from the sweet-sweet-$5-Starbucks-gift-card dept.
Employees are motivated by rewards that are perceived as distinct from salary:
Tangible rewards motivate employees when they're easy to use, pleasurable, unexpected, and distinct from salary, a new study found.
A recent survey of firms in the United States revealed that 84 per cent spent more than $90 billion annually on tangible employee rewards, such as gift cards, recreation trips and merchandise in hopes of increasing productivity.
[...] Presslee and his co-author, University of Wisconsin-Madison's Willie Choi, used four experiments to investigate the factors driving the preference between cash and tangible rewards. The attributes examined include ease of use of the reward (fungibility), hedonic nature of the reward (want vs. need), the novelty of the reward, and how the reward is presented.
"Rewards are constellations of attributes, and firms should focus more on the motivational effects of the attributes associated with a reward rather than the reward type itself," Presslee said. "Results confirmed that each of these attributes – individually and in combination – increases employee effort and performance."
The researchers recommend managers interested in motivating employees using tangible rewards would be best served to offer tangible rewards that incorporate these four attributes.
It would not surprise me if the effect was the same for cash, provided that the cash was handed directly to the employee instead of being added to their paycheck.
Journal Reference:
Jongwoon (Willie)Choia and AdamPresslee, When and why tangible rewards can motivate greater effort than cash rewards: An analysis of four attribute differences [open], Accounting, Organizations and Society, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2022.101389
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2022, @07:46PM (16 children)
Give me the cash, don't make me screw around trying to figure out how to spend them.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday August 17 2022, @08:40PM
Tots. I mean I'm wearing all sort of nice hats to their benefit, I call in very dangerous loaded guns when necessary, I even execute mystical dances, and they still... arrggghh, guys, lemme spell it for you, just gimme the caaasssshhh [youtu.be]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Informative) by looorg on Wednesday August 17 2022, @09:10PM (1 child)
Indeed. Give me cash or reimburse me for things I bought and can show a receipt for. Don't force me to go shopping in stores or places I might not care for. They might feel that it's impersonal, which is probably right I can't keep track where this or that bill came from. Sure I will remember the gift-card to something or someplace, most often then not cause I have to go out of my way to use it. Been quite a few such "gifts" that have gone unused simple cause it's been so out of place to what I want to do or care to do.
Examples. Got movie tickets as some kind of xmas (or Holiday Gift since they can't apparently say christmas without offending people) from one of the institutions I worked for. When there was COVID restrictions and all the cinemas closed. They lapsed. Thanks! Awesome gift. Another gave me giftcards for food the other xmas. Fine. Except only redeemable at the superdupermart at the edge of town that I never really normally visit. So now I had to visit it. Yes I am cheap like that. It sucked. But it was like two weeks worth of "free" food so I won't complain. I have also gotten spa tickets. Somehow I don't see a lot of middle aged men going for manicures and pedicures ... alone ... While I do appreciate someone else fixing my feet from time to time I don't want to go to some fancy spa. I don't want to sit in a massage chair, listen to Enya and drink lemon-water etc. That was regifted.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday August 18 2022, @06:24AM
Yeh...I was gifted some AMC " silver certificates " that were alluded to be worth a theater admission sans any treats.
Didn't even cover the price of admission.
Cheapskates.
I wonder why anyone would gift such a thing. Ranks right up there with a money mailer envelope claiming to contain hundreds of dollars of savings.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Touché) by Opportunist on Wednesday August 17 2022, @09:54PM (3 children)
In the eternal words of Jimmy Carr: Gift vouchers are about the most stupid gift. You walked into a job and said "'scuse me, can you help me, I got some money here, this is accepted everywhere. Could you fix it for me so that it only works in this one shop, and only for a limited time? I should explain, it's a gift and I'm a fucking idiot".
