Take A Closer Look At The NEW 2003 Deluxe Award Point Catalog

The new 2003 Deluxe Catalog is just off the presses and ready for use in your next incentive program. The 2003 edition has been expanded by more than 20% and now features 1,378 selections—240 more items than last year.

This year, nearly 75% of all selections are under $500. Plus, the number of selections under $50 has increased by over 45%. In addition, the new catalog features an even larger collection of brand name manufacturers.
(Refer to the May 2002 newsletter for an article featuring the value of brand name merchandise. You can find this online at www.pfi-awards.com.)

Twenty-four new brand names have been added this year. Here is just a partial list:

Black & Decker
Crabtree & Evelyn
Evenflo
Godiva
Goebel (Hummel)
Helen of Troy
KitchenAid Cookware
Noritake
Pulaski Furniture
Polaris
Troy-bilt
Tommy Hilfiger

The Deluxe Catalog is a point-based awards catalog with selections organized in merchandise categories rather than plateau price levels. The following is a percentage breakdown of deluxe catalog selections by value:

Total Items 1378        Expiration Date 12/31/03    (Redemption through 3/31/04)

A Case For Incentives

The incentive industry is being challenged and is also challenging itself to provide valid statistical data that incentive programs work. Fortunately for us all, our industry’s efforts to prove that incentives work is yielding significant and useful data.

The Incentive Federation is conducting the most extensive research. They have conducted a series of studies over the last five years on all aspects of the use of incentives.
Results from their ongoing study can be seen at: www.incentivecentral.org

In addition to the Incentive Federation, two recent studies have further shown that incentives provide businesses with a valuable tool for achieving their corporate goal.

One of these studies was conducted through a joint effort of Carlson Marketing Group and the Gallup Organization. This was a research study directed at 2,000 full-time employees and focused on their opinions regarding the use of recognition awards. The other important study was sponsored by the International Society for Performance Improvement with a grant by SITE (Society of Incentive Travel Executives). This study looked at the overall effectiveness of incentives. Here are some of the most relevant results from both of these recent incentive industry research efforts.

The Value of Recognition Award Programs

• 39% of employees who belong to companies that have recognition initiatives in place are extremely satisfied with their current company.

• Only 9% of employees at companies without such initiatives said they were extremely satisfied.

• Overall, 82% said recognition and praise motivate them to improve their performance compared to the 17% that said they did not find them motivational.

• Of the 2,000 employees surveyed, 43% who received formal measurement and recognition were extremely satisfied with their current company.

SITE-Sponsored Study on the Effectiveness of Incentives

• When designed, implemented and monitored correctly, incentive programs (with awards in the form of money or tangible awards ) increase performance by an average of 22%.

• Team incentives can increase performance by as much as 44%.

• When an incentive is first introduced for completing a task, a 15% increase in performance occurs.

• When asked to persist toward a goal, employees increase their performance by 27% when presented through an incentive program.

• Incentive programs that run for a year or more produce an average 44% performance increase. Programs that run for six months or less showed a 30% increase.

Other important research findings include:

• Incentive programs attract and retain quality employees

• Quota based incentive programs were found to be the most effective. Piece-rate programs for doing more of something also were found to be effective. Contests and sweepstakes (some of the most frequently-used incentive plans) were found to be the least effective.

Safety Incentive Program Update: Has OSHA really banned Safety Programs?

We all know safety incentive programs are widely used. Over the last several years however, they have come under OSHA’s scrutiny and have been criticized by safety management professionals who claim that there is no place for incentives in a company’s overall effort to promote a safe, accident-free work environment.

The question that gets most frequently asked, however is whether OSHA has banned Safety Incentive Programs. Basically, NO. OSHA has investigated safety incentives to determine if there is validity to charges that they cause injury hiding. The answer is that at times they can, but OSHA has provided guidelines on how best to use incentives to eliminate this problem.

Actually, OSHA's guidelines and recommendations for safety incentive programs at its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) sites emphasize the value of psychological rewards over large monetary ones. According to the guidelines, programs which recognize employee involvement in safety-related activities and reward safe behaviors are more acceptable to the agency than those that are based upon reducing injuries and accidents.

What About Injury Hiding?

Since so much of the criticism about safety incentives revolves around the issue of non-reporting of accidents and injury hiding, the question is what safety incentive practices might foster an environment where injury hiding may become a problem. Here are several of the most frequently cited causes:

• Use of Big Ticket Prizes (new pickup trucks, $1000 cash per person, etc.)
  

• Relying totally on group performance as the sole method of awarding a gift (while ignoring proactive individual achievements). This sets up an "all or nothing" mentality where one person’s injury impacts an entire shift, workgroup or plant.
  

• Awarding 100% of all safety incentives based exclusively on an accident or injury-free time frame.

The best and most successful safety incentive programs are ones that incorporate a combination of individual awards based on accident/injury-free time frames and discretionary awards for recognizing safe work practices, participation in safety meeting/seminars and reviewing and understanding safety program guidelines and procedures. For more information on developing safety incentive programs, go online to www.pfi-awards.com  and click on PFI-News.

The September issue features an article on how to prospect for safety programs and the May 2002 issue features an article detailing Safety Program Success Factors.