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Reprint from Occupational Health
& Safety Magazine–
The Fun
Factor
by Buck Peavey
It began as a struggling startup company in an industry
of fierce competition. It is now one of the most envied companies
in the country.
It overcame giant competitors by being the most profitable in its
industry. It experiences the lowest employee turnover rate in its
industry, yet it compensates its people the least.
It is ranked #1 in customer service. It was rated one of the top
places in America to work by Fortune magazine.
Employees of this company love their jobs and love coming to work.
They are ranked #1 in airline safety and #1 in on-time arrivals.
The accolades go on.
This company thinks differently. What has Southwest Airlines figured
out that the rest of us haven’t? This company does not focus simply
on “business techniques,” it focuses on loving its employees, recognizing
them, and having fun playing games and celebrating success along
the way. They have found that techniques and recognition must work
together. Not only is their amazing success going down in history,
they have become the most envied company in the country. They have
indeed figured out the basics to business that some of us have overlooked
in our busy lives.
In our quick-fix, instant-gratification society, we have fallen
in love with techniques. Whether it’s getting in shape, quitting
smoking, creating better-quality products, or motivating employees
to work safer, we want techniques that are simple, fast, and effective.
Yet business systems that are technique-driven continually fail
to inspire and motivate people. Techniques have little meaning for
those who have not been inspired to use them.
That is why so many TQM, empowerment, reengineering, and yes, even
behavior-based safety efforts fail. These techniques lack
important and essential ingredients like spirit, excitement, fun,
love, and recognition. Without these ingredients, techniques are
simply a sophisticated and complex form of manipulation in which
we exploit our employees. The tragedy and irony in all this is that
we’ve got it backward. This is one of the reasons more and more
people are not happy at work. Employees will give it their all if
they feel loved, appreciated, and recognized. It is that simple.
When you give, people will give in return. This is not science,
you will not find it in a book (unless you are looking in the Bible).
It is the big picture of human nature.
When people feel they are recognized for their ideas and hard work,
they then can make the sacrifice to help others.
They then also express a willingness to genuinely and enthusiastically
embrace new technologies like behavior-based safety, TQM, empowerment,
and others.
Southwest figured it out. Now, it’s your turn. It’s time to tie
this proven thought process into creating the ultimate behavior-based
safety environment.
I believe in the concept behind behavior-based safety. It is crucial
to building a truly proactive safety environment. But in order to
get it to work, you must shift your focus to loving your people
and using techniques. To start creating a fun environment at work
by recognizing and rewarding your people whenever they accomplish
their goals.
Incentive programs can help you do this. Incentive programs have
been called gimmicks, payoffs, and even bribery. The critics can
call them what they want, but incentive programs have proven their
ability to create a fun culture in which people want to come to
work. More importantly, they are a tool that shows employees that
their employer cares. Combining these incentives with the techniques
of behavior-based safety is the answer that has been proven to make
a positive impact.
The Basic Ingredients
The basic behavior-based/incentive ingredients are these. Make sure
they are in place first.
1. Choose merchandise.
First things first: get the carrot right. Goodyear Tire ran an extensive
study on merchandise vs. cash incentives. Merchandise won out twofold.
When you ask your people what they want, the answer will be cash.
When you ask the experts what really works, it is merchandise.
2. A flexible awarding vehicle.
Traditional programs are structured to give a person who goes a
year without an accident an award such as a clock radio. In order
to attach incentives to awarding the behavior that prevents the
accidents, you must have a flexible delivery vehicle that can be
awarded the minute the prevention behavior or observation takes
place, yet still building up to the end result merchandise award.
Gamecards that contain points toward merchandise have proven to
be an exciting vehicle. They can be handed out on a weekly or daily
basis, instantly recognizing employees as they achieve safety behavior
acts or observations. If the gamecards are designed right, they
should have a trading component where employees are encouraged to
trade cards with each other. This further boosts program awareness.
Having a flexible awarding vehicle allows for constant frequent
reinforcement, which is a key component to a program’s success.
3. An encompassing campaign.
A campaign that communicates and drives the program, tying it all
together, is called for. Southwest Airlines is famous for creating
fun campaigns for everything it does. People love games (adults,
too, not just kids!). The campaign theme should bring everything
together: the awarding vehicle (gamecard, certificate, etc.), merchandise
catalog, program posters, newsletters, communication pieces, behavioral
observation reports, etc. People remember things in life that are
constantly in front of them, things that are fun and a benefit to
them.
4. Simple administration.
Face it, complexity does not work. If your entire program is not
easy for everyone to understand, you are headed in the wrong direction.
