Hi everyone,
I work in the convenience retail sector and we are looking at the possibility of introducing lone working in some of our stores. While we are also looking at the security aspects etc of introducing this, I was hoping to get some advice/thoughts on the below from a people perspective:
1. Do other similar businesses do this? If not, why?
2. Do you pay a lone working premium as an incentive?
3. How has this affected colleague engagement?
Any contributions are greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Leeanne
Replies
Hi Leeanne,
Interesting to see your post. We have just re-activated our Lone Working Policy. We are quite different to the retail business, in the sense that we have laboratories and furnace facilities on site, which means we do not permit lone working at any time. However, the problem we have is policing it since the lab spaces are downstairs and the office space where most of the line managers are, is upstairs. This is where strong management is key.
The way we have combated this as a problem, is by training two of the line manages in Health & Safety training who then took the responsibility for ensuring staff abide by the policy.
We don't pay any kind of incentive, because we try to encourage adherence to safety practices, we expect this to be followed as a basic requirement.
In terms of how engagement has improved or declined, I think many of our technical staff are reluctant to follow procedures, so there was a little bit of backlash, but its settled down now.
Not sure if thats of any help at all!
Good luck
Debbie