Treat Your Health and Safety Reputation as a Business Asset

Today, information is spread at the touch of a button, and the modern public demand accountability and transparency. Rather than shy away from this, successful companies take advantage of it. Health and safety initiatives are used not only to avoid a bad reputation, but also to build a good one.

The companies at the forefront of this thinking treat their health and safety reputation as a business asset. They have built their success on a strong reputation for doing the right thing – and they like to report on it.

This speaks to the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR has become one of the standard business practices of our time, and is now a core strategy for any modern business, big or small. It is the process of building trust with consumers, partners, governments, suppliers, and employees.

Testament to this, a 2016 study found 64 percent of CEOs were increasing their CSR investment¹.

So how much is your business reputation worth? A 2013 survey from Deloitte found that damage to a reputation was the number one concern for business executives. In the 2014 edition, 88 percent of executives said they were explicitly focusing on reputation as a key business challenge².

The survey also found that reputation problems tend to have the biggest impact on revenue and brand value. Companies that experienced a negative reputation event said the areas which were affected the most included revenue (41 percent), loss of brand value (41 percent) and regulatory investigations (37 percent).

But it isn’t all about avoiding reputational disaster – it’s also about promoting a good reputation. The research suggests that a high level of trust within a company drives business performance by attracting new customers and retaining existing ones.

Not only can your safety reputation enable you to maintain your supplier relationships and win business tenders, it also helps to attract and retain your most valuable asset – your employees.

In a tight labor market, promoting a safe work environment is a valuable point of differentiation to your competitors. In fact, a 2017 study found that the safety of the work environment is one of the top criteria employees consider when assessing a job offer or position³. It found that potential employees rank safety ahead of other important considerations, such as the quality of potential coworkers, and opportunities for professional growth.

A good safety reputation can also be used to maintain and promote investor confidence, and develop positive stakeholder engagement. In fact, a 2007 Goldman Sachs survey showed investors were increasingly using workplace safety and health measures to screen out underperforming stocks⁴.

Read more How Does Safety Climate Affect Worker Behaviour?

¹ PWC, Redefining business success in a changing world CEO Survey, 2016
² Deloitte, global survey on reputation risk, 2014
³ Employers, America’s small business insurance specialist survey, 2017
⁴ Goldman Sachs, Good workplace health & safety = good investment returns, 2007