“Thanks For Nothing”Page 207
By: Ashton MossChioma Oguejiofor
Kent Nunn
Case Overview
• Take Ko a 50 year old former employee of a Dot-com in California
• Company instituted a reward program• Employees received badges for a Job well done• Problem was badges were handed out arbitrarily• Employees felt patronized and weren't motivated• According to a Gallup Poll 61% employees never
received a sincere “Thank you”
If praising employees for doing a good job seems to be a fairly easy and obvious motivational tool, why do you
think companies and managers don’t often do it?
• Companies and managers have a very busy schedule as sometimes they do not have time to individually evaluate each employees performance.
• Sometimes managers have been employers almost their whole entire life and do not really know how good a pat on the back feels.
• Too much praise can lead to employees being counter-productive and not motivated.
As a manager, what steps would you take to motivate your employees after observing them perform well?
• -Even as little as patting an employee on the back or saying "thanks" can make them feel very involved in the company.
• -A Gallop poll found that 61 percent of employees stated that they have not received a sincere "thank you" from management in the past year.
• -When an employee does an important task for the organization make sure to let them know how they are really helping the company succeed in production.
• -Things like these will not just help the employee but also it can lead to more motivated staff building stronger human resources.
Rewards ProgramsMany larger corporations use rewards programs. A lot of the times these are indirect to the employee and are given at fixed intervals each year.
An example from our case study was Ko who was a 50 year old employee of a dot-com in California. Staff from this company would receive a badge that said “U Done Good” each year. After a certain amount of badges collected, trading them in for a T-shirt was their next reward.
The company consisted of a strict dress code therefore they could not even where the T-shirts at work if they wanted.
Rewards programs could be motivational but obviously this one is not working.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGBVQkvdcUc&feature=related
Are there any downsides to giving employees too much verbal praise? What might these downsides be, and how could you alleviate them as a manager?
• There are downsides to giving employees too much praise
• Employees may become complacent and unmotivated
• Managers need to ensure that praise is given in conjunction of with the specific accomplishment
As a manager, how would you ensure that recognition given to employees is distributed fairly and justly?
• Each employees accomplishments would be monitored
• Rewards would be given out in a timely fashion by means of quarterly reviews
• Employees evaluations would be mandatory in order to reward those that have put forth an extra effort
Conclusion
• It is Managers responsibilities to make employees feel valued
• Verbal rewards are not only inexpensive but are quick and easy
• When employees are not properly rewarded they become disengaged
• A simple “Pat on the Back” is worth a lot.
Questions?