Safety incentive plans have the potential to influence the entire culture of an organization in a very positive way when implemented correctly, but on the flip side, when they fail, they can have lasting consequences.
Take for example an organization that rewards a group or department for going 30 days without an accident, OSHA recordable incident, or Workers’ Compensation claim. In this situation, safe workers are penalized for the unsafe actions of others, and this system will lead toward animosity and ultimately underreporting of incidents.
If you missed our overview of safety incentive plans, it is worth a quick review as well.
The first two steps are critical to setting the baseline for a successful incentive plan. So much so, I wanted to take spend some time elaborating and provide a sample template.
Step 1: Keep Rewards Small. Money isn’t always the answer, and for most successful incentive plans, giving money isn’t the most productive or cost effective course of action. Here are some suggestions for small, cost effective rewards.
- Hats or logo apparel
- Tickets to events
- Small personal items
- Awards or letters of commendation
- Verbal Praise
- Office items
- Tools
- Special duties
- Job selection preference
- Participation in special programs
- Time off
- Preferred parking
- Commuter tokens or passes
- Lunches
- Coffee
- Lottery tickets
- T-shirts
- Mugs
- Points which can be accumulated and exchanged for larger rewards
Step 2: Involve Workers. The easiest way to involve workers is with a survey. Soliciting feedback from employees as to what their favorite rewards might be, and the degree to which they would enjoy them is a great way to involve workers and customize incentive plans specific to an employee.
Here is a link to a template that you can use for soliciting employee feedback through a survey.
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