Why the fuck give someone a gift voucher? You don't even get the excuse that you didn't want to tell them how much the gift was, it says so on the fucking voucher! Just give them the money and be done with it, everyone's happy and I most of all don't have to figure out what the fuck that store is the voucher is from. Chances are it's some ritzy clothing store where the 100 bucks on the voucher are only good for some underpants and I have to take care of the other 20 bucks it goes beyond the voucher.
Fuck off with that shit!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2022, @11:04PM (2 children)
Ok, we understand your feeling about gift cards, so we're going to make a donation to a charity of our choice in your name instead.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Thursday August 18 2022, @12:15AM
Fine. You possibly found the thing that is even worse -- we made a donation in your name (no choice, the ceo picked his wives favorite charity for you) ... or we planted a tree for you (here is your paper diploma ... is this what the tree was for?)
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday August 18 2022, @04:28AM
Very generous of you. The charity would be "Opportunist opportunities" and it ensures that underpaid and underprivileged security consultants get their chance to smile from time to time.
Any semblance of the bank account to donate to with mine is purely coincidental.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Username on Wednesday August 17 2022, @10:34PM (4 children)
That cash is taxable. Gift cards are not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2022, @02:42AM (1 child)
> That cash is taxable.
Sure, to the person receiving the bonus.
As a (tiny) employer, when I give my associate/contractor a bonus before the end of the year, it counts as part of his pay--a deductable expense for me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2022, @08:53AM
Yup, did him a big favor
Ratted him out to the IRS.
His failure to report same on his tax return could be construed as tax evasion, even if not, subject him to excuse for IRS to rifle through his finances.
This ranks right up there with the free birthday e-card businesses used to provide for any "friend" willing to provide the aggregator with another accurate record ov a valid name, email address, and date of birth...data needed to assist in identity theft.
Dumb friends are a terrible liability!
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday August 18 2022, @03:33AM (1 child)
depends on the country [taxed.com.au]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Username on Thursday August 18 2022, @12:34PM
Everything I hear about au makes me wonder why anyone lives there. Sounds like it's a prison colony or something.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:20AM (2 children)
True.
The co-author Adam Presslee, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo's School of Accounting and Finance, says:
I think the professor hasn't worked at many other employers. :-) Because I see no puzzle: the predominant reason for 'tangible rewards' is greed. Companies think they can discount a reward if they merely transmute it from cash to another form. Of course, there are some true tangible rewards -- like a shoe company gifting shoes to its employees. But how about a bank gifting gift cards to its employees? (This happened in my family - some of the cards were misplaced and eventually expired)
And that's the attribute they should have weighted most highly. Cash is far more fungible than a gift card.
Even though the researchers talk about "tangible rewards", maybe they should talk about intangibles too. Companies have also started rewarding people with Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): https://www.google.com/search?q=companies+start+rewarding+people+in+NFTs [google.com]
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:34AM (1 child)
That's one that I actually appreciated a little bit. The company would reimburse me for safety boots, up to a limit of $100/year. You don't get very good safety boots for $100. But it was nice that the boots I bought cost me $140 to $180 out of pocket, and the company would give me $100 back.
The funny part of that, I thought that I would eventually have 5, 6, or more pairs of boots sitting aroung, waiting for me to wear them. Unfortunately, all of my sons can wear my boots, so none of them sat long.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Thursday August 18 2022, @05:27AM
That's a good story, including the reuse by your sons.
A modern pandemic/IT analog would be a company reimbursing employees for WFH setup (e.g., a new standing desk or chair or monitor). Unfortunately, most companies do not (mine doesn't).
(Score: 1) by darkpixel on Thursday August 18 2022, @02:13PM
Fuck that noise. Everything I have is paid off.
You want to know why I can't stop working?
Taxes.
If I don't continue to pay the government whatever random amount of money they think they're entitled to, I will get locked in a cage like a dog, or murdered by IRS agents.
I can cancel my internet service. I can buy a solar system and cancel my PUD service. I have my own well, so I don't need to pay water/sewer.
