GiftCard Partners Blog

Although safety programs are effective for cutting workplace injuries in all workplace environments; manufacturing is an optimal industry segment to promote workplace safety incentives. Workplace environments can be harsh and employee safety is a number one concern and constant initiative. Formal safety reward programs provide an important function to motivate employees to take proper safety precautions and adapt to the safer behaviors that your environment demands. If employees are motivated to take safety awareness seriously enough to reduce the likelihood of accidents, and the program is properly structured with measurement methods in place; the company will realize ROI in increased performance, and reduced healthcare insurance premiums. Following are a few examples of typical safety and workplace incentive programs that manufacturers employ:

Are you looking to improve productivity, while keeping your employees motivated? Do you wonder how other industries that also run the programs you do implement them? Do you want to know how other people measure their employee incentive programs?

Behavior based safety incentive programs have been shown to reduce on-the-job injuries. Behavior based safety incentive programs reward employees both for safe behavior, and reporting incidents of unsafe behavior or unsafe working conditions. Using this carrot based incentive program has proven to reduce injury, which also reduces workman's compensation costs for the organization. Based on a 2010 survey, the Government Accountability Office estimates that only 25% of manufacturing companies were using a safety rewards program. This means that 75% of manufacturers, which have higher rates of on-the-job injury, are both allowing more injuries and unsafe workplace practices to occur and simultaneously costing themselves thousands of dollars in workman' compensation claims. Safety rewards can range from providing small incentives for workers who serve on a safety and responsibility committee, to providing more substantial incentives such as gift cards to employees who report unsafe activity or unsafe working conditions. Providing substantial rewards to employees for making often difficult choices to report incidents shows employees that the organization they work for stands behind their choices and their safety. Showing that kind of support also helps maintain productivity, a positive morale, and employee retention rates within the company.
How do you show your employees that you care for their safety? For more information on safety reward and incentive programs check out this article from Risk & Insurance Digital Network.

Imagine being the CEO of a company, and walking into work one day to find a 60% jump in benefits cost per employee.  How does that happen? And more importantly…how does a company combat or neutralize that? Once such textile manufacturer in  Ohio roused to find just such a reality. An aging workforce led to many instances of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and ultimately, decreased productivity. Once implementing a health and wellness program for employees and spouses that revolves around blood tests, and  includes incentives; Standard Textile achieved a 27 % improvement in employees with high blood pressure and a 37% improvement in high employees with cholesterol.
Read on about how one manufacturer improved their employee health

A recent research study conducted by TNS Employee Insights shows that engaging employees at work through programs like incentive rewards and loyalty programs, can improve the overall functionality and performance of a company by 20% points. MolsonCoors found that engaged employees were five times less likely than non-engaged employees to have a safety incident and seven times less likely to have a lost-time safety incident. Using these types of programs by giving small incentives such as a small denomination gift card, or larger gifts for bigger workplace milestones makes employees feel noticed. Employees who are engaged at work feel as though they have a meaningful voice within the organization, and recognize effective leadership more readily. They feel as though they are being noticed, invested in, and guided professionally. Employees who feel engaged are also more productive, which leads to greater company revenues and 87% reduction in likelihood of employee departure. Here are four ways to invest in employee engagement and increase performance. 1.    Link employee engagement to business objectives and measures of effectiveness. The more substantial the direct connection the more clearly employees can view their role. 2.    Invest in employee programs specifically designed to increase engagement by supporting business objectives. 3.    Establish a system of measuring engagement and the effectiveness of these programs. Getting employee feedback about the programs is the best way to gauge their success. 4.    Make adjustments based on the discernible results. Maintaining flexibility in employee engagement programming is key to a positive outcome for both employees and the employer.  
For more information on engaging your employees to improve your company's performance check out this PR Web Article in the San Francisco Chronicle.