We talked a lot last year about workplace culture making a difference in helping people get back into the workplace after an injury or illness. (And till you tell us, “Alright! We get it!”, we’ll be talking a lot more about it in the future too).

Let’s remind ourselves what it actually is about workplace culture that is important in return to work, and what is it about workplace culture that improves an employee’s sense of wellbeing.

As supervisor, manager and RTW coordinator, you can influence this culture, remembering that an organisational climate –that is, the employee’s overall impression of how their organisation is run – comes down to leadership practices and company procedures. These are the most important influences on workplace culture.

If you aren’t in a leadership position, you can encourage managers to improve their own wellbeing to influence the wellbeing of others by attending leadership training, executive coaching, or even counselling if they have a problem through the EAP Program.

It can be challenging to point out to a manager that their negativity is impacting staff morale. Yet it’s a vital part of doing business, particularly to enhance return to work outcomes. A ‘toxic’ manager can do enormous harm; helping that manager deal with the issues or become more effective in their leadership style can have a much greater impact than an enormous volume of time spent on individual case management.

The factors that influence workplace culture can be broken down into two categories: positive workplace culture is the result of both emotional factors and job satisfaction.

Interestingly, managers who have a good sense of humour, have lower staff turnover. They and their staff are happier, and are less likely to be stressed in the workplace.

Senior management leadership makes a difference, if leaders have a style of engaging staff, focusing on communication, and are clear about their aims and objectives, organisational well-being is improved and staff turnover is reduced.

In contrast, when the organisational climate is seen as dysfunctional, either overly generous or overly restrictive, and workplace culture is a toxic one, employees feel less sense of control over their job and are more likely to want to remain off work if they have an injury or leave the company for another workplace.

Employee wellbeing influences voluntary performance; that is, an employee’s discretionary effort. Employees who feel valued are more likely to volunteer to take on extra tasks, help others in need at the workplace, show initiative and loyalty, and promote the organisation to others outside the workplace.

Make 2010 a better year for your workplace by encouraging better return to work results, achieved through an improved workplace environment. Just plug the words ‘workplace culture’ into the RTWMatters search function at the top right-hand corner to find more information and advice on the topic.