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Frequently Asked Questions
Why
Should My Company Provide Safety Incentives?
Won't Safety Incentives Encourage Employees
Not To Report Injuries?
Is Safety Pays use of bingo a form of
gambling?
How will this program help with fraudulent
& post-termination claims?
How Is Safety Pays Utilized When the
Workforce is Dispersed (Multiple Locations)?
Can Safety Pays be used to address other
issues besides safety?
How can Safety Pays be used to motivate
supervisors?
Why Should My Company Provide Safety Incentives?
When the designer of Safety Pays began handling corporate operations
at Santa Monica Seafood in 1989, the company was experiencing 1
worker's comp claim for every 2-3 employees during a given policy
year. In response, a great deal of effort and capital was directed
toward solving the problem through safety programs, training, equipment,
etc. The impact was minimal. It was at that point. The Safety Pays
creator realized that just as the problem with worker's comp is
people, so must be the solution.
Unfortunately, in America today workers no longer respond to the
formula that one's compensation increases in direct proportion to
contribution. This is particularly so with hourly paid workers.
To compound the problem, these workers are the prime targets of
those forces which encourage an attitude of entitlement and reinforce
polarity in the workplace--legal clinics which present themselves
as the guardians of worker's rights, medical mills, etc. Because
it's the employer who must bear the brunt of the resulting costs
in higher premiums, this polarity is reinforced by management's
negative attitudes about its employees' commitment to their work.
It was therefore believed that the solution was to somehow reverse
this ever spiraling sense of polarity and find a means to encourage
employees to "do the right thing," so to speak. And because it was
the employer who stood the most to lose, it was up to us to take
whatever affirmative steps were necessary to bring this about. Thus
the decision to develop an incentive program which would achieve
the attitude and behavioral changes management desired. The results
have been astounding.
Santa Monica Seafood reduced its claims exposure from a high of
33 claims five years ago to a yearly average of 3-4 annually. It's
loss ratio dropped from 122% to less than 5%. And most importantly,
its exmod rating has fallen from a high of nearly 140 to a current
level of below 60! The owners of Santa Monica Seafood, a second
generation Italian family of 6 brothers -- who were both highly
skeptical and resistant to incentives "as a matter of principal"
(they didn't like the idea of paying an employee for something the
employee was already supposed to do as part of his job) -- were
absolutely asmazed by the savings. After committing an initial $1500
towards this incentive program, they have realized a savings of
well over a million dollars in workers' comp costs. Their attitude
became better to encourage the employees by paying them a little,
rather than to end up paying the insurance carrier a lot!
Just as important, Safety Pays has demonstrated the same level of
effectiveness in well over a thousand other companies where the
program has been implemented. So when it comes right down to it,
although the concept of incentives may be philosophically hard to
swallow, it's really an economic decision. A company either rewards
modified behavior through dollar incentives, or must continue to
live with the substantially higher cost of ever-spiraling workers'
comp premiums. It's really just that simple.
Of course there are those who take the attitude that accidents and
injuries are inevitably going to happen, so a company's only recourse
is to know what to do when they occur. In other words, the only
good offense is a good defense. Although there are many people who
subscribe to this "reactive" approach to claims management, it does
little to address the issue head-on. One instead retreats to a position
of damage control. In a way, taking this approach is akin to the
old "siege" mentality where an enemies' presence is simply assumed
and the strategy adapted is to be prepared for the attack when it
comes. The problem is if the enemy is either large enough or clever
with its plan of attack, the fort is eventually going to be overrun!
This is essentially what each of us in a management position has
to face every day of our working lives. We, who are few in number
at a supervisory level, are confronted with somehow managing the
many who make up a company's rank and file. All too often, it's
easy to become overwhelmed and instead of eliminating the disease,
we spend our time treating symptoms. Unfortunately, if we allow
this to continue, it's only a matter of time until the disease becomes
terminal. Genuine solutions to any challenge require taking "proactive"
steps. After all, a team which relies solely on its defense rarely
scores any points. A winner knows how to seize the initiative. And
that's what companies using Safety Pays have done. By taking an
affirmative incentive approach to the problem of claims exposure,
our customers have been able to have a most positive impact. In
case after case, claims exposure is not only reduced but virtually
eliminated. The key to the program's success is that it actively
seeks solutions from what has otherwise been the source of the problem.
