Proactive Recognition Programs That Work
Employers use many varieties of safety incentive programs: some work and some don't. What are some proven successful safety incentive programs?
- Safety Bucks: Supervisors carry safety bucks, and when they see someone doing something right, they reward them. The employee can take the safety buck to the company cafeteria for lunch, or they can use it at a local participating store to purchase items.
- Bonus Programs: When an employee identifies a hazard in the workplace that could cause serious physical harm or a fatality, they are rewarded with a bonus check. In some cases the bonus check is a fixed amount. In other programs the bonus check is a small percentage of the potential direct cost for the accident that might have occurred.
- Safety Heroes: After an extended period of time, employees are rewarded with a certificate or bonus check for complying with company safety rules.
- Reporting hazards, incidents and injuries: Wait a minute: do I mean that employees should be recognized for reporting injuries? That's right. If employees report injuries immediately, they not only minimize the physical/psychological impact of the injury on themselves, they also reduce the direct/indirect accident costs to the company. Both the individual and the company win if the employee reports injuries immediately.
- Safety Leadership Programs: Employers recognize employees who show safety leadership by including comments about leadership in their performance appraisals. Other programs offer career advancement incentives that recognize employees who complete training and get involved in safety teams.
One last note: Because it's so important, we want to reemphasize that your recognition programs will be more successful if you include safety achievements in employee performance appraisals. Make sure you do this.
What about the suggestion box?
We do not recommend the use of a suggestion box because it's not effective most of the time and there are many reasons for that. Click on the buttons to see some reasons suggestion boxes don't work and to see some student feedback.
The suggestion box can be effective, but rarely is. But in most instances employees consider the suggestion box a useless joke, a waste of time, and proof-positive that management "just doesn’t care." Here are some reasons:
- Reviewers ignore the box: If the box is not checked frequently by reviewers, employees will think, 'Why bother? Management doesn't care.
- Frustration with suggestions: Reviewers may see suggestions as complaints of poor quality, and unimportant. However, to the submitter, the suggestion is always important.
- Untimely feedback: If safety committees, supervisors, and other reviewers take too long to provide feedback, the message sent to the person who submitted the suggestion is that the reviewers don't really care.
- No recognition: Reviewers ignore employees who submit suggestions. Employees who are ignored when they submit suggestions ALWAYS think the worst about the reviewers. Reviewers should acknowledge everyone who submits a suggestion, regardless of how minor they may think the suggestion is.
- Anonymity: When employees are told they can withhold their identity while making a suggestion, it signals that there might be a good reason to remain anonymous. Anonymity is a warning sign that a lack of trust exists. In a world-class safety culture, employees do not submit suggestions anonymously because they know that doing so only results in positive recognition: nothing else.
I set up a new suggestion box at my last office. Employees were informed it was there to use for any suggestions they may have. I would check it once a day and they could either sign their suggestion or not. All suggestions would be looked into and [the] person making the suggestion would be advised of the outcome within (5) days or, if the suggestion was unsigned, the outcome would be announced at our next safety meeting.
Because of the feeling it was all a big joke anyway and no one really cared, only one person in 12 months made a suggestion. I handled it just as I said I would. If the employee's suggestion was such that I could fix it without getting approval, I did so. Didn't seem to encourage others. The real problem was they had heard it all before and just didn't believe anymore.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
3-8. Which of the following will increase overall participation in safety recognition programs?
You forgot to answer the question!