http://ehstoday.com/news/ehs_imp_34809/
I am going to graduate this upcoming Spring, and I was considering my future work plans. Nothing too specific, but I was just wondering if employee incentives actually work. According to one of the grandest incentive program studies out there, incentives do have a positive effect on employees. After all, work is one of the biggest things that define an individual's life, however fortunate or unfortunate that fact might be. With that in mind it is important to look into incentive programs or discuss them with future employers if the company you work for does not participate in such programs.
Although the study took place back in 2001, it is apparently one of the most comprehensive studies out there investigating incentives at work. Some key findings from the study include:
I work at the ROD library as a student assistant in the reference area. I don't expect many incentive opportunities for the lower level student employees, but if I were given the chance to increase the autonomy of my job, I would consider that an incentive. Examples might include having some legitimate input on some of the structural qualities of work, or something to that effect. This then would instill in me a deeper sense of intrinsic motivation, because right now I'm working the job mostly for the paycheck every other week. There are, however, some rewarding moments of helping patrons...
I am going to graduate this upcoming Spring, and I was considering my future work plans. Nothing too specific, but I was just wondering if employee incentives actually work. According to one of the grandest incentive program studies out there, incentives do have a positive effect on employees. After all, work is one of the biggest things that define an individual's life, however fortunate or unfortunate that fact might be. With that in mind it is important to look into incentive programs or discuss them with future employers if the company you work for does not participate in such programs.
Although the study took place back in 2001, it is apparently one of the most comprehensive studies out there investigating incentives at work. Some key findings from the study include:
- Incentive programs aimed at individual workers increase performance 27 percent.
- Programs aimed at teams increase performance 45 percent.
- Incentive programs have an equal, positive impact on both quality and quantity goals.
- Incentive programs structured with employee input work best; however only 23 percent of incentive systems were selected with employee input.
- Long-term incentives are more powerful than short term (44
percent gain vs. 20 percent gain).
I work at the ROD library as a student assistant in the reference area. I don't expect many incentive opportunities for the lower level student employees, but if I were given the chance to increase the autonomy of my job, I would consider that an incentive. Examples might include having some legitimate input on some of the structural qualities of work, or something to that effect. This then would instill in me a deeper sense of intrinsic motivation, because right now I'm working the job mostly for the paycheck every other week. There are, however, some rewarding moments of helping patrons...
I also found this article to be rather interesting. I assume that most of the incentives in this study are in the form of money or special benefits. The fact that incentive programs were able to increase performance by 27-45% very much surprised me. It also seems to suggest that there is something to be said for the synergistic effects of teamwork, seeing as the incentives for teams led to an 18% higher spike in performance than incentives for individuals alone. I believe it was very important for these researchers to have assessed both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the completed work. Less experienced or less conscientious psychologists might have failed to do so. I actually found it liberating on a professional and personal level that the study found employee input to be helpful. I think this is employee input and feedback is far too often overlooked in many organizations, but of course having a study back it up and encouraging employers to change are two very different things.
To be fair, I suppose it would be unrealistic to assume that every organization would be perfectly able to have a meaningful incentive system (in the optical lab where I work, the nature of the work does not allow for such an incentive on an individual level, but perhaps it does for a team level). Regardless of whatever a person does though, I feel employee feedback to their supervisors is critical - not only because it can help reduce miscommunications and improve performance, but also because it helps workers feel like their voice is actually being heard. Otherwise, as we talked about in class today, the environment may feel too controlling.
I would like to briefly mention another company here that many people have probably not heard of unless they have taken Dr. Butler's Organizational Psychology class. There is a company called IDEO (that " helps design products, services, environments, and digital experiences... (and is) involved in management consulting." This company does seem to offer incentives, but there more often of the psychological kind. People often work in teams, but rather than there being a strict hierarchical structure, the president of the company treats every employee almost as an equal. It is definitely an autonomy-supportive environment. I believe they almost never fire anyone because they believe that is the wrong approach to dealing with a person's problems/inadequate performances. They believe a work environment should be nurturing and supportive, and threatening people can greatly harm one's feeling of loyalty to their organization. One idea here is that employees often want to do well because their team is counting on them and each person has an inherent desire for at least some level of achievement. It may also be important to note that this approach obviously would not work in many work environments, but the people who work at this company are highly specialized and I believe most have a PhD.
Just as a final note, I would like to say I also think it is important for employers to realize the connection that exists between reducing negative emotions and improving performance - it is often better for everyone involved if they listen to what well-established research tells them and try to adjust accordingly.