Staff Retention Starts with Safety: How to Create a Workplace People Want to Stay In

Staff Retention Starts with Safety: How to Create a Workplace People Want to Stay In

In an environment where service demands are rising and the talent pool feels increasingly shallow, retaining great staff is no longer just a competitive advantage, it’s a necessity.

High staff turnover isn’t just a HR problem, it affects service quality, workplace culture, and organisational costs. When valued staff walk out the door, they take with them hard-won knowledge, relationships, and stability.

At Holland Thomas, we work closely with organisations facing these challenges, many of which are in high-pressure environments where staff are routinely exposed to occupational violence and aggression (OVA), emotionally demanding work, and client complexity. We understand that workplace safety and wellbeing are foundational to staff retention.

This article explores practical and actionable strategies to attract and retain high-quality staff by prioritising personal safety, workplace culture, and leadership.

Why Staff Are Leaving and What You Can Do About It

Staff leave for many reasons. Some are personal or situational. But the most influential and actionable factors are organisational. These include:

  • Job satisfaction
  • Perception of safety and wellbeing
  • Managerial support and leadership
  • Culture of respect and inclusion
  • Professional development opportunities
  • Workload balance and flexibility

The good news? These are within your control. And addressing them now helps you retain the right people before they walk.

Step 1: Redefine What a ‘High Quality Staff Member’ Means to You

Before you can retain the right staff, you need to define what “high quality” means in your context:

  • Are you looking for strong communicators?
  • Do you value resilience and emotional intelligence?
  • Is cultural alignment more important than years of experience?

Your definition may differ by department or role. But one thing is universal: once you identify who your high performers are, your goal is to create an environment they don’t want to leave.

Step 2: Ask, Then Act

Gathering insights from your team is a simple but powerful way to increase retention. Ask your people:

  • “What currently makes this a good place to work?” (Do more of it.)
  • “What would make this a better place to work?” (Start here.)

Open-ended staff engagement exercises can reveal deep insights about what matters most. Whether it’s better rostering, more leadership visibility, clearer debriefing protocols after incidents, or more structured conflict resolution in the workplace.

Step 3: Create a Culture of Safety, Not Just Compliance

Staff don’t stay where they don’t feel safe. And safety isn’t just physical, it’s emotional and psychological too.

From our work, one message rings clear: staff are more likely to stay in environments where they feel supported, heard, and protected.

This means investing in:

  • Managing aggressive behaviour training
  • De-escalation protocols and response frameworks
  • Clear incident reporting pathways
  • Consistent support after an incident

Providing training and support for handling OVA isn’t just good risk management, it’s an act of care. It shows your people that their wellbeing matters and that their safety is not up for negotiation.

Step 4: Build a Positive Workplace Culture with a Safety Lens

A positive culture isn’t table tennis tables or casual Fridays. It’s a shared sense of purpose, accountability, and care.

It’s about how your organisation responds when:

  • A staff member reports a near miss
  • A junior team member raises concerns about a client
  • Two staff members are in conflict
  • A worker shows signs of burnout

Culture is built in the micro-moments. Leaders who respond with respect, empathy and follow-through drive loyalty. Those who ignore, minimise or delay action drive resignation letters.

Make sure your culture:

  • Encourages safe workplace discussions
  • Promotes peer support
  • Has visible leadership engagement
  • Recognises emotional labour
  • Embeds wellbeing into the daily experience and not just into policies

Step 5: Offer Flexibility and Career Pathways

High performers want to grow. They want to know their efforts are seen, and that there’s a future worth staying for.

  • Flexible work arrangements show you trust your team and value work-life balance.
  • Succession planning demonstrates commitment to internal growth.
  • Learning and development programs strengthen capability and confidence.

These are not perks, they’re retention strategies. And when aligned with safety, inclusion, and value-driven leadership, they become powerful tools for long-term engagement.

Step 6: Recognise the Impact of OVA on Turnover

Exposure to occupational violence and aggression (OVA) is a leading reason people leave frontline roles.

Staff regularly subjected to verbal abuse, physical threats, or intimidating behaviour often feel:

  • Disempowered
  • Unheard
  • Unsupported
  • Burned out

Failing to address this exposure sends a clear (if unintended) message: “This is just part of the job.” But with the right support and prevention strategies, it doesn’t have to be.

Training in the safe management of aggressive behaviours, setting up safe physical environments, and ensuring meaningful debriefing support are essential to keeping your people safe, and keeping them, full stop!

Final Thoughts: Retention Is a Culture, NOT a Campaign

Creating a workplace people want to stay in starts with how safe, valued, and supported they feel, especially in times of pressure or challenge.

By focusing on workplace safety, psychological wellbeing, leadership support, and growth, you don’t just retain people, you will retain the right people.

 

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Travis Holland

Travis Holland
Managing Director
Holland Thomas

Should you wish to discuss strategies to improve your staff’s safety in their work environment, please feel welcome to contact Holland Thomas.

Passionate about creating safer workplaces our goal is to enhance wellbeing for all concerned, whilst also delivering improved operational and financial performance.

This blog draws on our years of experience delivering our M.A.B.™ Staff Safety Training (Contextualised Prevention and Management of Aggressive Behaviours) across Australia, and the development of My Safety Buddy, our smartphone app and web portal based lone worker safety system.