Caring goes beyond the law

Duty of care refers to the legal and ethical responsibility of business leaders to protect and safeguard the well-being of their employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Duty of care applies to all aspects of business operations, including workplace safety, data protection, and environmental sustainability.

It is a very legalistic term and one that is often seen more as an “enforceable” obligation than genuine care and commitment. People may explain it as doing the “right thing,” but a genuine duty of care goes beyond our moral and legal obligation to ensure the wellbeing of others it speaks to the very heart of your organisation and can define your culture, values, and purpose.

In a workplace context it is about taking responsibility for present and future wellbeing of staff, the organisation, and the community. Organisations who foster and support an intrinsic belief in duty of care and promote and support self-accountability do so in many ways by demonstrating a values-based approach to the staff and culture issues.

Equality, fairness, corporate responsibility and dare I say empathy are the behaviours of leaders who live duty of care.

With the advent of the psychological safety act (Australia), we are starting to see the far-reaching impact on organisations (financially, reputationally and brand) and their people when organisations do not do the” right thing.” We only have to look to the recent fines in Victoria to see the long-lasting impact on the organisations not just from the fines/criminal charges and reputational damage but from the impact on culture and the well-being.

Who wants to work for an organisation that has just been fined for breaches in psychological safety? Is that sending out a message you are doing the right thing by your employees?

Statistically, mental injury claims are increasing. Over the past five years, claims have increased more than 20 per cent in Victoria and are expected to grow. The average time off work for a mental injury is over 15 weeks, while the average duration of a claim is over 37 weeks – double the average of any other claim. The average cost of a mental injury claim is approximately $220,000, more than doubling over the last decade. (Black dog- report for this year’s federal budget).

This is just one area where your legal duty of care must translate into genuine care.

The first element is to understand, accept and implement your personal duty of care and ask yourself:

·???????? How do you know what you do is aligned to the relevant legislative, financial, industry and organizational values, standards, and strategic goals and expectations?

·???????? How do you keep yourself current with changes, updates and new knowledge and requirements?

·???????? How do you seek to understand needs and demonstrate care within your own role responsibilities?

Policy and training are important, but without insight and a focus on awareness of self, they are limited in value. If you cannot describe and achieve your own moral or legal standards, how can you understand how to act appropriately to ensure the wellbeing of others?

As a leader you must take steps to make sure that you build a culture of open communication, where people feel safe expressing any concerns regarding their work environment. You need to be on the lookout for psychological hazards such as long hours, bullying, lack of support, non-collegiate behaviours, trauma in the workplace, conflict, unreasonable expectations of outcomes or productivity, signs of domestic violence, as any of these that can negatively impact an employee’s mental health.

People genuinely want to come to work and contribute their best work and feel recognized. Psychological safety is about creating an environment where employees feel comfortable expressing themselves, sharing ideas, and challenging the status quo without fear of retribution.

When psychological safety is present you will see:

·???????? Enhanced innovation and creativity – employees are encouraged to think creatively and contribute their ideas which leads to a much more progressive organization.

·???????? Better engagement levels: Employees and teams who feel safe tend to be more motivated, have self-accountability and value.

·???????? Growth mindset- individuals who feel safe want to learn and grow from mistakes and take on higher levels of challenges.

·???????? Active collaboration- healthy debates, sharing of ideas, support for each other’s learning, active curiosity, different perspectives, better problem solving,

Duty of care is not just about the law, it is about what you approach every day and how the outcomes of these actions impact others, now and in the future. As you progress in your career, there is less structure in how to meet your role responsibilities and accountabilities. Developing your capability in duty of care is a key factor in your broader ability to make better informed decisions while balancing the human, cultural, strategic, financial, and legislative covenants of business.

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Jeannette is an executive HR professional, board member and chair, executive coach and change leader.? Want to find out more about the Business acumen course: https://the-business-acumen-course.mn.co/

You can contact Jeannette on 0417257204 or [email protected] or https://pepperminthr.com.au/

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#duty of care #trueleadership #humanresources #culture #engagement

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