Employee incentive programs and strong leadership can help companies create a safe culture in the workplace, according to Smart Business Cincinnati.
According to the publication, business officials say that a safe workplace culture can have benefits such as increased productivity, increased morale, reduced costs and improved employee retention. However, creating that safe environment often requires a drastic culture shift for employees.
“Good safety cultures find ways to continue to focus on safety because they know what the ultimate downside could be,” Jonathan Theders, president of Clark-Theders Insurance Agency, told the source.
Leadership plays a highly visible role in creating a safe workplace, according to the publication. Making the change requires a constant effort, and will not happen overnight. Leaders need to make sure that rules are clearly defined and reinforced – with consequences for breaking procedure and rewards for exceeding expectations.
Employee incentive programs also play an important role in motivating employees to change by getting them to focus on the long-term effects of their actions. According to the source, recognizing positive action is just as important as stopping negative actions.
Some types of incentive programs are more useful than others in creating a positive response. In a recent podcast with EHS Today, incentive marketing expert Sean Roark said that merchandise rewards showed a much stronger response than cash.
I agree with Sean and understand employee incentives have a greater chance of being successful if the reward is something the employee actually wants. It’s also helpful to have an array of options for your employees to choose from, such as various gift card brands among other merchandise. The variety creates a better chance for your employee(s) to be motivated towards building that desired safe workplace culture. As a member of the gift card sales industry I’m a bit biased, but after watching the growth and seeing the successes of gift card incentive programs, we’ve seen gift cards work well to incent employees, too.
Thank you for your comment Melissa. In an effort to give our clients more flexibility, Loyaltyworks offers a variety of incentive rewards as each has it’s most effective use, be it points programs, incentive travel or cards. Travel is great for reinforcing the personal relationships with partners and customers, points offer long-term “stickiness” and flexibility, debit cards are often the path of least resistance when changing from an existing cash incentive.