If you take taxes out of the equation, I can quite literally survive comfortably on $300/mo...and I
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 17 2022, @07:48PM (3 children)
First problem with company trips to getaways, dinners, banquets, fishing/hunting/camping, or whatever is, it's always the same people who "win" those benefits. A tight little clique gets all the bennies, and the hundreds of workers out on the production floor might get an occasional pizza, or the traditional holiday dinner/turkey/ham. I saw that in the Navy, and I've seen the same thing at the many jobs I've worked at as a civilian. Any benefit program is going to benefit that inner clique.
The second problem, is that those bennies have little meaning to workers who are struggling to pay the bills. WTF do I want to take 3 days off to attend some stupid meeting down at the Gulf of Mexico, if the electricity is going to be turned off while I'm gone?
Of course, in view of the the first problem, that second problem doesn't really apply to those clique members who are partying hard at the casino on the Gulf. They get regular raises and bonuses, and sometimes, even loans from the company.
If and when your workers are somewhat financially secure, if and when those little perks are distributed among the entire workforce, THEN they would have meaning, and THEN they would become motivational.
Until then, give us a raise!!
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Funny) by mhajicek on Wednesday August 17 2022, @08:21PM (2 children)
Actually had this happen.
"Record productivity! Have a pizza party!"
"Can I have a raise?"
"Sorry, times are tight right now, we're not doing raises."
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dwilson on Thursday August 18 2022, @03:00AM (1 child)
To play Bill's Advocate,
"Record productivity" and "Sorry, times are tight right now." are not mutually exclusive. At all.
- D
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday August 18 2022, @11:02AM
If your team is incredibly productive, and that's not making your bottom line any better, then you've directed them incorrectly and failed as a manager. Why should you be punishing your highly productive employees for your own foul-up?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 5, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 17 2022, @07:51PM (11 children)
Years back, there was some magic number like $70K per year - above which more money tended not to bring more happiness, in whatever studies they did on the topic. That was long enough ago that the current number is probably around $100K/yr today.
Until the "basic needs of life" are met, more money definitely makes more productive employees. Your employees aren't going to be as productive if they can't afford reliable transportation, safe housing, decent food, and if you have enough employees you can't avoid the reality that good medical care also makes more productive employees. This "basic needs" level is well below $100K/yr, but well above what a LOT of people work for in the US, and around the world - certain countries excepted.
After that, you can certainly motivate people with the money to buy whatever shiny gizmos, outsized homes, or luxury services (particularly restaurants) strike their fancy - but only up to a point, and that's where that $100K "ceiling" seems to come in.
As for substituting my cash remuneration with "rewards" - um, no thank you. I worked at a place that did annual trips to Hawaii for about 10% of the company, around 100 employees plus their spouses. About half of the trip "winners" were a lock for VPs, heads of departments etc, but the other 50 got spread around to semi-merit based semi-random selected employees. For the low earners, the ones catching rides to work with friends who have working trucks, etc., that trip to Hawaii was an amazing unforgettable life experience that they would likely never experience otherwise. But, for the $100K & up crowd, it was a pain in the ass professional obligation as much as it was an enjoyable vacation. Who's going to watch the kids while you're gone for a week? Couldn't we just pay for this trip ourselves and maybe go somewhere else that we prefer to Hawaii? etc. Today's employer is larger, more mature, and they hand out "attaboy points" exchangable in the company store for shiny gizmos, or luxury services, sporting and concert events, even travel if you get enough of them, but... all in all... I just take the cash-cards instead. The selection of stuff in the company store is really broad, but still super-restrictive as compared to Amazon.com, or ticketmaster, or any of your usual sources for stuff you desire.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday August 17 2022, @09:48PM (3 children)
I heard that $70E3 number also, and then there's Gravity Payment's CEO who raised the corporate minimum wage [cbsnews.com] to that amount.
I don't think many people would begrudge company-sponsored/subsidized daycare for say up to 2.2 kids per employee. Hell, if you don't have kids, you'd be allowed to enroll 2.2 random nieces or nephews to take advantage of the benefit. Too pricey? Start with pet daycare or similar.