Understanding this principle is important because it can be used
in an unlimited number of ways to overcome most if not all human
resource issues...even those which seem otherwise insurmountable.
But no answer will ever come by merely reacting to the status quo.
The trick is to creatively devise and actively implement a set of
solutions which not only encourages the employees' participation
but allows the workforce to directly benefit from their successful
efforts. By doing so, in a very short period of time, what may have
once been a liability can become a tremendous asset.
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Won't Safety Incentives Encourage Employees Not
To Report Injuries?
Often times a company interested in utilizing Safety Pays will raise
the following issue: Won't strong safety incentives create an environment
whereby individuals might possibly hide injuries or fail to report
accidents. In fact, this issue has been carefully thought through
by the designer of Safety Pays. Obviously, all responsible company
managers want to ensure their employees receive the proper medical
treatment any time an injury occurs. Therefore, when using a comprehensive
incentive program, management wants to be sure the approach used
isn't so strong that a misguided worker becomes somehow motivated
to do the wrong thing... in this case, hiding an injury or failing
to report it in a timely fashion.
To address such an issue, the Safety Pays program includes a number
of custom designed elements to avoid such a situation from ever
taking place. To start with, we recommend our "lost-time" rules
approach for those managers concerned with the possibility of such
negative employee motivation. As applied, these rules penalize only
those injuries which result in an employee being absent from work
for longer than 24 hours. Meanwhile, the employee is encouraged
to seek medical attention anytime there is an injury or an ailment.
The point is that just because a doctor or clinic's care is provided
does not necessarily drop the jackpot. Only when a workers does
not report to work the following day is there a jackpot reduction.
In the meantime, even if the employee's injury/ailment requires
a work restriction, he/she may still be present at work through
modified duties. As a result, Safety Pays encourages employees to
remain an active part of the workforce while getting the medical
help they require.
The Safety Pays program doesn't stop there. To further address the
issue of non-reporting, Safety Pays has built-in safeguards, such
as the Game Card Sign-In Roster, which regularly requires employees
to sign-off certifying they have had no work-related injuries during
the previous game round. We also urge our clients to issue game
Safety Violations, which cancel an employee's right to participate
in the game (not to mention possible probation, suspension or termination)
for non-reporting--few employees would risk losing their jobs for
the sake of a bingo game. Furthermore, unlike most safety incentive
programs, this is not an all-or-nothing approach--someone wins something
every month regardless of whether on not a group member has had
an accident. Caps can also be placed on the jackpot pay-outs high
enough to foster a healthy peer pressure environment, but not so
high as to create an unhealthy competitive spirit.
As a final point, consider that after a number of years of implementing
the Safety Pays program in virtually every commercial and industrial
environment (well over 2,000 companies nationwide), we have yet
to have any client report of an employee accident or injury going
unreported. The bottom line is that incentives play a crucial role
in assuring overall effectiveness in a company's safety program.
We often compare a safety program to being the "car" and safety
incentives as being the "gas" that helps power the car. Sure, "gas"
can be dangerous if not handled properly, but when utilized properly
and in the fashion for which it was designed, it becomes not just
an invaluable tool but virtually an everyday necessity.
Such is the case with incentives. Safety Pays has demonstrated repeatedly
over the years that it is, by far, the most effective responsible
motivational approach currently used in today's workplace. And we
have every confidence that each Safety Pays clients will receive
the full benefit of what this program has to offer, in the same
way so many other companies have succeeded in reducing, if not eliminating
accidents and injuries, without the worry of employee non-reporting.
So consider the thoughts I've included here and if you have any
further questions, please feel free to call.
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Is Safety Pays use of bingo a form of gambling?
From time to time, the question is raised as to whether Safety Pays,
a comprehensive safety incentive program, can in some way be construed
as gambling because of its use of a bingo-type game format. First
of all, keep in mind this program is a nationally recognized safety
incentive approach which is considered one of the best solutions
available to assisting a company in reducing accidents and losses.
