To find out more about how exactly health and safety violations at work can damage the reputation of a business, Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Audrey Tang, a chartered psychologist, media spokesperson and author of multiple books, including "Be A Great Manager Now", "The Leader's Guide to Mindfulness," and "The Leader's Guide to Resilience,”.
Dr. Tang explained that there exists a strange phenomenon called the "Service recovery paradox" where if a customer's trust is breached by the company and the company is able to fix the issue, the customer is more likely to be more loyal than if the breach had not occurred in the first place.
“It is possible that this may also apply to the employee of a company. If there has been a breach of trust and it is rectified, it is possible that trust within the organization can be retained, and in turn, this can result in more favorable publicity,” Dr. Tang explained.
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According to the psychologist and book author, it is also possible that when an organization has truly learned from its errors, we might appreciate its genuine growth and ability to feel remorse and make changes. “Although it would depend on how serious or life-changing the outcome is of the breach in all cases - there will be many people from the thalidomide tragedy or the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster who may be less forgiving even now,” she added.
Incredibly, research into trust has shown through brain images that when trust is destroyed, you can actively see certain neurological links fade. “And as a development from that, restitution seems to be the most effective way of rebuilding - but as I said above, when the consequences of the breach are so great, how possible is it to restore what has been lost?” Dr. Tang wondered.
However, when it comes to rebuilding trust after safety breaches, there’s a lot to be done. Dr. Tang argues that it would be possible in the scenarios when a sincere apology and acceptance of wrongdoing is given. Moreover, there has to be clarity in the procedures to put it right, as well as evidence that changes have been made.
In a previous interview on a similar topic, Dr. Tang told Bored Panda we only have a finite amount of energy we can devote to productive work within a day... "We know when we are ill, for example, that ability to focus diminishes and performance suffers - if a workplace is making someone sick, you have already reduced productivity (not to mention breached the trust of the employee), but also, even if an employee is worried about something they have noticed that is awry, their own mind will be distracted and in turn affect performance,” Dr. Tang argued.
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Interestingly, there are many “hygiene factors” at work that directly affect the satisfaction of their employees. Dr. Tang explained that such hygiene factors include things like working conditions, behavior of immediate management, and the physical workspace.
“More recently, research into organizational health speaks of 'psychological safety' as another element of health - at least emotional and mental health(!) - in the workplace,” she said.
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Dr. Tang also said that “if a worker doesn't feel psychologically safe, i.e. they don't feel heard, or perhaps they are criticized all the time, perhaps they don't feel they can ask if they need support. This can be hugely detrimental to motivation, retention and performance - not to mention the employee's mental and emotional wellbeing."
