Bonuses Are Not Always Motivating Rewards

Bonuses are not always motivating rewards

The study in this article was very interesting and gave light to some facts that sound pretty crazy. Not only did the experiment find that sometimes financial bonuses are not the best ways to motivate people, it even went as far to say it is an inefficient way, in some cases, of motivating employees. The study found that "workers tended to be less productive when they were being rewarded with bonuses, but put in more effort when poor performance could be fined".

This seems very strange to me because I always imagined that the best way to motivate people would be through some sort of financial compensation. To think that money is not always the biggest motivator was a strange notion to grasp when I first read this article. I am still young and have not yet had a career type job, but at the places I have worked, money was the main motivator for me. I think when you get into a job that you might be doing everyday for 10 or 20 years, money might not be the biggest motivator. The most important thing to me would probably be job satisfaction because I would never want to get stuck doing something I did not like. An interesting motivator the article pointed out was doing a clawback program, where when a bonus is given for good performance, it can also be taken away for poor performance. This is a different approach to motivation, but it actually sounds like a good idea to me. It will keep employees from slacking off after they get a bonus or promotion.

Overall, the article opened my eyes to a surprising but understandable view on motivation. It made me realize money may not always be the most effective motivator and companies are always creating new ways to get their employees motivated.

Posted By: Jacob Cyscon