A paycheck is what many think of most when they start a job and when they leave it. In between, there is a lot of gray area.
Salaries matter — sometimes too much. People stay in jobs they should have long since left because of a paycheck (and their bonuses as well). That doesn’t mean they’re motivated or even close to performing at peak levels.
In this issue’s cover feature, Tim Houlihan, a longtime veteran of the incentive industry and student of behavioral economics, takes a close look at what we say motivates and what actually does. “If you’re thinking about asking your sales reps what will make the best prize in the incentive program, stop. They can’t tell you because they don’t know,” Houlihan says.
People think rationally — or at least try to — and act irrationally. When it comes to loving a job and putting in the extra effort that helps an entire team excel, we often don’t recognize ourselves what truly drives us. Often, it’s multiple things. Over the long term, it has to be more than pay.
A lot of companies talk about building a corporate culture; fewer of them put real plans in place to accomplish it. One that does is The Motley Fool, a Virginia-based personal finance advisor and podcast producer. I have admired brothers Tom and David Gardner since I started reading their investment newsletter on AOL during the dial-up days.
The Motley Fool offers some unique perks that I have to believe go a long way to motivating the company’s 300-plus employees. My favorite is their Bookie Monster program. Any worker who has a business book they want to read simply turns in a request and, within a week, they receive a notice that the book is ready to be picked up. No cost. No questions. And they interpret the term “business book” loosely. David Gardner says he likes the program because it fosters a culture of reading and learning.
Learning is a powerful tool for motivating workers. People who enjoy their work want to learn new skills and use them to advance their careers. There is so much opportunity for employers to motivate their workers beyond a paycheck. Get beyond the green. Embrace the gray.
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