Motivation and award policies
I found this article on the WWW:
http://www.volunteerpower.com/archive/2004/newsletter23.htm
I thought the most interesting point of this article was its emphasis on making rewards public. It also discusses how it is important to have significant and meaningful rewards, which I have discussed before and agree with. There is also an emphasis on only rewarding the extraordinary, and letting people know about the reward. The desired effect is that people will say "wow, he/she deserved that award."
What I think this model lacks is the ability to give less significant rewards. Not everyone will be an outstanding performer, and some people will not want to be put on the spot like that. I agree that for the top level rewards this kind of recognition should be done, but there need to be small rewards to keep everyone who isn't the top dog motivated. Giving a small but personalized reward to someone that achieves a goal will mean a whole lot more to them than just a thank you note. The more people you can spur onward, the more big rewards you can give, which is a good thing.
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Comments
Posted by: Warren Chang
Posted on: April 19, 2006 07:28 PM
I'm going to have to disagree with Dave on this topic. Although his idea may sound good on paper, I don't think it will work out very well in the real world. I will have to agree with the article more about giving a reward only when it is truly necessary. You can't give small rewards to everyone, or else it wouldn't be a small reward anymore; it would become something expected out of your volunteers or workers. Giving small rewards to some of the the people would promote some, but it would still make other feel likes "losers".
Posted by: Jacob Harry Bernstein
Posted on: April 21, 2006 06:29 PM
I agree with Mr. Chang. Rewards sound great, but I don't believe that rewards should have to be given out for every little thing done. Employees should not have to be "bribed" with rewards all the time. Some larger rewards for extrordinary work is fine, but for not going out of your way, and just doing a job well done, like what you are getting paid to do in the first place, is not what working is about.
In the stead of all sorts of rewards, if an employee is consistantly doing well, keeping up, being a good worker, then maybe pay increases should be considered.
Posted by: David Hastings
Posted on: April 23, 2006 11:02 PM
Jacob and Warren, thank you for the comments. Giving rewards is definately a tricky subject. As Warren said, if you give too many, it is meaningless. If you give too few, no one will be motivated by them. Pay is always something people look forward to and expect, but after they get it they tend to forget it and it ceases to motivate. I think you need to strike the right balance of pay increases and meaningful awards that people feel they can get, because if it feels like an impossible goal, they won't try.