Task 10 - Workplace Stress

 Task 10 - Workplace Stress

Work-related stress might sound like a grim topic to have a conversation about; but it's inherently something that exists and may continue to harbour in this kind of workplace environment. Even if this is the case, it's important to know how to identify this, and work together to minimize the strains of the job from getting to you or anyone you know. In this blog, I'll provide a brief overview about Work-related stress and introduce preventative measures to mitigate the effects of stressors from building up in the current work environment. 

Work-related stress can have major impacts on health and safety. Workers experience stress when they perceive the demands of their work exceeds their ability or resources to cope. A worker can experience physical, mental and emotional reactions to their work environment. Their response to stressors at work may be positive or negative for their wellbeing; so it's important to know how to identify signs of workplace stress. 

Work-related stress can lead to illness, injury and decrease in business performance; and it's in everyone's best interest to keep the morale up in order to counter these symptoms. There are three areas to consider when assessing and identifying the workplace for potential risk of stress. These are:

• Organisational 
• Environmental
• Specific characteristics

Some common organisational stressors are: high work demands, having little control over your work, unsupportive supervisors or co-workers, lack of role clarity, poorly managed work relationships, poorly managed work procedure change, low levels of recognition and reward, and organisational injustice. 

Some environmental stressors are: noise, temperature and humidity, lighting, vibration, and air quality. 

In order to combat these stressors it's crucial to rethink some of the organisational and environmental setups in the workplace to better suit the needs of majority of the employees. Consecutively, the knowledge that people respond to demands of work in different ways is important; as every employee has a limit, and this should not be breached.  

In general, workers will benefit from: a combination of challenging work, a supportive atmosphere, adequate resources, and a healthy workplace environment; where stressors around the office workstation can be minimized. 

Managing workload is an important aspect to consider; and if we all can work together to meet these targets, both as an organization and as individuals, we'll be able to simulate an almost stress-free environment. One which is accepting, and one where personal growth can be achieved.

Ramandeep Singh

Task 19: Cost Benefit Analysis of Safety aspects

 Task 19: Cost Benefit Analysis of Safety aspects

Work, health and safety is extremely crucial to adopt, and the funding relating to this should not be necessarily skimmed as the cost benefit of safe engineering could essentially decide the performance of an entire organization in the long run. Therefore, the aspect of amending safety measures in the workplace to provide a safe environment is what the team at Navitas Professional Services strives for. 

Cost Benefit Analysis is a methodology for valuing costs and benefits that enables broad comparisons to be made and imposes an accounting framework that prescribes classes of benefits and costs to consider, means to measure them, and approaches for aggregating them. It's basically the monetary or safety valuation of the risk of performing a task vs. benefit of performing the task. The advantages and disadvantages of following this analysis are provided in the following two paragraphs.

One of the advantages of performing a cost benefit analysis is the ability to recover costs from health care and workers compensations costs as illnesses, injuries and fatalities decline. Companies that invest consistently in safety realize positive bottom line results, reduced absenteeism, lower turnover rates, higher productivity, increased employee morale and a positive brand image. The direct benefits of performing the analysis include: costs savings, saving of time, expenditure on medical care, reduction in the costs of accidents, reducing insurance premiums, reducing litigation costs, reducing sick costs, improving production, productivity rates, lowering accident rates, and reducing material damage.

The initial costs of implementing safety measures and hiring safety consultants might be insurmountable for start-ups and small companies; which can initially be seen as a disadvantage (although this cost can still be recovered over some period of time). Implementing the right safety measure is important; and sometimes the consultants might not get it right, which could cost the company financially and public relations could be strained. 

The main advantage of performing a cost benefit analysis is the ability to gain clarity in unpredictable situations. The act of defining and listing these costs is a valuable exercise, forcing you to identify and evaluate each upcoming expenditure. Organisations will be able to gain benefits such as increased overall productivity and quality of the products over a normal financial life cycle; and therefore, implementing Cost Benefit Analysis in every organisation is beneficial in the long run, and hence recommended. 

Ramandeep Singh