The day-to-day work of cleaners can include some of the most harrowing or emotional tasks imaginable. From servicing the wards of palliative-care patients to removing blood and waste matter at sites where violent attacks have occurred, such work is not for the faint-hearted.
Cleaning industry veteran Lorraine Rogic, managing director of Logic Business Resources, says there is a renewed focus on workers’ health and safety that extends beyond merely looking after their physical health. This means that cleaning industry leaders cannot ignore psychosocial risks.
“Managing such scenarios starts in the pre-employment phase,” Rogic says. “Leaders and HR personnel should now incorporate psychosocial assessments to see if, for example, a forensic cleaner can go in and clean up a suicide site and still be able to go home to their family at the end of the day in a healthy mental state.”
Creating a healthy culture
Psychosocial safety (see below) has become a real buzz term in cleaning and other sectors as companies seek to keep employees happy and healthy.
To effectively manage psychosocial hazards, they should adopt a proactive approach. This includes:
- Risk assessment – identifying issues such as excessive workloads, lack of support and poor communication, then addressing them before they escalate.
- Support networks – providing access to mental health resources, counselling services and employee assistance programs (EAPs).
- Workplace culture – fostering a positive work culture that values open communication, inclusivity and work-life balance.
Lesley Vallance, director of human resources consultancy Holistic Growth Solutions, notes that Safe Work Australia published the Code of Practice for managing psychosocial hazards in 2022. It ramps up workplace health and safety laws and puts the onus on employers to formally assess and manage psychosocial risks.
The code makes it clear that employers must adhere to a raft of rules, including:
- identifying potential psychosocial hazards in the workplace
- performing thorough risk assessments for potential psychosocial risks
- developing and implementing plans to control psychosocial risks
- consulting with workers when identifying hazards, assessing risks and deciding on control measures
- maintaining comprehensive records of all activities related to psychosocial risk management.
“It’s very much about pushing past that kind of sentiment where people believe that mental health problems are a weakness,” Vallance says. “We still have some challenges within workplace cultures where that is something that people do feel. We need to break through that idea and really it should be led by companies and leaders showing initiative.”
She adds that bosses and managers need to recognise the telltale signs of a worker who is under psychosocial stress, such as changes in behaviour, social withdrawal, refusal to accept help, lower energy levels and a reduction in the quality of their work.
Taking the lead
Jenny Boymal, a client engagement partner at HR consultancy The Proven Group, agrees that businesses have a clear and ethical responsibility to look after their staff.
She says most employees have not developed the tools to ensure they possess “psychological elasticity”.
“When they come up against challenges or experience stressors in their life, whether they’re at home or work, they don’t have a good toolkit that they can count on,” Boymal says.
She advocates four responses from management teams that can make a difference:
- Foster stronger leadership practices – while most employees report to a senior manager or executive, Boymal says too many leaders do not have the skills to “proactively lead”. “Yet we know that the leader has more impact on an employee’s workplace experience than anyone else.”
- Provide role clarity – with many employees having out-of-date position descriptions, there is inevitable confusion and stress with their work. “When you’ve got two people whose roles cross over and neither of them knows who actually is responsible for a particular project, it creates tension,” Boymal says.
- Embrace a definitive business strategy – if leaders of an organisation are unclear on the direction of the business, Boymal says employees will lack purpose and direction, which can affect their mental health.
- Live up to your values – although many cleaning companies display their values on a website, Boymal says the practice is often a marketing tool that is not truly embraced internally. “When you don’t live by those values, there’s not that congruence and people really struggle.”
Ultimately, according to Logic, effective risk management and strong communication between leaders and staff can prevent many psychosocial risks.
“A lot of mental health challenges that feed into the psychosocial aspect of hazards in the cleaning industry can be eliminated by showing that we care. When people see action being taken, that in itself can reduce stress and anxiety.”
What to do?
For cleaning contractors managing large groups of employees, Rogic says there are some very practical steps that can be taken to minimise psychosocial risks.
For instance, it makes sense to incorporate high levels of rotation for staff who are engaged in especially stressful roles. “That means you are not over-exposing anybody to situations that can have a negative impact on them and their health.”
Bosses should also be in regular communication with their teams to identify staff who may be struggling. Logic says having disparate teams spread around multiple sites is no excuse for a lack of contact in an era when video calls require just the click of a button. “Why is it hard to make a phone call, or to Facetime somebody, or to do a Zoom call?”
Vallance agrees that communication is crucial so leaders know their workforce and what is important to individual employees. In this regard, staff surveys can be helpful. “Surveys often don’t work because people are reluctant to answer questions that might implicate them as an employee. So, I’ve always insisted on making these surveys anonymous because you’re then going to get the facts.”
She says worker expectations have changed over the years, and a healthy and safe workplace culture is now a huge driver for recruitment and retention. “People have seen that there’s more important things than money.”
For cleaning industry workers who are exposed to especially stressful or confronting roles, Boymal says it is essential for management to put in place specific structures and measures to address potential issues that could emerge. This includes having regular check-ins with vulnerable workers and ensuring that incident reports are submitted after hazardous events.
Armed with information, bosses and HR teams can make smart decisions about staff seeing counsellors and maximising the impact of EAP sessions.
“There’s not a prescriptive way for dealing with problems,” Boymal says. “But there’s an opportunity to involve the people and really develop a plan and processes that proactively support the psychological safety of employees.”
Worth the effort
Vallance says in a psychosocially safe workplace, employers should be able to say ‘yes’ to questions such as:
- Do I feel safe sharing my thoughts?
- Can I voice my opinions without fear of retribution?
- Am I comfortable admitting mistakes and learning from them?
For cleaning companies navigating psychosocial hazards and wondering how to respond, she advocates gaining certification through the ISSA Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) advanced by GBAC, which outlines the procedures and principles to be considered in designing and implementing quality management programs for cleaning organisations.
“The CIMS certification is such a great framework and it really does set businesses up for success,” Vallance says.
Although it requires significant effort to create a psychosocially safe work environment, Rogic says there are clear payoffs.
“You’re going to have a higher level of job satisfaction, you’re going to have reduced absenteeism and turnover,” she says. “You’re going to have fewer people going on workers’ compensation and you’re going to get better quality of work.”
What is psychosocial safety?
Psychosocial safety in the workplace includes factors such as work-related stress, job satisfaction, work-life balance and interpersonal relationships. It involves creating an environment in which employees can express themselves
without fear of negative consequences and where they have the support and resources needed to handle job demands effectively.
The benefits for employees: enhanced wellbeing and productivity, lower risk of mental health issues, and higher job satisfaction.
The benefits for employers: superior organisational performance, reduced absenteeism and presenteeism, and better legal and ethical compliance with workplace health and safety rules.
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash
