You may have heard that implementing ISO 9001 into your organisation can help to streamline operations, enhance profits, improve brand credibility and can further augment your marketing efforts, but were you aware that the standard is beneficial for your employees? In this article, we will outline the manner through which ISO 9001 benefits your employees.

What is ISO 9001?

The ISO 9001 belongs to a family of standards which focus on reducing inconsistencies related to product or service quality. The implementation of the recommendations of the standard helps organisations build a Quality Management System (QMS), that allows business owners to identify the needs of their customers and deliver high-quality goods or services. What makes ISO 9001 unique from other quality based recommendations is that it has international acceptance and recognition. Therefore, as you flaunt your ISO certificate, you can win tenders, boost credibility, enter international markets, increase stakeholder confidence and acquire new customers.

How does the ISO 9001 standard benefits employees?

Before we dive into the numerous benefits of ISO 9001 for employees, let us discuss its structure, so that you understand how it is advantageous for employees. To understand this, you must be aware of the ISO 9001 certification process. Essentially, ISO 9001 requires organisations to display seven quality principles in order to achieve compliance. This includes customer focus, relationship management, process driven approach, evidence-based thinking, continual improvement, leadership and employee engagement. Out of all these elements, when we are talking about the benefits to employees, leadership and employee engagement are the most important.

The standard requires organisations and its top leaders to demonstrate their leadership commitment by allocating adequate resources and engaging with employees. This means that if skill gaps are identified within the organisation, instead of hiring new employees, business owners must demonstrate commitment through conducting in-house training programmes. Similarly, the other element of employee engagement urges organisations to regularly collect the feedback of their employees.

As the management regularly begins to interact with the employees and take into consideration their opinions, the employees do not feel isolated from the organisation, instead, they feel as if they are a valuable part of the organisation. So to summarise, the standard dictates that employees are essential to achieving the organisational goal of enhanced quality in services or products, and therefore, leaders must provide them with the adequate resources to do their job well. Hence, ISO 9001 is advantageous to employees as it makes managers and top leaders support the employees in performing their jobs.

Benefits of ISO 9001 for employees

The following are the benefits of ISO 9001 for employees:

  • Improved employee productivity: The ISO 9001 standard makes the necessary adjustments to the processes so that the entire organisation improves and inefficiencies are ironed out. Moreover, the standard requires managers to provide clarity about the jobs, task description, roles and responsibilities in addition to providing adequate resources to support employees in performing their tasks. When the frustrations related to the job are eliminated, employees become more productive.
  • Lesser stress: As the workplace becomes more efficient, inevitably, it becomes happier and less stressful. Frustrations often build up due to lack of clarity and sometimes, managers are unaware when situations reach a breaking point. Here, ISO 9001 is helpful in two ways. Firstly, as managers regularly take the input of the employees, they are well aware of any points that may be infuriating. Secondly, as processes become slick, and directions become clearer, employees do not get frustrated performing their jobs.
  • More encouragement: Like discussed above, a key principle of quality management in the ISO 9001 standard is engagement of people. This element encourages managers to include juniors in areas or businesses that would have been traditionally done by the management and senior employees alone. As a result, employees feel respected as individuals and valued as assets, making them more motivated towards your organisation.
  • Employees in the driving seat: As employees are in the front line of the QMS, they can identify areas of improvement and this capability is encouraged through the implementation of ISO 9001. In majority of the organisations, employees can find ways through which the operations can be improved, procedures can be simplified and quality of service can be enhanced. Whenever they see a room for improvement, ISO 9001 provides employees with a process to provide their inputs. Through employee engagement, employees get a larger say in how the business operates by reporting problems and by helping create innovative solutions.
  • Job security: The main reasons why employees are quick to leave an organisation is when they feel undervalued. However, staff that receives training feels like they are more integrated into the organisation because they understand that their company is investing time and money to improve their skills-sets. This makes the employees more loyal to your organisation, provides them job security and leads to higher employee retention.

 

Conclusion

Out of the seven quality management principles, leadership commitment and employee engagement are the most valuable and advantageous to employees. The benefits of ISO 9001 for employees include job security, more encouragement, lesser stress, improved productivity and ability to contribute in the organisation.