So ... well-designed er, "surprise" sex toys?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 17 2022, @09:54PM (1 child)
>Start with pet daycare or similar.
Google had this, then they just had it for something like director level and above, now they don't have it at all... it went the way of the Chef, I think.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2022, @10:19PM
Google had this, then they just had it for something like director level and above, now they don't have it at all
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 17 2022, @10:08PM
>So ... well-designed er, "surprise" sex toys?
You know, any sufficiently motivating incentive is bound to make some people uncomfortable, or be illegal, or both.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:38AM
Obviously employees who do not respond to the cutting age motivation techniques will be simply let go.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday August 18 2022, @08:58AM (1 child)
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
https://html.duckduckgo.com/html?q=Maslow%27s [duckduckgo.com]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 18 2022, @10:12AM
Exactly, and physiological needs and safety needs are pretty much controlled by money in society, if not yours then someone else's.
Corporations that try to pay in hugs and snuggles will probably have legal troubles.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday August 18 2022, @11:18AM (3 children)
I think something you're missing here is the difference between income and consumption.
Just because you make, say, $250K a year after taxes as a doctor or something, doesn't mean you have to spend $250K a year. Indeed, you almost definitely shouldn't, you should spend only what you need to live reasonably comfortably and save or invest the rest. Do that for long enough, and you'll own your home free and clear and have enough in your bank and brokerage accounts that you can live off your investment income, and then you can decide how much longer you feel like working. Both early retirement and the ability to tell your bosses or customers to fuck off whenever you feel like it seem like pretty good motivators to me.
One book on this subject, "Your Money or Your Life", covers this well: Basically, if you're somebody with a solidly upper-middle-class income, if you don't spend your money on useless crap and instead sock it away you're going to be a lot happier in the long run, in large part because the economic system we currently live under values having a pile of cash to invest more than working your butt off.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:26PM (2 children)
>Both early retirement and the ability to tell your bosses or customers to fuck off whenever you feel like it seem like pretty good motivators to me.
And they are, motivators, but the $70K study basically said: being on a track to comfortable early retirement in 10-15 years doesn't really impact day to day happiness. Indeed, depression, severe depression, and suicide are just about a prevalent in the trust fund baby set as they are in the general population. Being "needed" and "needing to work" are both good for general feelings of well-being today. Our M.D. next door had enough cash to buy his three sons houses free and clear and retire by the time he was 45, but he continued to work - and that didn't really do his health or "satisfaction" any good, mostly it made him a difficult jerk to be around, and then he died before his 70th birthday.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday August 18 2022, @05:32PM (1 child)
There are lots of options other than "work" and "sit around eating bon-bons" though: Charity volunteer work, taking care of somebody else's kids while they're at work, creating artistic stuff, academic research just because you like it, whatever passion project you've been putting off your whole life, traveling the world, gardening, cooking, etc etc. Lots of retired people find ways of keeping busy, and I agree that sort of thing can make a big difference to their well-being.
So for your doctor next door, I'd have advised him to stop working for a paycheck and do the things he always wanted to do, whatever they were. Like, if he got into medicine because he cared deeply about healing the sick and injured, think about moving from his big-bucks medical practice to a much lower-paying medical charity. Or if he's got a practice he feels is important to his community, try to put his time into training a younger doctor who can take over for him after a while. Or if he's liking the academic side of things, go teach at a med school. Or do something not-medical at all like that trip around the world he's always wanted to do.
(Also worth mentioning here: Doctors are one of the worst professions when it comes to mental health. Their suicide rate is about twice the average, for instance.)
