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Corporate incentives for promoting safety belt: Rationale, guidelines and examples.
Add. Ad. & Pro. Vol. 16. No. 1. pp. 325-329. Pergamon Press Ltd. Rimed in the U.S.A.
1984
RECENT
PUBLICATIONS
Accident Analysis and Prevention invites authors andpublishers to submit materialfor review. Books, conference proceedings, research reports and other full-length studies are welcome. Persons wishing to review publications for the journal are encouraged to submit their name, address and areas of interest. All publications and inquiries should be directed to:
Mary L. Chipman, Book Review Editor Accident Analysis and Prevention Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 Canada Corporate
Incentives
for Promoting
Safety Belt Use: Rationale,
Guidelines
and Examples.
E. Scott Geller, Office of Driver and Pedestrian Research, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C., 1982, 92 pp. $11.50. Motor vehicle crashes cost American employers, both in the public and in the private sector, millions of dollars a year. The use of safety belts could save well over 50% of those costs. This fact, plus a growing concern by employers for the general health and welfare of their employees as a means of contributing to the smooth operation of their organizations, leads many to ask how they can increase the use of safety belts by their employees. Geller’s report to NHTSA en&Bed “Corporate Incentives for Promoting Safety Belt Use: Rationale, Guidelines, and Examples” is designed to do just that. Aimed at executives and managers who are in a position to influence corporate decision making, this manual stresses successes and presents a set of cost-effective strategies which both research and past corporate experience show will work. It offers options, noting the variety of strategies that can be employed, and suggestions for ways to maximize the success rate of any given approach. The manual fills a major need to consolidate the growing volume of real-world successes with corporate safety belt incentive programs. It is divided into five sections. The first section presents a short, graphically illustrated discussion of human motivation theory, especially as it applies to the promotion of safety belt use. The basic concept which underlies the philosophy of corporate incentives is that humans are motivated by antecedents-cues or reminders, threats or promises made prior to behavior-and by consequences-rewards or punishments which occur after the behavior. Geller stresses that incentives can serve in both capacitiesrewarding employees for using belts in the past, and reminding them to use belts in the future. The second section of the manual examines some of the important issues related to employee belt use programs and recommends alternative ways of handling these issues. Four issues stand out. First, the relative mertis of group and individual reward strategies are considered. That is, should one reward all members of an employee unit for the collective behavior of the unit, as one Pennsylvania plant did by giving all employees a $20 prize when the average belt use reached 90% two months in a row? Or is it preferable to reward only those individuals who are observed wearing belts or who pledge to do so? Actually, there are circumstances in which both of these strategies are applicable and ways of combining the benefiits of each. The second issue deals with the value of pledges. A pledge to wear seat belts can serve as an antecedent, something which motivates future behavior. But it also is one step removed from actual belt use and is, therefore, less easy to enforce. Geller discusses both the advantages and disadvantages of pledges and recommends ways of using them to enhance a safety belt program. The third issue is peer
326
Recent Publications
pressure. No one should be surprised that employees are influenced by other employees. Methods of promoting peer pressure to create an environment in which it is socially acceptable. or even socially sanctioned to wear belts, form the heart of the manual’s discussion. Finally, the manual notes the relative benefits of a gradual fading out of the incentive program over an abrupt cessation of rewards. It goes on to discuss the advantages of a long term strategy of intermittent reenforcement and, perhaps, of regular reinstatement of the incentive system. The third section of the manual examines the relative merits of the three principal types of incentive strategies: direct and immediate, direct and delayed, and indirect. A direct and immediate strategy constitutes a reward given on the spot to a person observed wearing a safety belt. A direct and delayed strategy offers the reward at a time subsequent to the actual observation. For example, winners may be notified by a list of license plate numbers posted inside a plant. An indirect strategy offers the reward for a promise or pledge to wear belts. Geller argues, using a solid foundation of psychological research, that direct and immediate rewards are the most powerful of these three, but he acknowledges that circumstances may render such a strategy impractical for some employers. He suggests ways, therefore, of augmenting