I define “The Four Pillars of Safety” as engagement, recognition, communications and measurement. This article will focus on employee recognition, which I view as the energy that is created throughout an organization when people are given credit for their accomplishments and shown gratitude for their efforts. (Editor’s Note: To read this author’s article about the first pillar of safety, employee engagement, see “The ‘heavy lifting’ of safety” in ISHN’s June issue, pp.74-75.) 
Craving praise
When people are surveyed to find out why they left a job, it is interesting that time and time again “lack of recognition” and “compensation” always rank as the top two reasons. Regardless of economic conditions and other factors, these two heavyweights of job turnover rank at the top of the list. Any reason could compete with compensation as the top motivator of job change; however, this is what the data show.
What this tells us is that people have a basic, fundamental need to know that their efforts are not going unnoticed. And that this need is powerful enough to affect how they work (including how safe they work) and to motivate them in either the right or wrong direction. We see it all the time in our own lives, but may not realize that many of the same things that drive our behaviors are at play in our workplace as well.
Those of us who ever tried to lose weight know how motivational it can be when people start to notice your efforts and make comments to you about how you look (recognizing your accomplishments). I based my most successful weight loss effort not on what the bathroom scale displayed but on how many compliments I received from family, friends and co-workers. My goal was to get 10 unsolicited positive comments about my appearance, and I found it to be far more motivating than hoping for a lower number on the scale.
Along those same lines, I still have trophies that I received from playing sports as a child. I still have positive uplifting letters that I received from family members after graduating from high school and college.
And I have kept just about every plaque, certificate, email, etc. that I and my company have received from customers, employees and suppliers that recognizes our strong efforts.
Why? Why does the impact of positive praise last so long?
It is a validation of our efforts, a sign of our success, and it gives meaning to all that we do. In a workplace environment, it is the energy that flows and that pushes workers and companies to new heights.
Like every other business tactic there are better and worse ways to deploy a recognition strategy. For the purposes of motivating safer behavior, consider the following:
TIMELY: This is the most crucial factor because there is a half-life (deterioration over time) for recognition that is powerful, and the more time that goes by between the actions of an employee and the recognition of those actions, the less effective recognition will be. “You did a great job last year on that project…” is far less impactful than “You did a great job yesterday on that project…” While a slow response diminishes effectiveness, missing an opportunity to recognize someone altogether can be downright devastating. How would you feel if you just reached ten years on the job with a perfect safety record and no one noticed?
FACE-TO-FACE: With the exception of long-haul trucking and a few other similar industries, it is relatively easy for managers to get in front of the workers they wish to recognize, and it is a missed opportunity to not do so.
Posting a “nice job” on some sort of physical or digital bulletin board (if not accompanied by a faceto- face meeting as well) is a relatively hollow way of recognizing someone’s efforts.
Dropping a note on someone’s desk, paycheck stuffers, emails and the like are all better than nothing, but not nearly as powerful as in-person recognition, where the recipient can read facial expressions and body language to truly understand the impact of their efforts.
REWARDING: While not all recognition events should be attached to a reward, many, if not most should. Like it or not, human beings are motivated by rewards and adding a “token” to your expression of appreciation oftentimes has a multiplier effect on the power of the moment.
The average American household participates in 18 customer loyalty programs (grocery stores, gas stations, credit cards, airline miles, etc.) and the companies that offer such programs do so because they motivate behavior. To a certain extent that same dynamic is at play with workers, and rewarding at appropriate levels is sure to add more buzz and power to your recognition program.
TANGIBLE: Whenever possible, there should be some tangible delivery vehicle for the recognition, regardless of whether or not there is a reward attached to it.
Football players are applauded for making a good hit and oftentimes rewarded with a sticker that they put on their helmet as a visible/tangible display of their accomplishment.
Being handed a letter from the boss stating that your safety suggestion was the best one submitted and that it will be implemented is far better than simply being told you made a good suggestion. The tangible element of that piece of paper, or that certificate, or that actual award (TV, jacket, fishing pole) adds great emphasis to the recognition event.
PUBLIC: More often than not workers will find a recognition event to be more powerful when it occurs in front of their co-workers. (There are some exceptions to this rule, and managers should be careful to know their workers before committing to a public event.)
Being recognized in front of one’s peers helps legitimize the accomplishment for those receiving the recognition. It allows them to climb higher on the needs pyramid (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) to reach the self-esteem level, which is characterized as a point in a person’s development in which they desire recognition and respect. Reaching this level on Maslow’s chart allows a worker to bask in the glow of their accomplishments without the need for selfpromotion.
GENUINE: Finally, recognition must be authentic. It should not be perceived as a manager simply doing their duty. If the recognition seems hollow to the recipient, then it can have no positive effect at all, and may even have a negative impact in some circumstances.
Managers need to be sincere because even though workers do want to be recognized, they don’t want to be pandered to, and they will not respond well to false praise. This can be the most difficult area for some companies, because it is reflects on the personalities of those in charge of engagement and recognition. Affecting change on those personalities can be a challenging task.
An employee who receives timely, public recognition of their accomplishments while being rewarded with a tangible token of appreciation -- and occasionally with tangible awards -- will crave more of the same, and will act accordingly to earn additional respect and recognition of their efforts. This is why recognition is one of “The Four Pillars of Safety” and why it is so crucial to creating a great safety culture.
