It wasn't there before... This morning I was heading home on my bike (after feeding my hens) when I noticed something new on my route. It was one of those speed screens that gives you a smiley face if you’re within the speed limit and a sad one if you’re going too fast.
I was really chuffed to get a smiley face, in fact so chuffed I was tempted to go around the block and do it again just for the self-esteem boost! Incentive and reward wrapped into one!
Apparently helpful
Although conflicting, the evidence seems to suggest that they slow traffic down, which would suggest they reduce accidents as well. One study from 2016 by the Welsh government highlighted that they do, but I’ve also seen evidence saying otherwise.
Healthy wakeup call
In my younger days I spent a few years working in sales, and one organisation had a director named Matt who was way ahead of the game in my opinion. The standard starting time was 8am for everybody, but Matt had a rule that said everybody who went to the gym before work could start at 9am.
There was a Virgin gym just across the road, so it was very convenient, that along with the corporate discount we could all benefit from.
So, there we were, before work, hitting the weights, doing a run, before chilling out in the jacuzzi before we got suited and booted for the office. I loved it. You could always tell the difference in energy levels between those who started their day in the gym versus those who didn’t. Matt definitely knew how to incentivise healthy behaviours.
Up in smoke
I also once worked in an organisation that perhaps unknowingly incentivised unhealthy behaviour. Smoking...
All staff had a 20-minute break in the morning then an hour for lunch, but if you smoked you could nip out for a quick fag whenever you chose. This in effect was not only incentivising and rewarding smoking but also having a negative effect on non-smokers as they didn’t get any additional breaks. This was probably because the director themselves smoked.
Incentivise and reward behaviours you want repeating
So, is it time organisations started incentivising and rewarding healthy behaviours in the same way they reward sales? If a salesperson performs well they receive commission and bonuses etc because it brings money into the organisation.
Reward staff who reward your bottom line?
But whilst healthy behaviours don’t directly bring money into an organisation they definitely save it by reducing the amount that goes out in the form of absenteeism, presenteeism and staff turnover.
People who follow healthier habits in general are surely less likely to take sick days, turn up and not perform due to poor health or leave due to their health. When I think back to working for in sales for Matt, the pre-work gym crew definitely looked like those less likely to be in poor health.
But maybe that’s just a correlation, the healthy people went to the gym rather than the gym making them healthy? Chicken or egg?
Smiley faces at work?
So, what do you think, might incentivising and rewarding healthy behaviours in your organisation work like the later start time did when I worked for Matt or the smiley face on that new speed sign?
Orwell-being
Whilst I think rewarding healthy behaviours might require a lot more effort, incentivising them seems much simpler to implement, as you just put the incentive in place, a ‘set and forget’ type of approach.
Whereas rewards require tracking of behaviour. This could get a little dystopian, giving everybody a Fitbit, then tracking their activity and rewarding based on that. George Orwell would turn in his grave!
A word from Stanford
BJ Fogg, The Stanford Behavioural scientist and author of Tiny Habits said, “people change best by feeling good not bad”. So, what smiley screen equivalents can you insert into your workplace to encourage your staff to follow healthier behaviours?
Jonathan Pittam
Preventative Wellness Educator
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