the impact of delayed or indirect strategies, primarily through the use of group incentives and peer pressure, so that each employer can devise a strategy that can be easily implemented and that has a high likelihood of success. Finally, in this section the manual addresses the vital importance of “employee awareness sessions.” Without an opportunity for employees to understand the reasons for increased belt use and to voice their opinions about belts, even a carefully constructed incentive program may be only minimally successful. Geller cites his own experience with a blue-collar plant in Virginia in which employees raised usage from a base rate of 2% to a mean of 9% with incentives alone. A year later these same blue-collar workers increased use from a baseline of 6% toa mean of 18% after a set of awareness sessions and up to a mean of 42% after the subsequent introduction of incentives. Clearly, the awareness sessions created a climate in which the incentives were much more powerful motivators. The fourth section of the manual is a detailed outline describing twelve case studies of employee programs. Taken from public and private sector organizations, white- and blue-collar plants, experimental and employer-initiated experience, these cases illustrate the variety and the potential of safety belt incentive programs. In easy-to-follow format, Geller outlines component parts of these cases, noting especially the results achieved, and the costs and benefits to the company. He finishes each case study with several direct statements from individual employees about the programs in which they participated. These cases are a graphic illustration of the power of employee safety belt programs and the potential such programs have to benefit employee and employer alike. Finally, the manual ends with a series of appendices, illustrating the types of materials companies can use to support their safety belt programs. Sample flyers, pledge cards, incentive coupons, and employee newsletter articles from particularly successful industry programs demonstrate some of the components of the cases described earlier in the manual. This manual does not answer all possible questions about employee safety belt incentives, and Geller and others continue to investigate issues related to long-range impact, optional reward schedules, and the need for periodic reenforcement. It is designed for users and represents a synthesis of a large and growing body of knowledge and experience intended to serve both as a guide and as a prompter of new ideas and new ways of implementing what has already proven to be a highly successful method of increasing safety belt use. BRUCE E. BIGELOW Gettysburg College
Gettysburg,
PA
1984
RECENT
PUBLICATIONS
Accident Analysis and Prevention invites authors andpublishers to submit materialfor review. Books, conference proceedings, research reports and other full-length studies are welcome. Persons wishing to review publications for the journal are encouraged to submit their name, address and areas of interest. All publications and inquiries should be directed to:
Mary L. Chipman, Book Review Editor Accident Analysis and Prevention Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 Canada Corporate
Incentives
for Promoting
Safety Belt Use: Rationale,
Guidelines
and Examples.
E. Scott Geller, Office of Driver and Pedestrian Research, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C., 1982, 92 pp. $11.50. Motor vehicle crashes cost American employers, both in the public and in the private sector, millions of dollars a year. The use of safety belts could save well over 50% of those costs. This fact, plus a growing concern by employers for the general health and welfare of their employees as a means of contributing to the smooth operation of their organizations, leads many to ask how they can increase the use of safety belts by their employees. Geller’s report to NHTSA en&Bed “Corporate Incentives for Promoting Safety Belt Use: Rationale, Guidelines, and Examples” is designed to do just that. Aimed at executives and managers who are in a position to influence corporate decision making, this manual stresses successes and presents a set of cost-effective strategies which both research and past corporate experience show will work. It offers options, noting the variety of strategies that can be employed, and suggestions for ways to maximize the success rate of any given approach. The manual fills a major need to consolidate the growing volume of real-world successes with corporate safety belt incentive programs. It is divided into five sections. The first section presents a short, graphically illustrated discussion of human motivation theory, especially as it applies to the promotion of safety belt use. The basic concept which underlies the philosophy of corporate incentives is that humans are motivated by antecedents-cues or reminders, threats or promises made prior to behavior-and by consequences-rewards or punishments which occur after the behavior. Geller stresses that incentives can serve in both capacitiesrewarding employees for using belts in the past, and reminding them to use belts in the future. The second section of the manual examines