Rewards

“It’s ok Papa” My six year old daughter said to me this past weekend as she gave me a hug. “I can see that you are sad, so I am giving you a hug. Just like you give me Papa”. I hugged her back, but said nothing. Later, I repaid the affection with a kiss and a “Thank you”, which I know she always appreciates. And I explained that I was deep in thought wondering how I was going to deal with anyone at work who was not satisfied after receiving notification of their pay increase this past Friday. My daughter just looked at me, wondering what I was talking about. And another hug came my way.

For the rest of the weekend, I reflected on this as my mind took me back to Herzberg’s Theory X, Theory Y and that in some cases, money was actually a de-motivator and that the most effective way to motivate work behaviour was to focus on how people feel about the work they do. And so, when I returned to the office the following day and I spoke with some colleagues, while some were unhappy, we also had a chat about other things like what they liked to do or were good at or their long term hopes and aspirations. And in each case, it seemed that that money cloud lifted and was replaced with enthusiasm and passion.

I recall that when I worked in local government in the UK many years ago, we had a fixed organisation grading structure. And for every grade there was a fixed salary, depending on tenure within grade, regardless of which local authority you worked in. This was published information to all employees. And so, once you knew what grade a person was and how long they had been in post, then you knew exactly how much they earned. So there was transparency and fairness and never any jealousy about what people were paid, nor about their grade. But there certainly was competition when higher grade jobs became vacant. What incentivised us were other things, depending on what our motivations were. And in a good many cases, it had absolutely nothing to do with how much money we made.

But things have moved on now. Fixed organisation grading structures have given way to more flexible career progression models where people can move through the ranks without seemingly moving jobs, albeit skills and responsibilities may increase. And a person’s pay is a reflection on their responsibility level and “value” they deliver. All very good things I’m sure, but as soon as you put a value on a person’s worth, other people wonder why their “worth” is so different than the person sat next to them.

I’m not sure what the answer is, but I think it lies, not in monetary compensation, but in our ability to satisfy other needs such as responsibility, interesting work and satisfaction of knowing when you’ve done a good job. And so, if we want to motivate our people, we need to understand what our people really value. And the answer is bound to be different for each individual. And this is what my partner and I do with our two children. When they do well, we reward them with things that are important to them as individuals - for one it’s extra time on the iPad and for the other, it’s to do whatever her older sister is doing at that time. 

So, people out there who have just received notification of your pay rises, remember that pay rises happen just once a year, but opportunities to take on more responsibility and to grow within your job can happen every day. And if you think you are worth more than what you get – maybe it’s time to let your boss see exactly how good you are.