Brian Galonek is president of All Star Incentive Marketing and an ASSE member. He is one of only 35 Certified Professionals of Incentive Marketing, and the former president of the Incentive Technology Council. All Star Incentive Marketing is a 40+ year old company, one of the nation’s top suppliers of safety recognition and rewards programs, and a past winner of the IMA ”Circle of Excellence” award for best safety incentive program.
Topics: Employee Recognition, Blog, employee engagement, Incentive Programs
Topics: Employee Wellness Program, Blog, Incentive's
Topics: Employee Motivation, Blog, Motivating Employees
After working 25 years for the same company, many employees are faced with a difficult choice: a juicer or a cotton candy maker. Such are tokens of loyalty many firms offer their longest-serving employees.
At a time when workers change jobs as often as they change light bulbs, and employers are searching for new and better ways to retain their best workers, some consultants marvel at the persistence of a seemingly ancient initiative: tenure reward programs. Employers spend about $46 billion a year, or roughly 1% of payroll on various employee-recognition programs, according to the Incentive Marketing Association, a trade group for firms that help build incentive programs. A 2012 report from Bersin & Associates found that the bulk of those funds, or 87%, are spent on programs that reward employee tenure.
Most of the time, employees are given the chance to choose from a catalog of gifts when they reach significant anniversaries with their company—say, a knife set for reaching the five-year mark, or a 48-bottle wine cooler on their 25th anniversary. Acknowledging that a person’s fifth year anniversary at one company could be their 20th year working overall, some firms are adding a bigger range of gifts. Electronics and home appliances are popular choices but not all gifts are quite so practical. “An item that might raise an eyebrow for one person - such as an adjustable slimming belt - could be seen as the perfect reward for someone with a doughnut addiction,” says Susan Adams, the director of engagement at Dittman Incentive Marketing, a firm that helps employers develop employee-award programs. “There is something to suit everyone’s taste.”
Many employers outsource the process to a third-party company that make it possible for workers to order their gifts online. Often, employees sifting through the merchandise won’t see a dollar value attached to each item, but companies commonly budget to spend $25 for each year of service, says Jeffrey Fina, chief business development officer for Michael C. Fina, a leading provider of employee recognition programs. So someone celebrating five years at the firm could expect to get a gift worth roughly $125, he says.
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These programs are ineffective, some experts say, partly because many employees aren’t even aware the programs exist. The programs may be doing little to encourage people to worker harder or to stick with the company longer. Indeed, while nearly 75% of companies said they have a recognition program, only 58% of employees knew about them, according to the Bersin report. “Doing this type of program doesn’t result in any significant benefit for the company,” says Stacia Sherman Garr, a lead analyst for Bersin.
Given that workers typically change employers every 4.6 years, according the U.S. Department of Labor, few are likely to stick around for the gift of a blender or autographed baseball. For employees ages 65 and up, median tenure at a company was 10.3 years in 2012, three times the tenure for workers ages 25 to 34.
And even if a person wanted to stay with their employer for 20 or 30 years, they might find their ambitions of loyalty outlast their company’s fortunes. The average company stays in the S&P 500 stock index for 15 years, down from about 67 years in the 1920s, says Richard Foster, a lecturer with the Yale School of Management and former senior partner at McKinsey & Co. Those exits from the S&P are often more due to companies being acquired or spun off than they are to companies shutting down, says Foster, but such organizational shifts are often accompanied by changes in branding, structure and focus. “Anybody who thinks they’re going to stay with a company 30 or 40 years better go back and change their assumptions,” says Foster. “These days, workers should expect to have to change jobs four or five different times.”
Still, the gifted coffee makers and bicycles are unlikely to go away anytime soon. For starters, even if it isn’t clear that the programs do anything to boost engagement or performance, not having them could hurt a company’s retention and recruitment efforts, experts say. “It’s very emotional to the employee,” says Fina. “It’s like their birthday, and if you miss it, they get pretty upset.” Some companies are responding to shorter tenures by offering rewards earlier and introducing a greater range of gifts, he adds.
And the programs, when paired with other measures, can help boost morale and performance, he says. Some companies find the gifts can have more of an impact when they are paired with regular employee feedback, when they’re easy to redeem, and when a company sets clear criteria on what workers must to do to earn the rewards, says Garr. For instance, employees might get gifts for helping the company meet organizational goals, like boosting revenue, or for participating in special projects outside of their main responsibilities. Companies that had those additional elements had 31% lower voluntary turnover than companies with ineffective programs, according to the Bersin report.
The tax man also has a hand in the current reward programs. Unlike with cash awards or gift cards, when companies give tangible gifts to reward performance or longevity, employees can generally receive them tax-free. Length-of-service awards can generally be given only every five years. And there’s a reason the gifts—even for 50-year veterans—can be only so extravagant: The total value of gifts workers can receive tax-free each year, for performance or longevity, is capped at $1,600. (Anything above that must be reported as income.)
Another factor is cost. Some companies feel tangible gifts can have a bigger emotional impact than a gift card, and may feel like they have to spend more when they’re giving cash in order for it to have the same effect, says Adams. Indeed, 54% of companies surveyed by the Incentive Research Foundation, a non-profit organization that studies the use of incentives, said they gave employees merchandise as part of their recognition programs. Thirty percent said they gave workers cash.
Article posted on www.marketwatch.com
Topics: Blog, Employee Incentive Program, Increase Performance, Reward Employees