Basing your level of effort on what other people do

[DemonTree]

I can think of two reasons: inequity aversion, and chance of reward.

If colleagues are getting the same pay for less effort, that’s unfair and it’s human nature to even things up by working less hard. And if everyone on your team is working hard, that team is likely to succeed and the employees to be rewarded, so there’s an incentive to work hard yourself. If everyone else is slacking, your efforts are unlikely to make a difference, so what’s the point? This is even more the case in a small business like the restaurant.

[msmith537]

@Dinsdale

Had a call from my youngest the other day. She is a project manager at a tech firm - doing quite well in terms of assignments, pay, promotions. She said she feels like she is stealing her pay, because she isn’t DOING anything - just making sure other people do their jobs. I asked what kind of hours she is putting in. She said basically 9-4:30, w/ min computer work over weekends around deadlines and such. But she said she is by far the best PM their firm has, and her boss’ clear favorite.

So - what more is she supposed to do, just because her innate skills/abilities/personality make a job seem easy for her, that others struggle at?

I have a similar sort of job. Really, with our jobs, it’s more about creating an environment that allows the various members of our teams and other reports to be as effective as possible in their jobs.

Really, at my level, I’m kind of beyond “basing my LOE on what other people do”. My job is really more about supporting and to an extend defining the culture of my firm. Do we want this to be a place where the expectation is our consultants work crazy hours to get the job done? Some firms I worked at didn’t care and expected you to drive the team. My current firm does care, so we have to create a business model that encourages regular work schedules. Not just managing employees behavior, but also how we scope projects and set expectations with our clients.

IOW, driving my team to work 80 hour weeks doesn’t show I’m “putting in extra effort” because that’s not our culture. Putting in extra effort in this case is working with sales and other groups to make sure the projects are properly scoped and then quickly addressing issues with the client if it appears our consultants are overworked.

@Snowboarder_Bo

From watching other lazier, less-qualified, less-knowledgable, less-experienced people in my industry who do drink somehow succeed and in some cases/ways surpass my own career.

Well, that certainly explains much of my success.

@Dinsdale

All of my post school fulltime work has been as a lawyer, with most as a long-time (30+ yrs) gov’t employee. Admittedly, my experience is restricted.

In a private firm, there was the HOPE that if you put in more and more hours, that eventually you MIGHT make partner. But in reality, associates were tools for the partners’ benefit. A big shake-out in the profession around that time in which entire hiring classes fired served as proof. I decided relatively quickly that I did not care for the lifestyle - or the work - sufficiently to see if I could make partner.

I can easily imagine a sole practitioner or partner in a very small firm might see the direct effect of increased effort on earnings. But I’ve never been the entrepreneurial type.

In the gov’t, pay is pretty set, and bonuses are miniscule. The ability to play politics and dumb luck has generally (always?) impressed me as far more important in upward mobility than the quality/quantity of work. I’ve never been a good politician - just a damned efficient and productive worker.