Accentuate the positive

In March, the National Waste and Recycling Association’s (NWRA’s) Safety Committee, which consists of senior safety leaders from the industry, held a Safety Summit with other nationally recognized subject matter experts.

NWRA emerged from the Safety Summit with three primary process improvement goals to be implemented throughout the next three years:

• Move refuse and recyclables collectors off the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) 10 Most Dangerous Occupations list.
• Take/join actions that will significantly reduce distracted driving.
• Create/find collaboration opportunities to leverage our efforts.

NWRA’s three-year Strategic Initiatives are founded on the principles of leveraging organizational culture. A positive culture, safety or otherwise, is the bedrock of successful leadership. At this year’s American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Safety 2016, leaders from across the globe, including Dr. David Michaels of OSHA, and ASSE Presidents Thomas Cecich (2016-17), Michael Belcher (2015-16) and Rick Pollock (2012-13), all said we are in “The Golden Age of Safety” with culture at its core.

A positive culture is the most effective and sustainable resource companywide leadership can support, promote and communicate to change the norms that drive behaviors, which improves the overall company culture.

Waste and recycling employers can leverage their companies’ positive culture to recruit world-class talent and move the industry off of OSHA’s high-hazard industry list by recruiting the most qualified talent who are the best organizational fit. Whether you are hiring a senior leader or a frontline employee, apply the same standards of excellence and shared values that match your company’s mission and vision.

“A positive culture is the most effective and sustainable resource companywide leadership can support, promote and communicate to change the norms that drive behaviors, which improves the overall company culture.”

The definition of culture

According to OSHA and culture movement leaders, culture is the atmosphere created by those beliefs, attitudes and norms that shape our behavior. An organization’s safety culture is the result of a number of factors, such as:

• management and employee norms, assumptions and beliefs;
• management and employee attitudes;
• employee and leadership values, myths and stories;
• strictly applied policies and procedures;
• supervisor priorities, responsibilities and accountability;
• whether productivity and profit trump safety and quality;
• action or lack of action to correct unsafe behaviors; and
• employee involvement, or “buy-in.”

In companies with negative culture, turnover is so prevalent that it has become an assumed cost of doing business. When leaders are asked how much driver turnover costs their companies, they typically answer anywhere from $50 to $5,000. Often they have not truly examined this issue, and their numbers stem from cognitive bias, which is based on costs immediately available to them and not on secondary or tertiary costs. In reality, they are way off.

Based on a study by the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute that examined 12 carriers with driver fleets ranging from 32 to 9,463 trucks, the average cost of turnover was $7,923, with a range of $2,243 to $20,729 per driver. The cost of turnover was based on:

• entry and exit administration (advertising, replacement labor, drug testing, recruitment, orientation, training);
• fixed asset costs from idle equipment;
• profit loss from idle equipment; and
• losses related to safety/insurance/legal, maintenance and productivity.

As an example, turnover for drivers with commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs) long has been a major issue, but it has been most significant since 2004, when the hours of service regulations changed and restricted drivers’ available driving hours to a 14-consecutive-hour window per day.

When researching why employees leave a company, the same reasons surfaced in all the human resources, recruiting and business journals, including:

1. the job/workplace was not as expected;
2. a mismatch between job and person; too little coaching and feedback;
3. too few opportunities for growth and advancement;
4. employees feel devalued, unrecognized and not properly compensated;
5. employees are stressed from overwork and work/life imbalance; and
6. a lack of trust and confidence in senior company leaders.

There are two types of turnover. The first type is when a worker leaves the industry all together, known as “The Walker.” She quietly walks away from the industry and start a new life elsewhere.

The more common type is the worker who changes jobs within the industry, “The Talker.” If her previous employer(s) had a negative culture, The Talker does just that, she talks, and it’s always subjective and negative. When she gets hired, if she doesn’t see an immediate and visible difference between the old employer(s) and the new employer, she begins to change the norm at the new employer with her negativity and doubt. If not addressed and changed by leadership, other employees with positive attitudes will change their behaviors, and the culture will quickly turn negative.

To prevent hiring the wrong applicant, employers need to be transparent in the job posting and clearly and truthfully describe the job’s duties and responsibilities. The employer must strictly enforce the prequalification and prerequisite requirements listed in the posting. No bending the rules just because the company is desperate to fill the open position or because the applicant is the owner’s relative or friend of a good employee. The employer must then verify the applicant’s employment and safety history. Special consideration must be given to verifying the reason he or she left his or her previous employer(s). These considerations are factors in hiring the right people to drive a culture of safety.

It doesn’t make sense for an employer to hire an applicant who has performed the exact same job at many different companies in a short time and expect an excellent employment and retention result. It isn’t a sign of experience or dedication to the industry; it’s a source of negative churn. This type of churn can undermine your positive culture and fracture relations with leadership and other employees.

Waste and recycling employers leverage their company’s positive culture to recruit the best talent before a position is even posted. It starts with the way they treat their best recruiters—current employees. If employees feel like valued members of the organization, they will spread the good news and draw top talent to the company.

Thirty days before the applicant hires on is generally when your company’s culture begins to present itself to job seekers.

From the applicant’s perspective

An applicant looks at the following 12 areas before hiring on with a firm:

1. Equipment – New/clean/damage-free equipment is a sign the company cares and shows respect for its equipment and its image. An applicant knows he will be productive and make money.

2. Employee buzz – People spend more time “trash talking” than “glad talking” (the Pollyanna Principle). If he hears something bad, he will look to prove it’s true.

3. Advertisement – If the company cannot back up the job posting, everyone will hear about it.

4. Internet – Keep your company’s website updated and post newsletters, brochures and Q&As showing employee engagement.

5. Recruiter knowledge – The recruiter embodies the company and is the go-to person for the applicant. He or she must be able to explain issues in different ways.

6. Accessibility – Workers must be able to get a live person on the phone. If the applicant/new hire cannot contact a live person (e.g., supervisor, HR, safety, payroll, maintenance) during recruitment, she’ll assume she won’t when hired.

7. Wage package – A good package is straightforward and simple: hourly, productivity, per load, mileage rate, etc. If it’s a combination of these, then it needs to be made clear before the applicant is hired.

8. Application – Ensure it is user-friendly, informative, easy to read and complete, without tricky multipart questions. Commercial motor vehicle drivers must complete a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulated application (Part 391.21).

9. Homefront package – Keep in contact at the homefront—everyone is family—with FYIs and Q&As and with birthday and anniversary cards.

10. Orientation/food and lodging – More than $2,000 is spent to recruit a new employee; don’t skimp now. If traveling to orientation, put new hires in a hotel a manager would stay in and provide access to transportation. Pay for decent meals—not fast food. Pay them to attend the orientation and don’t violate minimum wage laws.

11. Orientation/facility – Provide new hires a space where they can feel relaxed. Make it comfortable and clean with supplies, showers, sofas and access to computers, faxes, copiers and phones.

12. Orientation/topics – Bring in members of each department to perform their subject matter portions of orientation. This also will become part of your mentoring program.

The quality of the employees that companies attract mirrors the culture of the organization. The sooner leaders adopt this philosophy and hold all managers and supervisors responsible for turnover, the sooner companies will begin drawing and retaining top talent and, ultimately, achieving a culture of safety.

The author is the national safety director for the National Waste and Recycling Association, Washington. He can be reached via email at ahargis@wasterecycling.org.