Where Workplace Perks Can Backfire

"You'd better do good work. Look at all the nice things we've given you."

We experienced this almost exact conversation with a recent client.The bottom line was the leaders felt cheated because they’d created what they thought was a wonderful workplace and the employees still weren’t happy or high performing.

In this article experts talk about providing the sort of workplace benefits that are aimed at making employees happy and productive. As many of these examples show, the problem is that trying to get people to be more productive just by making them happier doesn’t work.

People don't do good work because they're happy. Generally speaking, people are happy because they do good work.

Good work for most people is work that engages them to bring their extra efforts over and above the minimum required to keep their job. We know enough about the psychology of motivation to know this. You can motivate people in the short term by extrinsic rewards and punishments. Things such as raises, disciplinary action, valet services, demotions, trips and boutique beer nights will all have a short term effect on performance.

Long-term motivation leading to the highest performance comes from intrinsic motivators. Most of us do our best work when the nature of the work itself brings out the best in us regardless of what we get in exchange.

Don't put in a new foosball machine or office coffee maker. People respond best when given opportunities to exercise freedom, use their creativity, master a challenge, or work for a worthwhile mission.

 Want to know more about generating intrinsic motivation with your employees and improving both productivity and satisfaction? Contact genevieve@koliso.com