Understanding leadershipMay 6, 2016
Workplace health management: employers and works council must act together
Workplace health management is in companies' own interest
People are a non-copyable resource for companies. Their experience and skills are unique and hard to imitate. As intangible assets they represent enormous corporate value that competitors cannot copy—unlike machinery, software, management methods or capital strategies. It is therefore in the interest of every rationally acting employer to maintain and improve employees' capacity to work and perform. That includes designing working conditions and leadership structures in a human-centred way, supporting people to become and stay healthy, and advancing development and training. Forward-looking companies must also build a reputation as good employers and respond to the growing wish for work–life balance and challenging job content. Workplace health management measures are often introduced in this context. So much for theory, where employer and employee interests could at least go hand in hand on these points. Many companies have recognised the need to develop their human resources; demographic change and the real "war for talent" have persuaded even stubborn corporate representatives to rethink.Workplace health management as a field for works and staff councils
In practice, only relatively few companies implement workplace health management seriously. Broad success is hardly achievable through further state regulation. Additional rules help works councils invoke more legal frameworks when exercising co-determination rights—but that barely helps people's health unless all parts of the company are truly mobilised. Companies are not monolithic. WHM champions do not always prevail; controllers often have the upper hand over HR. Employee representatives should therefore support WHM advocates at all levels—even from among senior executives.Workplace health management as a change task
Introducing effective workplace health management is a highly complex change task. For WHM to work, everyone involved must be fully committed. Employees must be able to co-design and bring WHM to life. All staff, together with the works or staff council, must be involved early and comprehensively so WHM can grow organically. Key people—employee multipliers, managers, works council members, occupational physicians, etc.—must act together as engine and motivator, nurturing the emerging WHM. They must provide impetus and advance concrete processes. Employees must be empowered and encouraged to take part and shape things themselves. Through experiences of self-efficacy, people will develop "their" WHM and gain more personal responsibility and commitment. Only with motivated, engaged staff can the WHM change process succeed sustainably. Enthusiasm arises where people are genuinely asked—not merely "convinced" or entertained. Employers and works council must jointly organise such a general WHM push. Poison for this process of trusting cooperation is a political bird's-eye view with blanket blame that ignores diverse workplace reality.Teilen:
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