Ensuring employees' safety should be regarded as the company's primary responsibility. They are the company's assets, and business operations are not possible without them. A safe and healthy working environment benefits the company and eliminates the possibility of illness or injury costs, personal injury claims, etc. Health and safety training for employees takes place to prevent the worst from happening. Moreover, making their safety the company's priority boosts employees' morale and productivity.
On the other hand, every company has to achieve profitability as the primary financial goal to ensure smooth, balanced, and successful operations. It makes sure to increase revenue with a higher value than the operating expenses. Thus, companies need to achieve their financial goals to keep the company going and avoid financial consequences along the way. When worst comes to worst, companies tend to choose meeting their financial goals as the topmost priority.
The recent research of the Journal of Accounting and Economics primarily talks about the adverse effects of meeting its financial goals and increased illnesses or injury rates. It states that the company's financial goals hold more importance than the employee's safety. Judson Caskey, UCLA Anderson of Management Associate Professor of Accounting, and N. Bugra Ozel, UT Jindal School of Management Assistant Professor of Accounting, worked together to conduct a study from the 14 years of the workplace safety data from OSHA. They ensure to look closely over the relationship between financial analysis forecasts and illness or injury rates.
Caskey and Ozel discovered that the sudden changes in operations to increase revenue showed a direct impact on the employee's number of injuries. The higher the employee's workload with the sudden decrease of relevant expenses to successfully meet or even exceed the forecasts resulted in higher injury and illness rates among the employees. Thus, the companies wanted to ensure financial goals are in place, unconsciously compromising employees' safety. The more pressure the employees face, the more mistakes and errors. The more they are being rushed, the higher the risk for possible workplace-related injuries.
The reality of this situation is indeed an eye-opener to businesses and employees as well. The key to finding the balance in between is to change the current mindset. Having the right mindset can lead to countless possibilities without sacrificing the company's essential elements. It is not enough that companies prioritize employees' safety as it is proven to be more than that. It is time to include safety as the company's core values. That way, nobody has to be sacrificed, forgotten, or disregarded.
It is time to see it on a bigger scale and realize how it is beneficial to every business' overall health. Reducing any losses encourages improvement in the quality of work; thus, increasing earnings and employees' productivity. Companies should not take any aspect for granted. Knowing the direct relationship between the financial goals and employees' safety falls into one thing: finding the right balance and working towards achieving it, no matter how challenging it is.
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