some of the important issues related to employee belt use programs and recommends alternative ways of handling these issues. Four issues stand out. First, the relative mertis of group and individual reward strategies are considered. That is, should one reward all members of an employee unit for the collective behavior of the unit, as one Pennsylvania plant did by giving all employees a $20 prize when the average belt use reached 90% two months in a row? Or is it preferable to reward only those individuals who are observed wearing belts or who pledge to do so? Actually, there are circumstances in which both of these strategies are applicable and ways of combining the benefiits of each. The second issue deals with the value of pledges. A pledge to wear seat belts can serve as an antecedent, something which motivates future behavior. But it also is one step removed from actual belt use and is, therefore, less easy to enforce. Geller discusses both the advantages and disadvantages of pledges and recommends ways of using them to enhance a safety belt program. The third issue is peer
326
Recent Publications
pressure. No one should be surprised that employees are influenced by other employees. Methods of promoting peer pressure to create an environment in which it is socially acceptable. or even socially sanctioned to wear belts, form the heart of the manual’s discussion. Finally, the manual notes the relative benefits of a gradual fading out of the incentive program over an abrupt cessation of rewards. It goes on to discuss the advantages of a long term strategy of intermittent reenforcement and, perhaps, of regular reinstatement of the incentive system. The third section of the manual examines the relative merits of the three principal types of incentive strategies: direct and immediate, direct and delayed, and indirect. A direct and immediate strategy constitutes a reward given on the spot to a person observed wearing a safety belt. A direct and delayed strategy offers the reward at a time subsequent to the actual observation. For example, winners may be notified by a list of license plate numbers posted inside a plant. An indirect strategy offers the reward for a promise or pledge to wear belts. Geller argues, using a solid foundation of psychological research, that direct and immediate rewards are the most powerful of these three, but he acknowledges that circumstances may render such a strategy impractical for some employers. He suggests ways, therefore, of augmenting the impact of delayed or indirect strategies, primarily through the use of group incentives and peer pressure, so that each employer can devise a strategy that can be easily implemented and that has a high likelihood of success. Finally, in this section the manual addresses the vital importance of “employee awareness sessions.” Without an opportunity for employees to understand the reasons for increased belt use and to voice their opinions about belts, even a carefully constructed incentive program may be only minimally successful. Geller cites his own experience with a blue-collar plant in Virginia in which employees raised usage from a base rate of 2% to a mean of 9% with incentives alone. A year later these same blue-collar workers increased use from a baseline of 6% toa mean of 18% after a set of awareness sessions and up to a mean of 42% after the subsequent introduction of incentives. Clearly, the awareness sessions created a climate in which the incentives were much more powerful motivators. The fourth section of the manual is a detailed outline describing twelve case studies of employee programs. Taken from public and private sector organizations, white- and blue-collar plants, experimental and employer-initiated experience, these cases illustrate the variety and the potential of safety belt incentive programs. In easy-to-follow format, Geller outlines component parts of these cases, noting especially the results achieved, and the costs and benefits to the company. He finishes each case study with several direct statements from individual employees about the programs in which they participated. These cases are a graphic illustration of the power of employee safety belt programs and the potential such programs have to benefit employee and employer alike. Finally, the manual ends with a series of appendices, illustrating the types of materials companies can use to support their safety belt programs. Sample flyers, pledge cards, incentive coupons, and employee newsletter articles from particularly successful industry programs demonstrate some of the components of the cases described earlier in the manual. This manual does not answer all possible questions about employee safety belt incentives, and Geller and others continue to investigate issues related to long-range impact, optional reward schedules, and the need for periodic reenforcement. It is designed for users and represents a synthesis of a large and growing body of knowledge and experience intended to serve both as a guide and as a prompter of new ideas and new ways of implementing what has already proven to be a highly successful method of increasing safety belt use. BRUCE E. BIGELOW Gettysburg College
Gettysburg,
PA