It just so happens that one of the program's elements is a bingo
mechanism. This mechanism, though, is not utilized in any way that
would be considered gambling. Why? Because gambling is defined as
putting some amount of consideration, usually in the form of money,
"at risk" in order to participate in the chance to receive a larger
pay-out in return. Safety Pays requires nothing from a company's
employees other than their existing obligation to make best efforts
to avoid on-the-job accidents and injuries.
We recognize that bingo is often used as a gambling mechanism --
sometimes for charity, sometimes for profit. But check into any
TOYS 'R US store and you'll also see it's a common child's game
used no differently than Monopoly or Checkers -- that is, for fun
and amusement. What's key to whether any game is gambling is its
goal and how this goal is being pursued. Anyone who takes the time
to examine how Safety Pays works will inevitably see that its sole
purpose is to promote employee safety awareness and in so doing,
reduce (if not eliminate) workplace accidents. In fact, the Safety Pays bingo format is used strictly as an entertaining means of encouraging
involvement in a company's safety program and, in turn, equitably
rewarding its workers for their success in avoiding workplace injuries.
Moreover, Safety Pays is in use by thousands of companies throughout
all 50 states. At no time have we ever been accused by a governmental
body of being in violation of any gambling statutes or code provisions.
In fact, there are various counties and municipalities around the
country using the program for their own civil service employees!
Moreover, Safety Pays is endorsed by a vast number of national safety
organizations because it so successfully accomplishes that most
basic public policy goal; namely, increased safety in the workplace.
In addition, the program generates good will and excellent public
relations between management and its workforce within a company
using the program.
To assist you in becoming more comfortable with the legalities of
utilizing a safety bingo loss control approach, we'll be happy to
provide you an article from "Safety & Health" magazine published
by the National Safety Council in which Safety Pays is outlined
as an appropriate means of employing safety incentives. We can also
provide a copy of the "Workers' Compensation Report" published by
The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) based in Washington D.C. BNA
is one of the nation's leading journalistic authorities on workers'
comp. Their report illustrates the extent to which Safety Pays has
succeeded in assisting a multitude of companies in reducing accidents
and injuries. So, rest assured that through the use of Safety Pays,
a company is simply using a unique and highly effective motivational
strategy to ensure the safety and well-being of its workforce.
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How will this program help with fraudulent & post-termination
claims?
Frankly, when Safety Pays was developed, fraudulent claims were
not a primary target. After all, how does one impact an individual
who no longer works for the company? That particular problem simply
didn't seem to be something an incentive program could address given
the fact that a former employee is no longer there to be motivated.
Right? Wrong.
At the company where Safety Pays was developed, there hasn't been
a post-termination claim since 1991. and that's with a turnover
rate of approximately 25-30% a year. Furthermore, of the few claims
that the company did have, each of the employees was back at work,
usually within 3 days. The point is, not one employee has attempted
to take advantage of the system and turn nothing into something...even
former employees. Why?
In an effort to better understand the reasons for this success,
the issue has been discussed with behavioral psychologists, workers'
comp claims analysts, as well as a number of human resource specialists.
The consensus is that once a group dynamic is established whereby
the group's incentive success is linked to individual behavior,
it becomes socially unacceptable to do anything which would negatively
impact one's co-workers. In fact, this has been demonstrated hundreds
of times by numerous Safety Pays client companies.
For example, one client reported an employee who came up to a supervisor'
office one morning holding his arm as though he'd sprained it. He
told the supervisor he'd slipped in the freezer and twisted his
arm in the fall and so was immediately sent to the clinic for a
check-up. Within an hour, 3 other employees having heard what happened,
separately approached the same superviosr to say that they had been
in the freezer the entire time with the individual who was allegedly
injured and that at no time did he slip or fall. Furthermore, they
volunteered to have their declarations taped by the insurance carrier!
Never before had this company's employees ever stepped forward to
speak against a co-worker much less volunteer to testify. Another
Safety Pays user reported how a terminated employee who had claimed
a phony back injury was spotted bowling regularly at a neighborhood
bowling alley by two co-workers who immediately brought this information
to the attention of the company's management so that a sub rosa
check could be done.