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 18 2022, @06:34PM
I get the feeling that the MD next door (like so many) enjoyed the God position he held within the department, so he kept going back for it. He was also heavily political, and held some "traditional" views that have fallen out of favor and I'm pretty sure he could best push his personal views on others from his MD position, as opposed to volunteer or community work. His last 5-10 years he was pretty infirm, dottering on his exercise walks and prone to mental lapses, but he only retired a few months before he died. There's a big case in the news here where a surgeon did the same: went senile six years ago but continued practicing until two years ago, botched hundreds of surgeries... maybe some day people will learn to stand up to their MD gods and tell them when it's time to stop negatively impacting people's lives with their infirmities. Our neighbor was a nephrologist, not a practicing surgeon. Hopefully he didn't dispense too much bad advice in his sunset years.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Revek on Wednesday August 17 2022, @08:23PM (2 children)
I know many companies say that higher pay won't work. Those same companies refuse to try.
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 5, Insightful) by looorg on Wednesday August 17 2022, @09:14PM (1 child)
They only refuse to try it for the peons. For board members, the CEO and other people up there the sky is apparently the limit.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 17 2022, @11:02PM
1988, a friend graduated with a double BS in psychology and business administration and got a job as head teller in a bank. Every year the branch managers would take a retreat trip to Cancun or similar and decide the salaries for the coming year. Every year they would decide that the tellers would receive some fraction of inflation as their raise, usually about 1%, while the branch managers would receive at least +5%, but if it was a particularly profitable year for the bank they might give themselves a 10 or even 15% ongoing salary raise...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2022, @08:38PM
Says a bean-counter who want's a tiny one-time expense rather than an ongoing financial corporate commitment.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday August 17 2022, @08:40PM (4 children)
I heard this story and believe it was true; one place I worked at (very small, 50 or 100 total) would randomly have the VP show up on a weekend and anyone there when he was there would get an instant $100 bill. do what you want with it.
I never worked a weekend when he was there (maybe I was only on a few weekends) but things like that, while sounding a bit silly, sure do go a long way. if I'm going to be working late anyway, it is a nice random gesture to get a thank-you like that, even if somewhat tiny. engineers can be worth $200/hour or more, so that $100 for the whole day or weekend is basically nothing; but emotionally it does count.
wish there were more like him. company is long gone; market changed a lot over the last 20 years ;)
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 4, Informative) by Opportunist on Wednesday August 17 2022, @09:43PM
This.
The actual gift is the acknowledgement. 10 bucks handed to you personally by a VP with a handshake and a pat on the back do more for morale than an envelope sent to you via in-house mail containing coupons for 100 bucks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2022, @10:15PM
A stack of $100 bills to every employee, and money in the paycheck to cover the tax.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2022, @11:06PM
At many top tier universities (UCxx), as well as a below market salary, you get the privilege of making your landlord rich and serving Professors far more intelligent than you. And they'll remind you regularly so you don't forget!
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:42AM
Ahhhh - you reminded me of a plant manager who did similar. No $100 bills, of course, but he would now and then come in on the weekend, bringing something to eat. Usually pizza, sometimes KFC or Mickey D. Basically, he would split a $100 or so among the weekend workers on duty. Best thing, he seemed to rotate that surprise showing among all three shifts, he wasn't partial to 1st shift.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Wednesday August 17 2022, @09:07PM (2 children)
the reward is i get left alone:
the boss tells me what is coming down (when i can't anticipate it myself) and just leaves me to deal with it.
Get it done, move on. Good job. Go home.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:12AM
This. To elaborate further, you're given the job, your boss makes sure you have the tools necessary to do the job, there is no stupid job politics to get in the way of doing your job, and if there is part of it you need support with that support is available without any sort of penalty. You know what you have to do and have the proper authority to do what is necessary to get the job done, without having to fight "rules" or get special permission or get blocked by company policies that don't fit the situation.
The best thing a boss can do is eliminate unnecessary stress in your job. If you can manage the ups and downs that any job will have without having to deal with unneeded crap, you have a job that you will likely be satisfied with, even if you could make more elsewhere. You might "take work home with you", but if it is in a form where you are thinking about the project because you are interested and excited about it, that is probably a good thing. If what you are taking home is stress and anxiety over the previous day's and/or next day's bullshit, it is never a good thing.
