Meaningful consultation for Psychosocial Risk
Consultation is one of the most underutilised tools in businesses and organisations. The most frequent complaint I hear from people about their workplace is that communication is limited and they feel unheard. Poor communication is wasteful. Different workers necessarily see different pressure points and opportunities across the various levels of an organisational structure, and that information is valuable. Furthermore, the opportunity for leaders to engage and inspire their workforce through strategic sharing of information is a key benefit of deploying a well-planned communication process.
I respect that many ideas won’t be feasible due to constraints that frontline staff aren’t aware of and that there is much information that cannot be distributed through the entire organisation. Strategic information distribution that funnels pertinent information where it is needed drives innovation and improves psychosocial safety and culture in the workplace. Communication strategies don’t just convey the information within; they also imply the relationship with and status of the workers receiving the communication. While information handling is a day-to-day operations issue, the same ethic regarding communication becomes even more important when developing and documenting a response to psychosocial safety under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act, Qld.).
“The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) requires duty holders to consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with others who have a duty in relation to the same matter; and to consult with workers who carry out work for the business or undertaking (1).” This consultation process needs to include safety representatives and union representatives, and all kinds of workers (full-time, part-time, casual, contracted and contractors) that come on site need to have a way to provide feedback on changes before they take place and need to be informed of how feedback influenced the decisions once made. This is the minimum bar for conducting consultation. The changes to legislation that have now reached maturity and represent high fine risks to the business and to PCBUs (persons conducting a business or undertaking) require meaningful consultation, so why not gather rich data while this process is underway and also take the opportunity to reset or cement your organisation’s culture around communication and build rapport with your workforce? This doesn’t add to the expense of the consultation and represents added value for the money spent.
Using the “what, who, how, when” framework from FairWork (2), when conducting consultation for the development of psychosocial risk mitigation policy and strategies the “what” is a two-way communication in those early stages. The organisation can generate buy-in by communicating implicitly that workers and the information they have about their workplace are valued and will be genuinely considered throughout this process. An emphasis placed on information about worker stress points and needs, rather than clear solutions will aid in eliciting information to generate mitigation strategies without the expectation that worker’s feedback will directly guide policy. This will also encourage workers to express concerns that they think are unsolvable, which can be difficult data to obtain, but it is in the gaps or perceived gaps that true innovation can occur. Many workplace accommodations are not well known; workers may not be aware that they can ask for tools that aid their productivity and safety at work.
This is the kind of consultation process that IDEA HR Consulting specialises in. Drawing on research experience, an understanding of psychology in the workplace and knowledge of how to implement accommodations, I can tailor packages to develop psychosocial risk compliance strategy that also builds organisational communication. Contact me for a free briefing on how I can add value to necessary risk mitigation for your organisation.
Taz Clifford
Principal - IDEA HR Consulting
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