What's equally important is the fact that employees who participate
in the Safety Pays program now are motivated to bring this kind
of information to management's attention simply because the fraudulent
act now affects them! In fact, any unfair or fraudulent actions
taken by a co-worker (terminated or otherwise) are ineivitably going
to be discussed amongst the employees themselves and the group conscience
always leads members of the group to "do the right thing" and let
a company's management know what's going on. It's both fascinating
and encouraging to see the indignation felt about a former employee
who is trying to take advantage of the company by that employee's
co-workers. Because the group incentives serve to make our employees
feel as though they are an integral part of the effort to avoid
claims, they in turn feel taken advantage of whenever a fraudulent
claims occurs.
In clinical terms, the concept at work here is what's called "a
chilling effect". Because the program has created such a healthy
peer group pressure, people who might otherwise try to get something
for nothing using the worker's comp system now have to think twice.
They know they're being watched not only by management but also
by their co-workers...and that even goes for former employees. It's
sort of like a team member who goes to play for another ball club.
If that person departs under questionable circumstances, he is always
suspect in the eyes of his former teammates. So even those individuals
who leave the company remain motivated not to take advantage. They
know that should a phony claim be filed, they are placing themselves
in jeopardy of being caught and identified not just by management
but by their own peers. Obviously, there's no guarantee that every
employee will be impacted this way. But again, just consider the
economics, if just one terminated employee is foreclosed from filing
a claim during a given policy year. Such a claim inevitably involves
the participation of an attorney. The medical cost alone will range
from $10,000-$20,000, not to mention comp, disability and rehab
costs. And don't kid yourself, the carrier will almost always settle
the claim rather than fight it. So if through the use of incentives
that claim is avoided, the company has covered it's incentive costs
for the entire workforce at a ratio of at least 10 to 1!
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How Is Safety Pays Utilized When the Workforce
is Dispersed (Multiple Locations)?
Based on much of the information at this website, it would appear
that Safety Pays is designed primarily for on-site workers or employers
who are all together in one location. This is far from the case.
Over the years, we've developed no less than a dozen different configurations
of Safety Pays which can apply to virtually all workplace scenarios.
For companies which have have only a limited number of employees
at multiple locations (ie. janitorial services, parking lot operators,
construction crews, etc.), we've designed a Safety Pays program
which we refer to as our "branch site" approach. The branch site
approach is our program configuration that links people together
under one program who are otherwise spread out among different locations.
Let's compare the standard program configuration to the "branch
site" design:
"Standard" Program Application: The guiding principle behind the
Safety Pays approach to motivating workers is to target the incentives
at a specific group of individuals who either have a regular working
interaction together, or some sense of job identification with one
another. In doing so, the program will create a sense of group empowerment
to have a strong positive influence on individual behavior through
making disloyal or careless acts socially unacceptable. In a working
situation where there are a number of employees regularly working
together at a specific location, the "standard" program application
would apply.
So long as the employees at that facility continue to avoid accidents
and injuries, individuals from the group will regularly (approximately
once per month) win a progressive incentive jackpot. This jackpot
will start at a base of $25 and grow by one dollar each workday
with a maximum available jackpot ranging from $150.00 - $250. Should
any employee from a specific program group suffer an injury, the
jackpot for that entire group will be immediately reduced back to
its base of $25.00. In addition, bonus dollar values will be provided
to those employees who provide the best safety suggestions during
each game round. Those employees will be awarded bonus cards which
they must win the game with in order to receive the bonus dollars
values available to them.
"Branch Site" Approach: Obviously, when a company is comprised of
various worksites which have only a limited number of employees
at each, it would be illogical to implement a program to apply to
the employees at that one site only. Therefore, the "branch site"
approach combines employees together, usually by district or region,
but however it best works for your company with the idea that a
total of 50 or so workers will be on one game together. So, regardless
of what location an employee works, he will be participating as
a member of the game to which his location is assigned. The mechanics
of doing so are relatively simple.
