My organization has a little homemade sign with a fish on it (wooden plaque that appears to be decoupaged) that says “Ask me about the catch of the day!” Apparently, the thing was lifted from a seafood restaurant or something.
So whenever an editor around here makes a particularly spectacular, money-saving or ass-saving catch (before something goes to print), they get to keep the fish plaque in their office until the next person comes along and makes a good save. It’s basically free to the organization and meant as a reward for the editors. We’re a prideful bunch, editors, and seeing as how pedantry is its own reward, we still enjoy bragging rights as a secondary reward.
Some of the editors here find it motivating and are proud of it. They hang it in their cubicles or offices proudly. I have it at the moment. I think it is an embarrassing slap in the face to recognize me for doing my job at its most fundamental function. They pay us to read shit and catch the mistakes. That is what editors do. So I did my job properly and now I’ve got to keep this stupid fish plaque. :rolleyes:
Bottom line is, different things motivate different people. I used to think my primary motivator at work was the paycheck. Then a friend in HR told me that the increased productivity and/or employee morale that occurs when raises or bonuses are dispersed pretty much tapers off back to normal within about two weeks. That’s right. That big bonus or raise you got, you probably only appreciated until you got used to the higher paycheck amount and then you felt *entitled *to it.
I realized that money doesn’t do it for me, donuts don’t do it for me, atta girls from the boss don’t do it for me. Neither do Lucite cubes or $10 gift cards to Borders. You know what does it for me? When you tell me I don’t have to come to work! I’ll take my inspiration in the form of extra paid time off, thankyouverymuch.
It’s too bad you can’t hand the Lucite cube back to HR and just ask for the afternoon off instead.
Which was what I was trying to say. If one of those plastic things were given a year to an exceptional employee, I personally would cherish it. However, if they are given out for remembering to spray after you took a dump in the shared bathroom, then I guess I would look at it as a piece of junk too.
My company used to have an employee of the quarter. The person received a certificate and three hundred dollars. The problem with that was sometimes, no one really deserved it because there was nothing exceptional that happened that particular quarter. People started receiving the award simply because they never got it before which totally cheapened the thing. Now the certificate is only given out when someone does go above and beyond so it is again valued.
I realize that point. I even gave a previous example myself. The fancy paper of a Harvard education $200k diploma costs the university what? $1.00 maybe? Obviously, it’s not the intrinsic value of the paper materials at all. But the lesson is that an institution (or corporation) doesn’t need to spend a lot of money to recognize an achievement. People in general do not poke fun at that piece of paper or a Congressional medal regardless of the underlying cost of its materials.
I pick on the plastic squares specifically because they have that incomprehensible combination of mockery, zero utility, and cost. If it has zero utility such a gold pin, logic seems to dictate that it should be cheap. If it costs a lot, logic seems to dictate that it has some utility (laser pointer or mug) to prevent it from entering the garbage dump.
I’m all about recognizing employees with tactile things. Ok, do we have evidence that the plastic squares is the best way to spend the budget? Sure, corporations can do anything they please and it’s none of my business but dang, I was really curious about their mindset since I just threw a bunch of them away.
This is the key. You swipe a trick out of economics and endow those lucite cubes with privileges such as half the day off or a premium parking spot. You turn those plastic paperweights into currency. The year that’s etched on the paperweight is the expiration date of that “currency.” At least you take the mockery aspect out of them.
A problem with that is employees stop displaying them on their desk for fear of being stolen by others. They start locking them all up in their file cabinets and guard them like a hawk.
Another problem is unscrupulous employees ordering their own plastic paperweights from the websites and using the counterfeits at the office.
First, I like the idea of making them a commodity. I’d say that management should pick a list of maybe five taboo “privileges” (primo parking space, afternoon off, work at home day, $25 in cash, goody bag full of company swag, I dunno) so employees could have some control over the choice based on what would be most motivating to them.
And then, the criteria for earning such a prize has to be:
A) Quantifiable, and
B) In the employee’s control.
Part of my annual bonus is based on how the overall division within the company profits. There’s four offices in Minnesota, Iowa, and Texas; my division comprises thousands of people. I have exactly zero control over whether I will earn that percentage of my bonus. What’s the point of it? Why not just double the percentage that I could potentially earn by undertaking goals and tasks that are directly under my control? If you can’t do fuck-all about earning a reward, then it’s not a reward at all.
So. Back to the problems you raised. Why do the Lucite cubes have to be visible on your desk?
Counterfeit Lucite cubes can be dealt with by having them custom-engraved or marked in some way by HR or the awarding manager. You could also make HR keep a list of who earned the award (this month, this quarter, this week, whatever) and will only accept redemption requests from people on the list, not just any fool who shows up with a Lucite cube.
This kind of line-of-sight problem is *exactly *why it’s a terrible idea to directly expand top- and senior-management variable compensation programs to lower tiers of an organization.
ETA: Voyager, that’s exactly what I said (variable compensation).
Funny that you mention that. I used to work for a well know computer company on a project that was a well-know disaster. Every quarter the VPs would define a bet, such that if the project met certain goals they would win something. (We never won one int the time I was there, before I wised up and split.) The idea was that you’d work until 11 pm, not the expected 8pm or 9 pm, and then be rewarded with - a day trip with the same people you had been cooped up with for months. It never seemed to occur to them that a day off to sleep and reacquaint yourself with your spouse might be a bit more appealing.
WARDEN: I have good news for you prisoners. We are starting a new program. If you are all on your best behavior for the next three months, we have a special reward for you.
PRISONERS(Excited): What is it? Conjugal visits? Porn? A day outside?
WARDEN: No, you will be excused from your duties for the day and be allowed to eat lunch with your fellow inmates in the prison yard.
Bad example. That’s how we celebrated summer holidays at Attica. The prisoners got a day off from work and had a cookout in the yard. And it was really popular.
I worked (and worked and worked) at an ad agency that gave out Employee Of The Month plaques and minor title upgrades (you’d walk out of an annual review as Asst. Regional Manager-- when you had been Asst. TO the Regional Manager).
Supervisor admitted they did it because it was cheaper than raises.
