How These 3 Boring Functions Can Actually Revolutionize Your Organization

Health and safety, risk management, and internal audit functions are often viewed as necessary but tedious bureaucratic requirements. However, if working properly, these functions can significantly benefit large organizations by improving their overall performance and effectiveness.

What each function does

At the simplest level, these three areas involve specialist staff 1. having a look at something, 2. making a judgement and providing advice, and 3. checking in later at an appropriate time. Of course there's a lot more to it than that and they each have different benefits for people and organisations, here's a quick summary...

One major benefit of implementing effective health and safety programmes is the positive impact they have on employees. A safe and healthy environment can improve employee morale, reduce absenteeism, and increase productivity. Typically this is done through identifying and mitigating potential risks, health and safety programs can prevent accidents and injuries, leading to a decrease in the associated costs such as worker's compensation claims. Promoting a culture of safety can improve an organization's reputation and help retain employees. In a more subtle sense, working with management throughout an organisation, health and safety teams can work to reduce ambiguity faced by workers, resulting in improved role/task clarity and personal wellbeing.

Risk management functions are equally critical. Often the benefits identified are limited to helping organizations avoid legal or reputational damage through identifying potential threats and managing risks. Risk management professionals should be working shoulder to shoulder with parts of the business developing strategy, oversite teams like internal audit, helping to support corporate structures enabling change like Digital or PMO areas. Risk can be a driver for identifying areas of investment external and internally - a strong link with innovation programmes is a natural fit for risk.

Internal audit functions play a crucial role in ensuring that internal controls and processes are effective and efficient. By identifying areas for improvement, internal audits can help organizations run more smoothly and reduce the risk of fraud or other financial irregularities while enhancing overall performance and helping to move culture towards being hungry for positive change. Strengthening the integrity of the organisation and visibly supporting improvement will grow trust and enhance delivery, boosting organisational factors likely to increase reputation.

Invest for success

Prioritizing and investing in health and safety, risk management, and internal audit functions can lead to significant improvements in an organization's performance and effectiveness. By taking a proactive and human-centric approach to risk management and internal controls, organizations can mitigate potential risks and improve their overall financial performance. Additionally, promoting a culture of safety and compliance can lead to a more engaged and productive workforce.

Achieving these benefits requires a significant investment in resources (and appetite to challenge the status quo), including employee awareness and technology solutions. It also requires a commitment from leadership to prioritize these functions and create a culture that values safety, risk management, compliance and improvement.

While these functions may not seem like the most exciting parts of an organization for everyone, they can have a significant impact on the wellbeing of employees and sustainable organisational performance.

I am privileged to lead a fantastic team of Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Internal Audit and Risk Management professionals and we don't think our work is boring at all - we are always trying to implement useful and innovative approaches to drive our personal and organisational improvement that ultimately will benefit our community (now and in the future).