Incentives: Is Behavior the Key to an Effective Program?

Many employers implement safety incentive programs as they seek to recognize and reward employees for practicing safe and healthful work practices. While incentives are popular, they aren't always effective. Simply rewarding employees to “work safely” or to “not get injured” doesn't address the actual cause of injuries.

How is an employee supposed to know what, if anything, he needs to change? A more effective approach may be to provide incentives based on defined behaviors. Motivating, recognizing and rewarding those behaviors likely will yield desired safety results.

Most safety incentive programs reward workers for “working safely” over a given period of time. This commonly is associated with a particular outcome such as “working a year without getting hurt” or similar goal. Consequently, employees work toward that result.

If motivated by cash incentives or peer pressure not to “ruin” the company's safety record, employees may use any strategy to achieve the desired result, including withholding injury reports. This can lead to more severe injuries in the future. An employee may choose to ignore a minor injury until it becomes so severe that he or she has no choice but to report it.

In these instances, the actual number of injuries in the workplace may decline, but the severity of each reported injury increases, and becomes much more costly.

RIGHT MOTIVATION

On the other hand, if an incentive program rewards workers for using safe work procedures and practices or participating in safety activities, the behavior is recognized before an accident occurs. This helps prevent accidents. The key is to motivate desired behavior that proactively promotes and fosters safety at your company.

There are various motivational influences in the workplace that can have dramatic effects on an employee's behavior and may ultimately determine whether an employee works in a safe or unsafe manner. Most employees desire acceptance, self-respect and recognition. If these needs have not been met, an employee's primary focus might be on meeting these requirements first; working safely will be secondary.

Recognition has the effect of motivating desired behaviors. We do what we do because of consequences. If a behavior yields desired results, we'll likely do it again. However, if it yields undesired results, we'll likely think twice and avoid that behavior in the future.

As such, rewards must be meaningful enough to motivate employees.

RIGHT WAY TO RECOGNIZE

It's not the nature of the reward that is most important. Again, what is most important is that appropriate behavior is recognized in a meaningful way. This is done by making the recognition timely (immediate), consistent and certain, significant and sincere.

Timely — Does recognition occur soon after the performance? If rewarded too late, the worker may not make the connection between the safe behavior and the reward. By rewarding employees soon after the performance, it reinforces the desired behavior.

Consistent and certain — Are employees certain they will be recognized for safety performance? Be sure to consistently enforce policies and procedures and to reward and recognize in line with established incentive program guidelines. If an employee feels like he or she can get away with unsafe acts because no one will notice, the employee may also feel like his or her safe behaviors or participation will be unnoticed and ultimately not rewarded.

Significant — Are recognition and rewards considered significant/meaningful to employees? Ask supervisors, or even the employees themselves, for input. What will motivate workers? Find out, and then make an effort to provide rewards and recognition that you know the employee will strive for.

Sincere — Are the motives for recognition and rewards perceived as sincere? Often, and perhaps more so in today's economic climate, workers are cynical and might suspect underlying motives for a safety incentive program and the “so-called” rewards associated with them. Workers may feel as though you are trying to get them to work harder for the same amount — with little benefit to them. As such, the overall benefits of an incentive program (e.g., a safe workplace) need to be conveyed to employees.

Also, when managers and supervisors recognize employees in a sincere manner, workers will perceive the act as leadership. Consequently, this will help improve the working relationship between labor and management. This partnership is a necessary element for an effective safety and health management program.