Many businesses have incorporated safety incentive programs into their workplace in the past. These safety programs were often seen as additional compensation packages instead of safety recognition, making employees believe that they were entitled to these incentives. Once the employees were rewarded, they soon lost interest and returned to their unsafe habits. These programs grabbed the attention of the employees who craved cash incentives.

Although these safety programs encouraged safer workplace habits amongst the staff, they had some obvious downsides, which were hard to ignore for the management. The administrative cost of these programs was quite high, and it was very difficult to justify the Return on Investment.

In the late 1980s, employers started to take a serious look at alternatives and tried to improve safety incentive programs in the quest for better, more sustainable workplace safety. Cash incentives were replaced by gift cards in the hope that gift cards would result in long-term behavior changes. However, gift cards failed to have a lasting impact on the employees to encourage workplace safety.

Soon after, the gamification element was introduced, and with promotion and hype, it helped keep employees interested for a longer period of time. However, very few won the rewards, and that caused employees to feel discouraged and lose interest.

What we learned from the past experience

After some number crunching, many organizations found that well-designed safety incentive programs can bring an excellent return on investment and sustain employees’ engagement for a long period of time. They learned that program administration must be eliminated or reduced as much as possible. The introduction of online and mobile safety incentive platforms helped in reducing administration.

The incentive programs with more frequent rewards proved more effective and showed better results than systems with longer gaps between rewards. Successful programs incorporate both individual and grand prize components to ensure that the program appeals to and motivates all employees.

Programs should reward employees with trophies and avoid the entitlement issue and potential tax implications in comparison to the cash and gift card-based alternatives. A reward system arranged in multiple levels has proven to drive more motivation in the employees. The sense of accomplishment on passing a level to move onto the next and getting rewarded in the process helps the program gain excitement with time.

The modernization of safety incentives and recognition programs has helped companies develop sustainable workplace safety cultures with minimum overhead and reporting requirements. They can now establish strong workplace ethics for safety in no time, minimize reporting, lower accidents significantly, and save many invaluable lives. Utilizing the tools and technology of the modern world to encourage your staff makes all the more sense. It’s the best time to modernize, keep life simpler and your job focused on safety.