Safety Violations at Ashley Furniture: $1.7 M in OSHA Fines

On 2/2/2015 OSHA issued a news release regarding the company, Ashley Furniture. The report described amputations, willful and repeated violations of safety and an overall environment putting company performance ahead of plant and worker safety.  OSHA found that the company did not take steps to protect its workers.

According to OSHA, "A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirement, or with plain indifference to employee safety and health. OSHA issues repeated violations if an employer previously was cited for the same or a similar violation of any standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years."

Companies today are looking at Employee Engagement Strategies to effectively implement safety recognition. According to the SHRM Foundation, engaged employees are five times less likely to have safety incidents involving lost time.

Further, a 2013 Gallup Study found that companies in the top quartile of employee engagement had:

• 48% fewer safety accidents
• 21 % higher productivity
• 22% higher profitability
• 41% higher quality
• 37% reduced absenteeism

Clearly, this suggests that good safety engagement of the workforce results in a more profitable company, certainly the overall goal of Ashley Furniture. 

How Safety Impacts Employee Engagement

An engaged workforce is more likely to take an active interest in the well-being of their organization. They will want to strengthen profitability and productivity because they see that their contributions are being appreciated. Employees will not only work more deliberately and efficiently, but will be proactive in preventing on-the-job accidents.

Maintaining a Safe & Engaged Work Environment

By engaging your employees to maintain a safe and healthy work environment through the use of recognition, your organization will have a higher likelihood of exceeding organizational goals. Your organization can create a culture of safety and recognition by recognizing employees for such proactive behavior as:

• Participation in Safety Training and Meetings
• Making Suggestions
• Reporting Near-Misses
• Mentorship Programs

How RCB Awards Helps Employee Engagement

RCB Awards uses the People Are™ employee engagement platform. This empowers an organization to create a culture of recognition through all aspects of the business, including safety. By incorporating the three-dimensional descriptors of recognition, formal, informal, and day-to-day, companies are able to keep business objectives top of mind, while achieving the strategic goals it has in place.

Contact RCB for more information: 1-800-929-9110. Safety Recognition Specialist

Posted by Curt Denevan:

7 New Rules for Developing a High Performance Team Culture

Posted by Curt Denevan:

The year 2015 has the potential to bring incredible opportunity to businesses across the globe. Over the past month, there have been many predictions about what the new year will hold, and one common thread is the thought that our complex world can be made simple. Many talk about technology and automation, software integrations and cloud computing, and simplifying complex processes.

Behavior Change is the Backbone of Employee Engagement

Simple sounds good, right? But when it comes to engaging employees, simple is not the word that may come to mind. Most of us, if asked, could come up with a list of behaviors we would like to see from our employees, and a list of behaviors we do not want to see. Engaging our teams begins with understanding that what we wish for is really just simple behavior change. After all, to us, it's not rocket science; Am I right?

We want our employees to show up every day, be productive, be safe at work, take care of their own well-being, be mindful and present at work, and to measurably move the needle for us.

Research tell us that in order to consistently see these types of behaviors in our workplaces, we need to have a culture of engagement. Look at what is possible when you have an engaged team:

A 2013 Gallup study found how companies in the top quartile of employee engagement compared with those in the bottom quartile exhibited:

    21% higher productivity
    22% higher profitability
    41% higher quality
    48% fewer safety accidents
    37% reduced absenteeism

The dramatic increase in profitability and productivity alone has the power to transform companies into high performance mode. And the KPIs measured in the Gallup study indicate that we have the potential to catalyze behavior change … and it's really not that hard.

The 7 New Rules of Employee Engagement

To help you understand what it takes to see these kinds of changes within your organization, the CA Short Company wrote The 7 NEW Rules of Employee Engagement. As you can see below, it all begins with creating a culture of engagement through recognition.

1.     Culture: Create a culture of recognition that resonates through all aspects of the organization. Incorporate formal, informal, & day-to-day recognition into the strategic recognition platform.
2.     Resources: Empower employees to develop new skills and advance their careers. Reward those employees who use those opportunities to learn and improve.
3.     Communication: Consistently communicate and live your organization’s values & vision. Recognize those employees who impact the quality of the organization’s work, products, and services.
4.     Appreciation: Value your employees and their ideas. Recognize employees for providing input and for taking initiative outside of their daily responsibilities.
5.     Well-being: Promote work-life integration. Recognize employees who make positive & healthy lifestyle changes that improve the quality of life.
6.     Enthusiasm: Inspire enthusiastic performances from your employees. Reward employees who show commitment to the future of your organization and are dedicated to making it a success.
7.     Safety: Encourage employees to work both efficiently and safely. Recognize those employees who maintain a safe and healthy working environment for themselves and others.

At the C.A. Short Company, the prediction for 2015 is that engaged teams will emerge and carry their companies to be among top performers. Easy? Not necessarily. Worth it? In spades. That's why they've built an innovative recognition platform that they're bringing to the market, based on the 7 New Rules of Employee Engagement. To request a private beta demo, contact curtd@rcbawards.com.

Let us know your thoughts - we'd love to hear your ideas about additional ways to engage employees in order to create high-performance teams.