The branch site approach would attempt to follow a company's organizational
set-up. Therefore, we would attempt to combine the several sites
together under a single program application. At each of these sites,
a separate edition of the program's Master Game Board would be installed
for all the employees at that specific location to see and follow
the game's progress. This game board would be updated with the program's
daily information by an appointed individual at each location. The
normal way the daily draw would be conducted is to have a supervisor
do the drawing from one of the locations and then communicate the
pick to the other sites. We recommend that after each game round,
the bag of numbers be rotated to another store, so that each store's
employees are involved in the number drawing process. This is not
a hard and fast rule, but to the extent to which we include the
employees in the game, the more involved they want to become in
the game's goals: reduction of on-the-job injuries and workers'
comp claims.
The critical distinction between the "branch site" approach and
the standardized Safety Pays approach is the branch site approach
dictates that the jackpots be kept separate for each location operating
together on a given program. It works like this:
All of the employees from the stores which have been combined under
a given program are joint game participants. Like the standard approach,
a employee/game participant will be awarded the jackpot during each
game round. But under this approach, when an injury occurs, the
jackpot will be reduced to the base of $25 only for the store at
which the injured employee works. The other stores under that given
program will have jackpots which continue to progress from whatever
level it has already reached.
We do recommend though that a cap of between $100-$250 be placed
on how high the jackpot can get since obviously there will be several
locations on any given program which will in all likelihood go years
with any accidents or injuries.
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Can Safety Pays be used to address other issues
besides safety?
For many years, Safety Pays has provided its client companies the
most cost-effective employee incentive tool available in controlling
work-related accidents and injuries. In a recent customer survey,
a claims decrease of nearly 60% was reported across the board during
the first year of program use as compared to the previous 12 months.
Clearly, Safety Pays provides an entertaining system of rewards
and recognition which has a powerful motivational impact on a company's
workforce. So much so, in fact, that today the majority of our customer
service calls are requests for assistance in expanding the program
to address other human resources issues.
Apart from reducing workers' comp costs, the primary personnel concerns
of most companies are absenteeism and tardiness. It's easy to see
why, given the organizational burden these problems inevitably create,
not to mention the impact all that lost productivity can have on
a company's bottom line. Equally important is the detrimental effect
employees showing up late (or not at all) has on morale. And don't
forget the safety ramifications. Whenever someone is late or absent,
an added pressure is placed upon that employee's coworkers to pick-up
the slack, a situation where the potential always exists for someone
to get hurt. Therefore, addressing the attendance issue is of critical
importance. Safety Pays recommends several approaches (or a combination
thereof) which can be easily integrated into the program to effectively
correct these problems:
Individual Method: When creating a new set of incentives, we've
found the best methods are invariably those which are both simple
and direct. As the old saying goes, 'you bait the hook to suit the
fish." The "individual" approach essentially provides a potential
"bonus" reward for those individual employees who have maintained
a perfect on-time record during either the preceding game round,
or during the 30 day period prior to the start of a new game. Essentially,
this bonus is made available to the employee in the form of an extra
game-card worth an additional dollar amount (eg. $50) above and
beyond the jackpot. These on-time bonus dollar rewards are not automatic
but must be won as part of normal game play. Additional cards are
attendance (ie. a card for every month of 100% attendance up to
a total of 5 cards). This provides those employees with the best
attendance records more chances to win the Safety Pays jackpot itself,
as well as an opportunity for greater and greater financial recognition
for on-time performance.
Group Method: Many companies utilizing Safety Pays prefer to run
an entirely separate game targeting absenteeism and tardiness. Doing
so instills a sense of group pride for those employees who have
earned the right to take part. Meanwhile, a separate game creates
a subtle yet powerful motivator to the rest of the workforce to
make best efforts to be on-time so they can enjoy special game privileges
and be recognized as part of an elite group. Utilizing an additional
Master Game Board, (which is available at a nominal charge), an
employee qualifies for this separate game if he/she has gone a minimum
of 30 days without a tardy or unexcused absence. A base jackpot
of $50 is established for all qualifying players. Those employees
with extended periods of perfect attendance are eligible for higher
and higher jackpots (ie. 3 months $100, 6months $150, 1 year $200).
