Cash not an incentive to stay
20/10/2011
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As we enter the festive season of holiday bonuses, two workplace experts have advised employers that money won't buy loyalty or happiness from an employee.Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Anthony Grant, director of the coaching psychology unit at the University of Sydney, said that while financial security was obviously necessary, handing out cash bonuses would not encourage employees to work harder or faster, and would certainly not be a deciding factor in staying or going.
Dr Grant said money is something that doesn’t increase positive satisfaction, but not having it is what leads to dissatisfaction.
“Once a household has an income of $100,000 a year, money is not a key motivator,” Dr Grant said.
In terms of keeping an employee happy, employers need to do more about ensuring an employee has proper resources, respect, and that their mental health is considered.
“If they don't have the resources to do their job well, not just adequately, this will not just demotivate people, it will really p*ss them off,” Dr Grant said.
He added that what works in the long term is having a strong team culture, recognition and respect, and most importantly, not having employees feel like they are part of a machine, or ‘just a number’.
Dr Keri Spooner, head of postgraduate HR management at the Sydney’s University of Technology, said making an employee feel recognised can be as easy as “providing lunch at a meeting”.
Dr Spooner warned that the biggest mistake employers made when handing out incentives was that they did not consider what behaviour it encouraged.
“[Incentives] have to be very carefully aligned with what you are trying to achieve,” Dr Spooner said.
One example of this, she said, would be a person who is paid a bonus for selling more of a product but may then be inclined to spend less time finding out what product was best for a customer.
Dr Spooner also dismissed the notion that cash incentives would encourage people to work harder.
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Tamara Duffy on
23 Oct 2011 06:12 PM
Agreed, and this why counter offers rarely work when employees try to resign. According to statistics, ninety-eight percent of the time, the employee leaves within six months.