Allied Waste "Dedicated to Safety" Rewards Program
The primary target audience for this program included safety sensitive employees. These employees were categorized into two groups or tiers – drivers, mechanics, and heavy equipment operators (Group A); and sorters and other workers (Group B). The secondary audience for this program was the families of the safety-sensitive employees. Allied Waste felt it instrumental to the success of the program to acknowledge family support of employees and to create communication vehicles that would reach into employee homes and enable them to become involved in promoting workplace safety. All Star Incentive Marketing was engaged to help Allied create a bilingual reward program to promote workplace safety to employees and their families.
At the beginning of each program year, 2005 and 2006, All Star Incentive Marketing produced and distributed “safety launch kits” for each participating division. Each kit contained General Manager welcome letters, sample Safety Vouchers, participant announcement letters, posters, Safety Voucher order forms, award catalogs, and a training video - all of which were distributed in a custom storage box. Upon receipt of launch information General Managers were instructed to display the posters prominently throughout their facilities and to schedule initial safety meetings to ensure that they met with every safety-sensitive employee.
At the initial safety meeting, GMs distributed employee announcement letters and award catalogs. In addition, GMs showed samples of the Safety Vouchers that could be earned through the life of the program. Throughout the "Dedicated to Safety" program, participants were kept engaged with regular communications using the completely customized online award platform, landing page, award catalogs, posters, announcement letters, quarterly promotional flyers, thank you fulfillment cards, and participant surveys.
The program featured bilingual English/Spanish communication pieces and a wide variety of both online and offline options for participation and reward redemption. Printed award catalogs featuring brand name awards and travel awards and were published and distributed on a biannual basis. Posters designed to promote the entire program and highlight some of brand name awards that could be redeemed were displayed in high visibility areas throughout each divisional facility. Personalized bilingual letters were distributed on a regular basis to General Managers and participants outlining program goals, communicating program enhancements, and reminding those not yet participating on how to engage. Thank you fulfillment cards accompanied all award shipments to thank recipients for working safely and to reinforce the goals of the program. Periodic surveys, featuring a chance to win bonus points, were used to gather participant feedback and helped keep participants engaged throughout the two-year program.
Throughout the program, participants had the opportunity to earn Safety Point Vouchers that were redeemable online through a custom award website or off-line using the order form on the back of their voucher and the printed award catalog. Safety-sensitive employees who had not incurred any claims or violations during the previous month were awarded vouchers by their General Managers during their regularly schedule safety meetings.
Safety Vouchers were available in 25 and 10 point denominations (based on which group the employee was categorized). Group A employees could earn Safety Vouchers valued at 25 points each while Group B employees earned Safety Vouchers valued at 10 points each. Division General Managers had the discretion to award up to three vouchers per month if they felt it was more appropriate for their work¬force, but all employees of a specific division had to be rewarded equally based on their performance.
Safety Vouchers could redeemed for prizes such as Dell computers, Coleman tents, Sharp LCD TVs, and Sony camcorders at any time or accrued and combined over the two-year period to allow employees to modify their safety behavior in order to earn more Safety Vouchers and “reach” for high-ticket items such as appliances and travel. Safety jackets were awarded to all employees who had gone 1 or 2 years without an accident or violation. The jackets featured both the Allied name and the "Dedicated to Safety" patch, which used chevrons to indicate each year of safe work. The distribution of these jackets served as an extension of the "Dedicated to Safety" initiative reinforcing the company’s long-term commitment to improving the safety and health of its workforce.
