Effective Tools for Engaging Employees in Creating Comfortable and Safe Working Conditions

Employee Engagement: From Trendy Concepts to Real Results

In modern HSE, the concept of a "safety culture" is inextricably linked with employee engagement. However, in practice, many companies face employee passivity and resistance to change. In this webinar, Pavel Mitrokhin, Head of Environment and Occupational Safety at Oriflame (Russia and CIS), shares his experience in creating a system where initiative comes not only from the top but also from the employees themselves.

The speaker explains how a corporate portal and a continuous improvement program help not only reduce injury rates but also create comfortable working conditions, increasing overall production efficiency.

A Comprehensive Approach: Health, Comfort, and Safety

The foundation of engagement at Oriflame is a corporate portal that combines HSE and healthy lifestyle (HLS) topics. The speaker emphasizes that caring for employee health is not just a trendy concept, but a working tool to increase loyalty and productivity.

• Promoting healthy eating and physical activity: From smoothie-making masterclasses using a stationary bike to regular yoga classes and workplace gymnastics. This helps reduce fatigue and improve concentration.
• Emotional well-being: Training in time management and stress reduction techniques (e.g., the "three important tasks" rule) allows employees to avoid burnout and focus on truly significant tasks.
• Transparency in HSE: Quarterly meetings discussing audit results, incident investigations (using the "Five Whys" method), and best practices build trust and an understanding of the importance of following the rules.

Idea Submission System: How to Make It Work

The presentation details the process of implementing a continuous improvement system. Initially, initiative came from only 5% of employees (management), while the rest remained indifferent or even resisted innovations.

To solve this problem, a transparent system for submitting and evaluating ideas was developed:

• Simple algorithm: An employee fills out an idea form (aimed at improving working conditions, saving money, or modernization) and hands it to their manager or drops it in a special box.
• Clear evaluation criteria: An expert council (including production managers, technologists, and HSE specialists) evaluates the idea based on parameters such as purpose, adaptability (applicability to other areas), required resources, implementation speed, and economic impact.
• Financial motivation: Each accepted idea is awarded points, which have a financial equivalent. This encourages employees to look for unconventional solutions to the problems they face daily.
• Mandatory feedback: Even if an idea is rejected (e.g., due to legal violations or unjustifiably high costs), the employee receives a detailed explanation. A lack of response is the main demotivator.

Sharing Good Practices

Since Oriflame is an international company, sharing successful experiences plays a key role. The corporate portal has a Good Practices section where implemented ideas are published.

Using several successful cases, the speaker shows how simple solutions can significantly improve safety and comfort:

• Infrared temperature measurement of electrical equipment: Using thermal imagers (an idea from China) to prevent accidents.
• Visualizing hazardous zones: Installing additional redline lights on forklifts to mark their movement boundaries.
• Lightweight PPE: Purchasing lighter hard hats and footwear, as well as replacing high-visibility vests with reflective t-shirts for warehouse workers.
• Automated cleaning: Using window-cleaning robots, which eliminates the need for working at heights.

What You Will Learn from This Webinar:

• How to overcome employee resistance and engage them in improving working conditions?
• What criteria should be used to evaluate employee ideas to filter out ineffective ones and reward useful ones?
• How to build a transparent financial motivation system for rationalization proposals?
• What simple and inexpensive solutions (Good Practices) can be implemented in production tomorrow?
• How a corporate portal helps combine HSE, healthy lifestyle, and emotional well-being topics?