Instant Gratification and Workplace Safety (Safety Talk) 

There are many aspects of our work that lead to instant gratification by the end of a work day or even within a few hours of our shift beginning. Examples can include organizing a work area or building something. It can be argued that safety is an aspect of the job where there is little or no instant gratification at the end of a work shift because you cannot technically “see” your efforts at the end of the day like the physical work that gets done and remains for all to see. 

NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF INSTANT GRATIFICATION

In A Psychological Sense, The Need For Instant Gratification Is At The Root Of Bigger Problems.

Addictive Tendencies: If you’ve ever found yourself feeling itchy at the thought of leaving your smartphone in a different room or you’ve spent hours on a mindless gaming app, then you know the addiction brought on by instant

gratification.

Missed Opportunities for Learning Growth: When our opinions, skills, or visions for the future meet a challenge, we grow to meet them by evaluating, learning, and developing.

Instant gratification tells us there’s no need for any of that. When “yes” is the only answer, there’s no barrier to continuing on as we are—after all, it gets us what we want. 

Undeveloped Relationships: Instant gratification is a selfish impulse. It inherently sets people against each other, because your gratification often comes at the expense of someone else.

Why Maximizing Delayed Gratification Makes All the Difference: Delayed gratification is a matter of willpower, for which forming good habits is the most successful path. Delayed gratification leads to the development of better habits in turn.

Encourages Teamwork: When goals are out of reach, we’re more willing to work with others to achieve them, and when instant gratification is off the table, it’s less likely to cause interpersonal friction.

Encourages You to Learn: Instant gratification can stunt growth. When everything’s on-demand, there’s no reason to learn social skills or to better yourself to achieve your ambitions and unlock new opportunities.

Encourages You to Enjoy Your Relationships: Once we break out of the instant gratification mindset, we discover the things we truly enjoy. Often, those are interpersonal relationships. 

Fosters Engagement on Multiple Levels: Delayed gratification can lead to a larger sense of mindfulness. 

Instant Gratification and Safety at Work 

Instant gratification at work it usually means getting a task done or completing a project. In the construction trades, employees literally see their creations grow hour by hour until it is a finished product.

Safety on the other hand can be more of an abstract concept that can be seen, for example a worker following safe work practices, but not as literally or as long lasting as the final touches of a construction project. A person can see someone else working safe and see everyone go home safe, but unlike the physical work that you do, you cannot “see” safety as an end product. Safety is not a foundation, a building, or the complete wiring of a skyscraper, but it should be appreciated like the physical work that gets completed.

Instant gratification is the experience of satisfaction without a delay after an action. 

CULTURAL SHIFTS

The increasing proportion of ‘Gen Z’ and millennials in the workplace means that instant gratification is becoming more prevelant. These generations are accustomed to immediate gratification.

It’s not becoming a problem per se. But the ease at which everything is immediately at our feet has the potential to cause harm if not. These changes are NOT a bad thing, but it is important for organizations to recognize and understand immediate gratification’s growing influence on employees.

UTILIZE THE POWER OF GRATIFICATION IN THE WORKPLACE 

Real-Time Feedback: Almost 70% of the millennial workforce believes that annual performance reviews are a doomed process. Compared to instant gratification, annual performance reviews rely on the accumulation of positives and negatives throughout the year. Millennials don’t want to wait for the end of the year to hear what they are doing well and where they need to improve.

FaceTime With Managers: There is a growing demand from the younger workforce to want more face-to-face time with their managers. This ties in with more continuous methods of performance management, but also adheres to the principles of immediate gratification when completing a task.

Information Accessibility: Organizations has to have vast amounts of information and data. Employee handbooks, policies, contacts, benefits, holidays, sick leave, it never ends. Tell employees where to find them. They will have the information they need within seconds.

Coping With Unwanted Instant Gratification In The Workplace: When it comes to long-term fulfilment and success, instant gratification can hinder long term goals. Encourage your workforce to find a balance between immediate gratification from feedback, check-ins and recognition, with long-term strategic planning and objective setting.

Long-Term Goals: The first step to achieving any objective is to visualize what you want to achieve by the end of the goals process.

Breaking down your long-term goals into shorter ones not only makes the success likelihood increase, but also keeps you motivated and rewarded along the way.

Break down a two-month goal, into four, two-week sprints for example – and mark off your progress along the way with small rewards.

Track Progress Along The Way: Tracking your progress is important. It will enhance your motivation to achieve, indicate warning signs, reveal areas that need development and show you overall progression.

FINAL WORD

Safety unlike many work tasks does not give way to instant gratification at the end of every shift, except maybe for the safety supervisors or higher management whose main goal is no injuries and productive days. Because of this, it is important to know that the steps you are taking are helping to avoid injuries and incidents from occurring.