gallup survey found that engaged workforces had 41% lower absenteeism, 59% lower turnover, 17% higher productivity and 70% fewer safety incidents. The Gallup survey found that, “engaged employees become emotionally and psychologically attached to their work and workplace. As a result, their individual performance soars, and they propel their team and organization to improved crucial outcomes such as higher levels of productivity, safety and quality.” Specific to safety they found, “Engaged workers are more mindful of their surroundings, more aware of the safety procedures and diligent about keeping their coworkers protected.”

Gallup’s comprehensive survey of the workforce presents a convincing argument for increasing the number of engaged workers in the workplace. But how is that accomplished? The simplest answer is getting their heads and heart in the game. This is best accomplished by establishing a mutual self-interest (MSI) between the employee and the employer. This requires a transformation in the leadership of the organization, be it a for-profit or nonprofit, understanding the need to become more transformational and less transactional.

A transactional leader tends to be focused on the output, not those creating the output, while a transformational leader focuses on both the output and those producing the output. In other words, a transformational leader focuses not just on the work but also the worker. Not surprising, senior leadership tends to be skewed to the transactional side of the scale. Enlightened leadership recognizes the importance of becoming more transformational in their leadership style.

It is helpful at this time to say a few words about work systems. I had the privilege to work in a company that saw the importance of putting high-performance work systems in place. A high-performance work system is all about engaging the workforce in the entire work process, including such critical areas as cost, quality, production and safety.

I’ve chosen to simplify the concept of work systems using two simple stick figures, as shown in Figure 1 below. The figure on the left describes a traditional work system that will yield about average or below average results. The worker is not engaged and in fact could be actively disengaged. The figure on the right describes a high-performance work system that will yield well above average to excellent results. What’s the difference? Getting the workers’ head and heart into the game, or in other words getting the workers to become engaged in the work process and/or creating mutual self-interest.

Read the source article at EHS Today


View All Press Releases

Ian Hedding CSO JMJ
Press Releases
JMJ Associates Welcomes New Chief Sales Officer, Ian Hedding
JMJ Associates,
Jeff Williams CEO JMJ Associates
Press Releases
JMJ Associates Announces New CEO, Jeff Williams, Marking a New Phase of Development and Growth
JMJ Associates,
JMJ Sponsors Construction Safety Week 2020 for the seventh Consecutive Year
Press Releases
JMJ Sponsors Construction Safety Week 2020 for the Seventh Consecutive Year
JMJ Sponsors Co
JMJ Rehires Senior Consultant, Brian Betti, in Americas Region
Press Releases
JMJ Rehires Senior Consultant, Brian Betti, in Americas Region
AUSTIN, TEXAS,
JMJ Appoints Business Development Director in the Americas Region, Jim New
Press Releases
JMJ Appoints Business Development Director in the Americas Region, Jim New
Austin, Texas



From the Web

Your Coronavirus Questions, Answered by Experts
Coronavirus From the web
Your Coronavirus Questions, Answered by Experts.
With the coronavirus sending us all indo
coronavirus
From the web
Working from home because of coronavirus? Be careful what you download to keep cybersafe
Welcome to the new normal: working from
Increase engagement through communication
From the web
Increase engagement through communication
Safety training sessions and conducting
Dr. Fulwiler will be presenting a keynote address at EHS Today’s Safety Leadership Conference 2018, “Engagement–The Path to Health & Safety Excellence.” The conference will be held Nov. 6-8 in Louisville, Ky. For more information, go to safetyleadershipconference.com

JMJ
  • Corporate Headquarters
    Arboretum Plaza One
    9442 N. Capital of Texas Highway, Suite 450,
    Austin, Texas 78759
  • +1 (512) 795-0795
  • Email Us

Industries

  • Rail
  • Construction
  • Manufacturing
  • Energy
  • Mining
  • Logistics
  • Aerospace
  • Water and Environmental

Services

  • Incident and Injury-Free™
  • High Performance Projects™
  • Safety Consultants
  • Leadership and Organizational Performance
  • High Integrity Turnarounds™
  • The School of Coaching

Locations

  • Americas Office – Austin
  • APAC Office – Singapore
  • EMEA Office – London
  • Middle East Office – Doha
  • Kazakhstan Office – Atyrau
  • South Korea Office – Seoul
  • Australia Office – Perth

Connect

  • linkedin
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
Privacy | Terms of Use | Trademarks | Accessibility | Cookie Policy | Feedback | Site Map |

© 2020 JMJ Associates LLP. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of JMJ Associates content or logo, including by framing or similar means, is prohibited without the prior written consent of JMJ Associates.

    Start Unlocking Human Performance


    Arrange a call with one of our consultants today. Please complete your details below:

    • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
    This site uses cookies to provide you with a more personalised service. By using this site you agree to our use of cookies. Please read our cookie policy for more information on the cookies we use and how to delete or block them.Accept Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled

    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

    Non-necessary

    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.