I suppose it comes down to your boss trusting you to get the job done in the best way possible, and you trusting your boss to back you up for what you did to get the job done. I think most of us are happy if we have that.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday August 18 2022, @07:58AM
Works as long as your job is interesting and meaningful. Not so strong for cleaners, factory line workers, etc.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Opportunist on Wednesday August 17 2022, @09:41PM (6 children)
If you reward your employee with a trip to a spa worth 100 bucks, this will only be really awesome for those that like going to a spa and for the rest, it's kinda ... well, meh.
If you reward your employee with a coupon for 100 bucks at your local electronics shop, this will only be really awesome for those that like electronic gadgets and for the rest, it's ... well, kinda meh.
If you reward your employee with cash, it will be awesome for those that spend it on a trip to a spa and for those that spend it on electronic gadgets.
Care to explain why cash is supposedly worse than either "gift"?
Just gimme the cash. I promise I'll consider it something other than my salary if that makes your marketing juju feel-good bullshit work out.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 17 2022, @11:16PM (3 children)
Try this: your direct manager only has 3 to 8 reports, and they actually spend time with them and know something about them. Some people would appreciate cash more than anything else, others might really appreciate tickets to certain events, or a meal at a particular restaurant. Maybe instead of a $200 bonus, the team goes out for a lunch celebration and they get a $150 + $25 personalized token gift...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday August 18 2022, @04:30AM (2 children)
Counter offer: Put the 200 bucks in a tasteful and very personalized envelope, then hand it over.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 18 2022, @10:16AM (1 child)
At your Manager's discretion, sure, but ducking out of the team building lunches is a bad idea for your long term career building. Come promotion time those sort of memories are cheap points on the decision of who gets promoted and who doesn't. If you aren't getting them, someone else will.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday August 18 2022, @11:30AM
I don't really care about promotions. I learned a long time ago, if you're not happy with your salary, move on. The real money is in changing jobs, not in hoping that you get promoted and get like 50 bucks more for a ton of more work. If you need more money and a more interesting job, move on.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday August 18 2022, @04:02PM (1 child)
Logically, handing you $100 should have the same impact as an extra $100 in your regular direct deposit. Unfortunately, humans are not logical creatures. There is a different psychological impact if they hand you a $100 bill or a $100 gift card instead of just sticking it on your check.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Friday August 19 2022, @11:15AM
Don't stick it to the check. Hand it to the person. Physical, hard, cash. Preferably publicly so everyone sees that you, the VP or even Prez of the corporation, or at least someone of average importance, took the time out of his day to come down to the floor and hand that present to the chosen one.
The sum is actually meaningless. It should be high enough to not look patronizing and silly, but the true gift is the acknowledgement. The message is "my work gets noticed at the top levels. I am important to this company and they show me their gratitude".
Sending me a gift card via in-house mail is essentially the same as tacking that 100 bucks to my salary. Either means jack.
(Score: 1, Funny) by dwilson98052 on Wednesday August 17 2022, @10:07PM (1 child)
...comes in many forms.
I used to do work for a realtor that didn't pay very well many years ago, she used to motivate me by getting me odd jobs with a bunch of her clients.
Many of those clients were older single women... a few of them wanted more than just their gutters cleaned if you know what I mean.
Motivation through ejaculation, worked great for me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 17 2022, @10:21PM
and Coffee Is For Closers
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2022, @09:10AM
Money can motivate me when the benefit it provides is greater than having to put up with what it takes to earn it.
Having to put up with some quickie psychology leadership type that's constantly evaluating me and comparing me to others is really draining.
I can tell you if I did my cats this way, I'd get catfights every night. But I also know these people who have had all these leadership courses don't come cheap, and need to be entertained, and inciting animal fights is illegal, so often the workforce needs to help entertain the leadership folks.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Thursday August 18 2022, @10:44AM (1 child)
Once, the manager of an internal project I helped with handed me a gift. Someone had obviously researched my hobbies/interest, and the gift was something I genuinely appreciated. It was the personal touch that made it nice.
