EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
Most workplace accidents occur in 'safe' workplaces. Why? Employee error.
What can you do? Employee motivation.
This article tells you to develop and implement an employee motivation program. If you do this and eliminate even one accident, this may be the most important article you read this year.
Nobody wants to get hurt on the job. The purpose of a safety program is to realize the goal of an injury-free workplace. Still, people get hurt at work. Sometimes, injuries are due to lack of appropriate safety equipment or unsafe processes and procedures. Workplace safety laws have been established to correct these types of problems, but possibly the most pervasive cause of workplace injury is employee error.
The employee may take unnecessary risks without even thinking about it. An employee may suffer a back injury despite having been trained in back safety, having a safety belt available, and knowing that there is a risk.
Why don't employees minimize their risks? There may be several reasons, both related to and independent of the job. Job-related excuses might be:
- 'I've picked up bigger boxes than this before without hurting myself.'
- 'Back belts are for sissies.'
- 'I'm too busy to stop and get a belt.'
In these cases, the employee at least thought about possible danger in lifting and alternatives.
Non-job-related reasons for ignoring safety procedures might be:
- 'I'm mad at my spouse. My kids are a pain.'
- 'How am I going to get my car fixed? Where will the money come from?'
- 'What should I wear tonight? Do the Joneses like asparagus?'
- 'I sure need a cigarette. When's my break?'
In plain words, the employee is distracted from possible risks. The solution to this cavalier attitude toward safety is to develop an employee motivation program.
Employee Motivation Programs
The first step in an effective safety motivation program is marketing. You must instill the value of safety, communicate a commitment to safety, and motivate supervisors and employees to think and act safely. Rather than emphasizing management and control of responses to injury or illness, businesses should work toward preventing them and promoting safety. Such efforts could pay big dividends.
Management must support your motivation program. They must commit to costs, promotions, and the total employee-motivation effort. While employee motivation programs have been shown to provide a terrific savings-to-cost ratio, there are costs. If you save $25,000 on Workers Compensation, you won't automatically get some of this money to spend on safety. The rate of return on an effective safety program can be $4 to $10 for every dollar invested. You need to sell management on the idea and get a commitment.
Promote and maintain safety awareness. You need to set goals, reward success, and acknowledge failures. The employee motivation job isn't complete till the paperwork is finished. Training must include program evaluation and trainee feedback. Both supervisors and employees must be trained.
A variety of motivation programs are based on rewards, contests, premiums, etc. The key is to publicize rewards. Lottery tickets, selected gifts, savings bonds, and cash have all been used as effective rewards. But none, of these will be effective without the basic structure of a workplace safety program.
Reprinted with permission from Safety Information Currents, Volume V Number 3.