I just finished reading an article in the Sunday paper highlighting the success of a safety program for a small city nearby. The article said the program saved over $180,000. Half of the savings will go back to the city and the other half will go to the employees in their paychecks - averaging about $400 per employee. The employees shared approximately $50,000 last year.
Here's my prediction for this type of program.
Next year the safety record will go down - in other words the city will show either an increase in safety related costs - or no increase at all. But in the following year there will be a huge decrease in costs resulting in a huge savings. That savings will be split with the employees as specified in the plan.
Why do I think this will happen?
First of all the program now has connected safety to income (not culture) and therefore the employees will seek to maximize their income. The only way they can do that is to have continuing cost savings relating to safety. However, as they eliminate the causes of safety related costs, the cost savings will start to approach zero, or at the very least, be negligible - resulting in less income for the employees. The employees will figure out that they can maximize their income by having a bad year followed by a good year. Therefore, the city will experience a roller coaster effect in their safety program. One year good, next year bad, next year good, etc., etc.
A better way to go would to eliminate the connection to income - use non-cash awards. While this still could cause some game-playing on the part of the employees - it will be less of an issue since it doesn't affect their ability to make car payments or buy food. The awards are separated from their income.
The other thing they should do is connect safety to culture - not money. One of the things people forget is that safety is something that has a built in incentive. If cutting off your arm isn't a good incentive then a few extra dollars or points isn't going to make a huge difference. The goal of the program should be to make safety a cultural thing - not a performance thing. In other words - "We're safe because it's right for ourselves and our families."
Communication and peer-to-peer awards would be the best way to go. Get the participants into the program - let them control the cause and effect, and the program becomes theirs - their culture, their way of doing business. Leaving the control in the hands of the organization divorces the participants from the outcome and money just taints the goal.
