Tag: Wellness Incentives

Safety Santas who Deliver Coal don’t get Cookies and Milk

December 19, 2014 by

It’s officially winter and holiday lights are springing up on buildings and trees in neighborhoods across America. Along with all of the joy associated with the season, there is also an element of stress. While many parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents search for the best prices for gifts on their recipients’ wish lists, the children who expect Santa to deliver the goods obsess whether they’ve landed on the naughty or nice list this year. Their goal; avoid the notorious lump of coal in their stocking.

However; if you are putting together a safety program for your organization, you most likely aren’t Santa Claus. Therefore punishments like coal shouldn’t be your choice for safety motivation. Employees shouldn’t be punished for being in an unsafe work environment, and they shouldn’t be punished for reporting issues or problems they see. If you punish people when an incident is reported, the number of incidents reported will go down, not the number of incidents, and OSHA agrees. Instead opt for a behavior-based safety program that supports a culture of safety. Involving everyone in your organization and creating diversity in award rules, like on-the-spot awards and team award help achieve a positive safety culture.

In addition to incentivizing positive behavior, use these actions to analyze your current culture to see what needs to change:

  • Do a “health check” of your organization’s safety performance and compare it to averages and trends for your industry
  • Examine your processes for identifying, reporting and mitigating hazards in the workplace
  • Evaluate your safety training curriculum, andReview your current safety policies and procedures and ensure compliance with regulations.

A culture of safety will naturally create a long “nice list” for your organization while still allowing workers to be safe and responsible.In addition to rewarding safe practices like reporting near-misses and proper procedure, incentivize participation in training, inspections and proactive safety attitude. In addition; a safety program that rewards instead of punishes and promotes a culture of safety will put you on OSHA’s “nice list” too.

And about those cookies…maybe it would be a good idea to opt for a wellness program instead. New Years is a perfect time to start those healthy habits for 2015.

Prescription for Healthy Behavior – Employee Wellness

January 30, 2014 by

The importance of employee wellness programs has greatly increased over the past several years. As heath care expenditures are soaring, there is an increasing interest among policy-makers, insurers and employers in methods of improving health while lowering cost. Karen Smith points out in her article entitled Why Workplace Wellness is Important  that “changing our behavior… Read more »

Employee Engagement: Are you In or Out?

January 21, 2014 by

“You’re either in or you’re out.”  A long-time friend and former partner is oft-times heard uttering these words – his way of sizing up situations and dealing with indecision or ambiguity.  While applicable in a good number of life and business scenarios, it doesn’t reflect employee engagement in the American workplace, according to Gallup’s 2013… Read more »

Take Out Pizza and Online Points Programs – How Convenient!

December 23, 2013 by

I’ve discovered some interesting parallels between QIC’s online points programs – on the IncenTrac® platform — and take-out pizza.  First, I have a confession to make — I don’t cook (gasp!), and it’s not that I don’t know how or that I don’t enjoy cooking — I just don’t do it. It is time consuming… Read more »