Do Incentive Programs
Lead to Injury Hiding?
By Bill Sims Jr.
As a safety manager, you have probably spent enough time in the trenches to see the ill
effects of poorly designed safety incentive programs. I’m speaking of programs that merely
reward employees for reaching an injury-free milestones without changing underlying employee
behavior.
Understandably, programs like these might lead you to conclude that all safety incentive
programs are ineffective in creating a safer work environment. You might even believe that they
do just the opposite: encourage injury hiding. However, we have recently uncovered a case
where injury hiding occurred on a construction site not using ANY incentive programs. Which
leads us to a new understanding of injury hiding.
To prove my point, consider the following story. We speak with 5,000-plus safety
managers yearly, but this anomaly regarding injury hiding and safety incentives was a new one
for me. Here’s what happened:
A certain non-profit charitable organization builds houses for underprivileged people
(WE cannot reveal the name of the organization due to confidentiality issues). The work is done
by volunteer laborers who receive housing and support from the organization. During a particular
massive building campaign, the organization placed an extra emphasis on safety and established
a goal of achieving 200,000 hours without an injury. There was no incentive or recognition
program involved (because there was no budget to pay for one). There was only the common
goal shared by 1,000 workers of setting a new safety record.
During this construction project, one worker was injured with a broken arm. He had it
reset at the infirmary and returned to work the next day so his crew wouldn't "blow the record"
TH12.16.03-1
for everyone else. (Of course, the concerned safety staff placed him in a light duty assignment.)
Why did he return to work? The answer leaps off the page -- he wasn’t trying to win a prize, he
was trying to be a hero.
Human beings are goal oriented. We crave recognition and a sense of "being on the
team." From an early age, We are taught that being a hero is admirable. That giving 110% when
our bodies are functioning at only 50% is having "the right stuff." Consider these stories:
- Cyclist Lance Armstrong (a cancer survivor) wins his 5th consecutive Tour de France, all
the while suffering from the flu during the first few stages of the grueling race.
- Olympic gymnast KerrWe Strug nails a perfect landing on the vault with a severely
sprained ankle, winning the Gold for the USA team.
- Teenage surfing champion Bethany Hamilton loses an arm to a shark attack during a
competition. Surprisingly, she heads back to the surf within a month of her injury.
The newspapers are filled with stories like these, pulled from the sports arena, battle field
and the like. News reporters can attest to their wide appeal among the general public. So is it
any wonder then that We seek to imitate such heroic behaviors?
The bottom line is that human beings inherently want to be heroes. Which leads me to my
next point: Often, the root cause of injury hiding may not involve an incentive program at all.
Instead, it is driven by the need that all of us have for recognition. Some employees want to be
heroes and seek to establish themselves as the toughest guy on the crew: someone who can work
through any pain or trauma.
WE have heard of many employees who proudly show off a lost finger or hand. WE
have heard coworkers tell stories like, "...after his arm was cut off, he picked it up with the other
hand and walked to the ambulance." (Consider the recent news story of Aspen mountaineer
Aaron Ralston, who cut off his own arm with a pocketknife when it became hopelessly pinned
under a 800-lb boulder. After his rescue, he spoke of how he couldn’t wait for his next hiking
adventure.)
In short, we are convinced that many behavioral safety experts have missed a major
reason people hide their injuries in the work place. Being a hero and working "hurt" allows them
to get the recognition and positive affirmation that they need from their peers.
Along this same line of thinking, is it possible that employees like these might fake an
injury, stage one, or even create one at home to gain the recognition they crave? It may sound
far-fetched, but perhaps some of the injuries that employees "hide" are actually created by them
to gain hero status, after news of the injury "mysteriously" leaks out.
Numerous industry surveys have shown that employees rate the need for recognition as
the number-one factor in job satisfaction, while money ranks a distant fifth. You may be
surprised to learn that 73% of all employees report that they are not thanked or praised enough.
We submit that in work environments where employees are thanked and praised regularly
for positive behaviors, responsible management is meeting their need for support and
recognition. These environments don’t just "happen" - they are created with the help of a wellplanned
recognition program. Neanderthal companies that cling to the misconception that, "a
paycheck is recognition enough" have created a culture where employees will hide injuries to be
a "hero" or "help" the team.
In the ongoing debate of whether incentive programs can lead to injury hiding or not, we
would like to assert that yes they can -- if misused or abused. (Keep in mind that there is a
difference between incentive programs and recognition programs. The former focuses on prizes
while the latter focuses on recognizing behavior changes.) When properly designed using the
experience of a qualified recognition consultant, recognition programs can take a company’s
safety program to the next level without injury hiding. (As a matter of fact, we help many clients
to achieve this success every day.)
Finally, regardless of where you sit on the issue of injury hiding, I would caution all of us
to accept the humbling truth that nobody is the master of human behavior. There are no easy
answers or quick fixes. Anyone who supposes otherwise will always find himself proven wrong.
Bill Sims Jr. is president of The Bill Sims Company, 114 Centrum Drive, Irmo, SC 29063, Voice:
800 690 1860
e-mail:bill@2billsims.com
Further articles in this series are available free at www.billsims.com/44
|