Penalty Method: While the 2 methods previously discussed are rewarding
in nature, some companies have opted to use the "violation" aspects
of the program to enforce (as opposed to encourage) better workforce
attendance. To do this, a notice is printed on company letterhead
and placed in the program's display frame at the beginning of a new
game. This notice clearly states that either an unexused absence or
2 tardies during the course of any game will result in game round
disqualification. One proviso in taking this approach though: Don't
be too rigid in penalizing a worker. Instead, allow employees an unstated
grace period of 3-5 minutes before marking them "late" for a given
workday. This approach is most effective when linked to one of the
other methods. Although these are the most common methods of linking
incentives for absenteeism and tardiness to Safety Pays, there are
any number of other approaches we can suggest (or that our customers
have suggested to us). What's most important is the incentive goal
be directly linked to the employee behavior management is seeking
and done in a way that's understandable, rewarding and fun.
For more information about performance incentives, click here.
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How can Safety Pays be used to motivate supervisors?
As virtually everyone knows, a winning team’s success is due in
large part to solid leadership and quality guidance. Even the most
talented group of individuals, committed though they may be, are
unlikely to come out on top without the knowledge, insight and commitment
good leadership provides. Therefore, it’s critical to not only secure
the employees’ dedication to workers’ comp claims reduction, but
the commitment of the supervisory staff as well.
Now in most cases, this would not seem to be any kind of issue.
After all, any worker who has been elevated to a supervisory role
has proven both his/her abilities as well as a strong loyalty to
the company. But let’s face it, we’re all human, responding in direct
proportion to the extent to which we’re motivated. Granted, pride
and a sense of duty will count for something, but a company is short-changing
itself if it sets up a system of incentives for its workers while
leaving the supervisory staff out.
As most of our customers know, the Safety Pays program is designed
to be applied primarily to the rank and file employees. This is
done primarily to avoid any conflict when a supervisor hands out
a safety violation eliminating a worker from further game play.
But we encourage our client companies to take one of several suggested
approaches to include the supervisory staff. In larger companies
(those with 20 or more supervisors), often an additional Safety Pays program application is purchased just for management level
personnel.
Although providing this separate program for supervisors is a workable
solution, we believe it’s much more effective to connect supervisor
safety incentives directly into the motivational reward program
provided to the workforce. By linking the supervisors’ incentives
to the success of those employees for whom they’re responsible,
an impetus is created which motivates the supervisors to do everything
within their power to ensure the overall safety effort succeeds.
At Safety Pays, we offer two primary techniques to accomplish this:
DATE CERTAIN METHOD The Safety Pays program is designed to provide
a progressive jackpot to the employees which grows larger as each
accident/injury free day goes by. The "date certain" method of supervisory
incentives provides that on certain dates during a given program
year, whether it’s quarterly or semi-annually, the supervisors will
be rewarded exactly what’s in the jackpot on those dates.
JACKPOT GOAL METHOD This approach provides the supervisors specific
dollar incentives which are rewarded on the day the employees’ jackpot
reaches certain levels (eg. $100/$150/$200/etc.). Many companies
prefer this alternative because as each level is approached and
surpassed, the supervisors becomes increasingly vested in making
sure their workers are taking every precaution to avoid accidents
and injuries.
In each of these cases, whether the supervisors split what’s in
the jackpot at the time the incentive is reached, or each individually
receives the jackpot amount, is up to the company’s senior management.
The point is the supervisory staff’s commitment to workers’ comp
claims reduction is intensified by making them aware that their
financial incentives are directly connected to the extent to which
the people they oversee are able to reduce if not eliminate accident/injury
claims.
These approaches are not mutually exclusive. Some companies might
utilize the "date certain" approach but provide supervisors a financial
kicker if the workforce hits certain records in terms of consecutive
accident/injury free days. In addition, because each of our client
companies is in its own way unique, there’s absolutely no reason
senior management can’t creatively come up with its own set of supervisor
incentives. The main thing is to get the supervisory staff as completely
integrated into the employees’ efforts to reduce claims as possible.
By linking effective employee teamwork with motivated leadership,
unbelievable loss control success can be achieved.
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