Money will De-Motivate Employees!
I read a posting last night that asked the age old question,
“Does money motivate employees?” After the vein in my temple subsided
(full disclosure I didn’t wait, I began my response immediately but did
some thorough editing afterward) I typed back, “why in the world is this
still a question?” Every HR poll in the history of HR polls has laid
this question to rest. Money does NOT motivate employees. In fact, I’ll
go one step further and state that money actually can DE-Motivate
people. Don’t believe me? Well, stick with me a second and see if I can
persuade you…
I read a posting last night that asked the age old question, “Does
money motivate employees?” After the vein in my temple subsided (full
disclosure I didn’t wait, I began my response immediately but did some
thorough editing afterward) I typed back, “why in the world is this
still a question?” Every HR poll in the history of HR polls has laid
this question to rest. Money does NOT motivate employees. In fact, I’ll
go one step further and state that money actually can DE-Motivate
people. Don’t believe me? Well, stick with me a second and see if I can
persuade you…
You work your butt off all year long, implement (successfully) 5 elements of a Talent Management System (or feel free to pick your own project), your LMS is now extremely active and because of your efforts, training costs are down 40%, test scores rise 18 points and training time is reduced by 20 hours for your most critical program. You’re an unqualified super-star, have been rated as a HiPo and receive the top performance rating of OUTSTANDING earning you an amazing (and in our current reality improbable) 10% merit increase (more likely 5-6% with a really great company). But what do you think to yourself? Do you think…. “wow, 10%!!! That is so much more than I deserve and I will work even harder next year to do that again!” Or, perhaps the more realistic thought of, “darn straight Skippy! I worked my tail off all year long and I absolutely DESERVE that 10% increase!” I’m going to go out on a limb and say the latter.
Now let’s change the scenario. Same hard work, same impact, but instead of the well-deserved 10% you instead receive a 4% increase much like that of your colleagues. Due to the economy, planned merit budgets or just internal policies, top performers can only receive that much of an increase (I’m guessing most of you are nodding in agreement here). So, NOW what do you think? I’ll let you know what most rational people think; “I worked my @$$ off, saved the company money, did more than my peers and I’m ONLY getting a 4% increase? There is NO way in the world I am going to do that again!!!”
So, to recap, scenario 1 = I DESERVE the increase. Scenario 2 = I am now DE-Motivated by the increase. In neither scenario did the money MOTIVATE us to do anything positive. In fact, if you want to argue that money is a motivator, I would counter that it only motivated us to do less next year.
We can also argue if it is even our job as leaders to motivate others or if employees should be self-motivated. I won’t pick that fight today but I will say I do believe it is our responsibility to ensure that we do not de-motivate employees by our actions. But how can we provide an atmosphere that is motivating?
So the next time someone asks about how to motivate employees, ask them to instead consider what de-motivates employees. I think you’ll find it easier to address the numerous obstacles we can control than the individualized preferences of an increasingly diverse workforce. Because in the end, what really motivates me may be very different than what motivates you…let’s talk about removing obstacles than simply trying to throw money at the issue.
Written by:
Keith
is a Learning, Talent and Organizational Development Executive who has
worked for such iconic brands as Polo Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Co.,
and Neiman Marcus. He is a frequent contributor to industry magazines
and a noted speaker on the use of social collaboration as part of an
integrated talent management strategy. He has experienced several
Learning and Talent Management System implementations and brings his
unique perspective as a former user of these systems.
You work your butt off all year long, implement (successfully) 5 elements of a Talent Management System (or feel free to pick your own project), your LMS is now extremely active and because of your efforts, training costs are down 40%, test scores rise 18 points and training time is reduced by 20 hours for your most critical program. You’re an unqualified super-star, have been rated as a HiPo and receive the top performance rating of OUTSTANDING earning you an amazing (and in our current reality improbable) 10% merit increase (more likely 5-6% with a really great company). But what do you think to yourself? Do you think…. “wow, 10%!!! That is so much more than I deserve and I will work even harder next year to do that again!” Or, perhaps the more realistic thought of, “darn straight Skippy! I worked my tail off all year long and I absolutely DESERVE that 10% increase!” I’m going to go out on a limb and say the latter.
Now let’s change the scenario. Same hard work, same impact, but instead of the well-deserved 10% you instead receive a 4% increase much like that of your colleagues. Due to the economy, planned merit budgets or just internal policies, top performers can only receive that much of an increase (I’m guessing most of you are nodding in agreement here). So, NOW what do you think? I’ll let you know what most rational people think; “I worked my @$$ off, saved the company money, did more than my peers and I’m ONLY getting a 4% increase? There is NO way in the world I am going to do that again!!!”
So, to recap, scenario 1 = I DESERVE the increase. Scenario 2 = I am now DE-Motivated by the increase. In neither scenario did the money MOTIVATE us to do anything positive. In fact, if you want to argue that money is a motivator, I would counter that it only motivated us to do less next year.
We can also argue if it is even our job as leaders to motivate others or if employees should be self-motivated. I won’t pick that fight today but I will say I do believe it is our responsibility to ensure that we do not de-motivate employees by our actions. But how can we provide an atmosphere that is motivating?
- Clear organization vision & values
- Well-articulated responsibilities
- Clear goals aligned with the business
- Development opportunities
- Access to resources and information
- Collaboration
- Relevant, timely and candid communication
- Insert many many more here:
So the next time someone asks about how to motivate employees, ask them to instead consider what de-motivates employees. I think you’ll find it easier to address the numerous obstacles we can control than the individualized preferences of an increasingly diverse workforce. Because in the end, what really motivates me may be very different than what motivates you…let’s talk about removing obstacles than simply trying to throw money at the issue.
Written by:
Keith Meyerson
Keith
is a Learning, Talent and Organizational Development Executive who has
worked for such iconic brands as Polo Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Co.,
and Neiman Marcus. He is a frequent contributor to industry magazines
and a noted speaker on the use of social collaboration as part of an
integrated talent management strategy. He has experienced several
Learning and Talent Management System implementations and brings his
unique perspective as a former user of these systems.
No comments:
Post a Comment