If you’ve ever observed a corporate culture change for the better, you’ve likely seen somebody take a risk for that upgrade. Bob Scheidt, who’s VP Supply Chain Operations, took a cool risk recently at VWR Science Education - and landed an innovation that rewired an entire corporate brain for safety improvement.
VWR Science Education - a leading supplier of science materials across the US and Canada - which includes Wards Natural Science, Sargent-Welch, ScienceKit, Boreal/Northwest and Edmunds Scientific, leapt toward safety measures that many firms merely dream of achieving. With products manufactured and distributed through more than 300 associates … safety slipped into back seats - behind a culture of hard work, quality products and commitment to customers.
Over time, it appeared “almost normal”, that some personnel get hurt and increasingly workers showed willingness to risk accidents on their job. That’s until Bob and his team cooked a plan to improve safety. More than 300 associates helped to drive a safety culture from within … with a unique approach that motivated supervisors and managers to support and follow. How so?
Bob’s innovative tactic connected safety at work to a competition for winning lottery tickets as rewards. He tapped into an interest observed at work, and built his plan on associates, supervisors and managers’ interest lottery purchases for fun and profit. Simply put, Bob launched the VWR ScienceEducation “Safety Buck” program - simple to adopt and motivational to sustain. Here’s how it worked….
Associate earned a “safety buck’ for each safety improvement they suggested and implemented. Each safety buck doubled as a raffle ticket. Once a month Bob held a company meeting to draw a winner – for a $50 gift certificate.
In a nutshell, $50 monthly paid for thousands of day-to-day ideas and over 1000 implemented improvements in less than a year. Motivation ran high since associates drove the entire program, and within one year Bob’s ScienceEducation Division of VWR reduced accident rates by 49%.
In fact, through Bob’s idea – and the associates’ implementation of lottery draws for safety rewards, the division’s standing improved from one of the worst safety records to the best of any VWR operation world-wide.
In recognition of this achievement Bob received the VWR 2006 Global Achievement Award for Safety. In Bob’s words… “ The award was a tribute to the power of over 300 associates who took safety into their own hands and had fun doing it.”
What problem persists where you work, and what would you risk to drive change for more quality performance? Better still, how would you motivate others to jump in and run with your solution – much like Bob inspired safety improvement at VWR Science Education.
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Tracked on: March 4, 2007 10:31 AM | Permalink to Trackback