On the other hand, my employer sends out a Christmas gift every year. Everyone gets the same thing, and it is almost never anything I care about. I'd rather they not spend the money, than buy something I'm only going to throw away.
Trips and events - spare me. Please. The extroverts (which obviously includes all of upper management) love those. One year, registrations for the annual gala were apparently down, and we had to justify why we weren't going. I just wrote back, explaining what an "introvert" is. Wow, that was really motivating...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Thursday August 18 2022, @11:36AM
Here's a key issue upper management really doesn't take into account when it comes to office parties and such: All the employees are working during that event, even though they the upper managers aren't and are just having a good time. That's because if upper management says/does something stupid during that event there are probably going to be no consequences, whereas if a peon does the same thing there's a very real possibility they'll be fired or disciplined for it. A lot of employees also are often making an effort to at least appear enthusiastic about the whole thing as a relatively easy way of sucking up to the boss, even if they're utterly miserable.
So it's not just an extrovert/introvert issue, it's also a power imbalance issue.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by i286NiNJA on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:16PM (1 child)
90 billion dollar knicknack and gift card industry says it's crap can motivate workers more than payment.
Fuckoff keychains stopped being cool for me like 8 years ago. If I get stationary, matted certificates, desk toys, keychains, or any of that crap it goes straight into the trash.
Gift cards join a big pile of gift cards that I'll never use.
Every attempt is a reminder that my employer treats me well now but would pay me minimum wage if they had a half second.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Thursday August 18 2022, @01:23PM
My favorite was when my employer gave me a gift card to a place that I would like to take my kid. Except, my kid would probably die from eating at said place. So, thanks for that!
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by srobert on Thursday August 18 2022, @02:55PM
What a relief to know that I can just get them a gift card for a Coka-Cola. For a minute there I was afraid I was going to have to raise their wages to keep pace with inflation. If I had done that over the last 20 years I'd be paying them over $12 an hour by now. I can't afford that.
(Score: 3, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday August 18 2022, @03:53PM
At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I'm going to gripe for a minute.
My employer sent our entire business unit "gifts" from ongoody.com. They didn't state the specific value of the gift, but it was around $25-30 or so.
I'm not one to walk away from free stuff, but the crap UI of that site and the fru-fru "gifts" they had cost me a bunch of time and I ended up just ignoring it. I'm not going to order a $30 box of macaroons even if it is on your dime. Hinkies shoelaces? Temporary tattoos? The gut punch was the "GoPro" they listed on there. That I can use! Click through on it and... it's a STICK GRIP for a GoPro. :/
If you want to do a low-effort non-cash reward, I'd prefer an Amazon or Wal-Mart gift card please.
(Score: 3, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Thursday August 18 2022, @05:02PM
A pat on the head in whatever form, even a bit of cash, does not in any way compensate for a toxic office environment. When you have managers judging people using completely opaque and unfair measures, trashing everything as not good enough, and basically just running with the assumption that everyone is a lazy slacker who must be threatened constantly to prevent them from cheating their employer of even one minute of paid time, a gift card from upper management feels so cheap, clueless, and insensitive.
At one job, we had fantasy schedules made up by clueless managers who were desperate to hide the fact that they didn't know what they were doing. So, they told us as little as possible. Refused to explain anything. Insisted that we shut up and follow orders. Then you got blamed for falling behind schedule, and told you should have pushed back and asked more questions. One person was given one week to do a job that we estimated would take a team a year to do from scratch. He managed to do it in 2 weeks by copying an open source project that did 98% of what was wanted. They reprimanded him for being a week late. About a month after that, the strained and stretched seams finally gave out, the tissue of lies was shredded, and everything fell apart. The unhappy customer demanded results, and management blamed the lack thereof on the peons and quit us all, in hopes of saving their own necks. Didn't work, the customer cancelled the contract anyway.