Coaching Employee Behaviors

Understanding the driving forces behind behavior can help plants achieve compliance, but many QA/QC professionals lack this particular training. Each plant has its own operational culture that employees learn through experience, observation, and instruction. To positively influence their operational culture, it is essential for food safety professionals to assure the consistent execution of food safety protocols, including adequately addressing unacceptable behaviors. Additionally, it is incumbent upon frontline supervisors to verify that workers are exhibiting appropriate, consistent behaviors in support of the plant’s food safety and quality programs.

Study and Survey Findings

The role of behavior and the use of coaching to influence a safe and productive process that facilitates compliance were tested in a comprehensive study. The results show that the approach works. Within the last few years, a U.S. study and a global survey have also provided data on both as a means for attaining compliance.

In 2012 and 2013, Robert Meyer, a food industry expert for more than 40 years, developed a study to examine whether a methodology could be established to sustainably influence and change the behavior of front-line food production workers. Specifically, the study concentrated on the use of supervisory coaching that could drive employee performance to sustain food safety practices. Meyer conducted the study at four U.S. food production plants in the Midwest, South, and West Coast. Production processes that required improvement were identified at each location, as were the standards for measuring effective job performance. Each one of those standards was sequenced into process steps that were then broken down into a sequence of effective behaviors. Finally, supervisors were required to conduct corrective observations through the use of detailed checklists that contained the steps and actions necessary for compliance. The supervisors immediately initiated corrective actions when they discovered non-compliance activity.

Compliance levels were measured in three steps of the study at each of the facilities: pre-training, post-training, and after corrective observations. The statistics are quite revealing:

• The average pre-training compliance level was only 68 percent, certainly far below what should be considered acceptable;
• Post-training compliance increased to 82 percent—a higher figure, but one that still leaves room for improvement; and
• After three corrective observations, the compliance rate jumped to 94 percent on average for the participating facilities.

One can safely conclude based on the study’s findings that behavior can be positively influenced to achieve safe food production. The same is true of increased productivity—an improvement noted by management at each of the four locations. Most of all, the findings from Meyer’s study indicate that behavior qualifies as a leading indicator of a company’s compliance.

Results from the 2014 Global Food Safety Training Survey provide more insight about the growing recognition of behavior and coaching as essential tools for compliance. The worldwide survey developed by Campden BRI in the U.K. along with several partners, including BRC Global Standards, The Safe Quality Food (SQF) Institute, SGS in Geneva, Switzerland, and Alchemy Systems, was submitted to 25,000 global food processors and manufacturers. Its purpose was to help companies compare and benchmark their training protocols with their counterparts worldwide.

Survey questions covered all aspects of food industry training including budget, training activities, deficiencies, and compliance issues. Data from respondents revealed a surprising number of audit deficiencies due to employee failure to either understand or apply concepts taught in the classroom. However for the first time, the survey looked into measuring sustained and positive food safety behaviors through coaching. Responses indicated an increased reliance on coaching, as respondents apparently recognized the importance of influencing behavior on the floor.

Food industry expert Robert Meyer’s study chart showing improved compliance after coaching and corrective observations.