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Mad About Incentives Meets Science Behind Incentives: Behavior-Based Safety Awards—Why They Shouldn't Stand Alone
January 27, 2010
By Ley Borlo and Joshua Klapow
We are strong supporters of the behavior-based approach to occupational safety. We know it works and works well. There are plenty of examples of the success of this approach in preventing injuries and accidents in the workplace.
Well-established, behavior-based safety (BBS) is very consistent in its implementation. BBS seeks to increase safe behaviors by using the basic tenets of operant conditioning, in particular behavioral shaping: Target behaviors are identified (what an employer wants its people to do), actual behaviors are observed, and positive consequences are installed to guide people toward the target behaviors. When the correct behaviors are achieved, the employees are reinforced.
On the surface, this is actually no different from any other behavior-based approach to employee behavior change. However, BBS programs do not typically focus on awards nearly as much as it is done in other types of programs. BBS programs emphasize the use of social reinforcers (a nod of the head, a positive comment, a thank you, a written note, etc) and minimize tangible reinforcers (items of physical value, such as gift cards, shirts, jackets, etc).
What is fascinating here is that there is a distinction made between safety programs and all other initiatives to influence employee behavior, even though the common denominator in any incentive program, be it safety, productivity, performance, or wellness, is behavior change. Trying to change safety-related behaviors is no different than trying to change health- or productivity-related behaviors. Using positive consequences to shape behaviors should be the general operating procedure in any attempt to influence employee safety behavior. With this foundation, BBS programs can and should exist on the same platform as productivity, employee recognition, and health programs.
Unfortunately, safety programs are rarely lumped with other reward programs. In fact, many safety programs do not follow the basic tenets of behavior modification when it comes to the issuance of tangible awards. At issue is that many safety programs are designed without analyses of the value or potency of awards needed to change behaviors and improve performance. The budgets often don’t allow for it. So safety awards either go to one extreme or the other. On one side, you see programs that use coffee cups and T-shirts, which provide no real tangible value to participants. On the other side, we see organizations use what we call “back-end-loaded” award systems. These programs award employees if they are safe for an extended period of time (usually a year) with fairly tangible gifts. Frankly, these types of structures do little, if anything, to change the behavior of their employees. Regrettably, many employees actually perform their duties unsafely and were just lucky enough not to have had incidents. We have yet to meet a client who issued all of the awards at the end of the program, especially when the award was cash, who did not want to change them.
From our perspective, the ultimate in behavior-based safety awards might be an award system that uses the same award currency found in non-safety programs. A system would allow individuals to earn points or gift cards after changing a variety of behaviors, from safety, to productivity, to performance, to health. This earning potential would not preclude social reinforcers at all, but instead convert smaller tangible reinforcers into larger, more potent awards. By keeping behavior as the foundation, safety programs can be rolled in with other behavior change efforts. They can retain their typical rigor but increase their potency.
Regrettably, it can be very difficult to convince the various departments in a corporation to collaborate on incentive programs. Budgets would have to be combined, and the management and control of the initiative would have to cross several lines—something that is not easy to do unless dictated by executive management.
With over 35 years in the incentive industry, Ley Borlo consults with clients, comparing price, choice, and value of the various award systems that exist in the industry. He is a partner at Incentives Inc., a pioneer in the use of gift cards as incentive awards. He developed www.awardemployees.com to display the many gift card reward solutions provided by Incentives Inc., as well as many articles on various subjects about the incentive industry. He can be reached at leyb@incentivesinc.com.
Dr. Joshua C. Klapow is a clinical psychologist and associate professor in the Department of Health Care Organization at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Public Health. He is also the chief strategy officer and chief behavioral scientist for ChipRewards Inc., www.chiprewards.com, a consumer health incentive company. He serves as a chronic conditions and behavioral science consultant for a number of organizations, including the World Health Organization. He is also the author of Living SMART: 5 Essential Skills to Change Your Health Habits Forever, a consumer book on lifestyle change. He can be reached at josh.klapow@chiprewards.com.
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