If the program is tough for you to administer, it could fail as
well. Keep it simple and achievable.
5. Well-thought-out behavior-based
program criteria. You first must identify the behaviors
that will affect the majority of incidents. Your program then must
be aimed at gathering information/observations and receiving feedback
from employees. Employees must then be awarded for these observations
as well as feedback and, of course, following the accident prevention
criteria. Again, keep it simple.
Does Combining Work? Real Examples
Incentive programs, in general, work. Thousands of companies over
the decades have reaped the benefits of them. They have proven to
help reduce accidents, boost company morale, decrease turnover,
save money, and most importantly, save lives. But do these programs
hide the reporting of injuries?
They don’t if the program is structured correctly. The program needs
to be based on your employees’ behavior - not just the
end result. Time after time, when safety/behavior incentive programs
contain the five essential ingredients stated here, the end result
has been positive.
International Paper Company combined the right ingredients recently
in a flexible gamecard incentive awards program with its “Safe Behavior
Process” behavior-based program. The company’s process used a general
observation form to recognize and track safe and unsafe behaviors
observed by peer employees. Before adding the award component, Allen
Sherrick, International Paper’s Behavioral Management Team leader,
stated, “We found it was hard to get employees to actively participate
in the observation process. We needed something to use as a motivational
tool to show our appreciation for taking control of this employee-driven
process.”
By combining the two approaches, the behavior-based observations
rose fivefold and employees “have taken ownership of all activities,”
Sherrick said. The plant then went on to have its lowest number
of incidents and closed out the year with the best safety record
in plant history.
After running a gamecard-based program with well—thought—out
criteria, a Coca-Cola bottling company spokesperson said, “Annualized,
our incidents were trending toward 70. After implementation of our
(gamecard) incentive program, our results trended to an annualized
number of 43 incidents. Lost work days were trending 216 days and
were reduced to 82!”
Slack Chemical Company also used the essential elements. Their lost
workday incidents were cut by 67% in the first 12-month period.
Slack incorporated a proactive safety behavior feedback component
to its gamecard program. The employees’ accident prevention feedback
more than quadrupled during the same year. Slack’s HR/Safety manager
said, “I have evaluated many safety incentive programs and participated
in several. I am pleased to tell you that (this one) is the most
successful of those that I have been involved in. I would recommend
this approach to anyone.”
Boise Cascade, like Southwest Airlines, believes in creating a fun
working environment for safety. The company implemented a fun awards
campaign that worked in tandem with its own behavioral-based safety
program. The focus was on awarding tradable gamecards (containing
points toward merchandise) for safe behaviors. Employee involvement
and interaction between workers and supervisors also were awarded.
The program director said, “This provided opportunities at regular
intervals for supervisors to make specific one-on-one contact with
each of their workers.” Again, the program proved to be a great
return on investment. In one year, Boise Cascade showed a 27.5%
decrease in recordable injuries.
Midwest Thermal Insulation is yet another example. This company’s
safety director said, “This program has gotten everyone to communicate
more openly about safety and concerns that they have about safety-related
items on a daily basis, out in the field. Our recordable injuries
are down more than 65% compared to last year at this time. What
an accomplishment! I truly believe these programs work.”
Following Their Examples
Southwest Airlines’ secret can apply to the safety arena, too. Combining
behavior-based techniques with your safety incentive program has
proven to work. But first, make sure you have all the benchmarks
for success in place.
| • |
In order to truly motivate behavior,
offer a carrot that people want, not one they need. Use merchandise,
not cash. |
| • |
Use a flexible awarding vehicle
such as a gamcard, allowing frequency. You must recognize and
reward frequently. |
| • |
Keep your program simple. Complexity
can water it down if you are not careful. |
| • |
Build an encompassing campaign
that constantly communicates and drives the entire prLast and
most important, build a safety culture that is serious business.
Make it fun to be safe. |
Southwest Airlines should be applauded for achieving
true teamwork participation and fun in every area of the company.
Boise Cascade, Coca-Cola, International Paper, Slack, Midwest Thermal
Insulation, and thousands of others have made a huge impact in their
safety programs with the same basic approach.
Each one of us may not be in a position to affect every area of
our company, but we can start with our approach to safety. Remember,
don’t love techniques and use people. Love and reward your people
and use techniques. Attach spirit, excitement, fun, love, and recognition
to everything that you do.
Now, go make your company the envy of your industry!
Buck Peavey is President/CEO of Peavey Performance
Systems, a full-service incentive company based in Kansas City.
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