Getting Employees to Perform

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What do we know about motivating our employees? A good way to learn is to see what other organisations are doing. Let's look at two good examples from The West Australian of 20 Aug 2011:

• State power chiefs pick up $2m in bonus pay... Executives employed by Verve Energy, Horizon Power and Western Power received bonuses for meeting work targets.
  
• Buses 'forced to speed'... Public transport bus drivers who are running behind schedule are reprimanded and could lose their jobs.
  

Do these motivational techniques work? Apparently so... These are simply examples of common and commonly accepted practice. So why do they work?

First, executives and senior managers are employed and paid to simply turn up and sit at a desk. There is no expectation that they will do any work which will support their employer. If they are required to actually do work -- they must be paid a bonus.

At the lower end of the pay spectrum, bus drivers (in this example) are employed to do work. It is expected that they will do the work and that they will do it to targets set -- without consultation -- by the employer. There is no need to pay a bus driver more than the minimum allowable rate, to get that bus driver to do satisfactory work.

An executive is rather stupid. They are also inexperienced and generally unqualified to do the work that the employer needs doing. It is up to the employer to set targets, to describe very clearly what is required. Since "doing work" is an unexpected down-side of being employed, it is natural that an executive will be paid a bonus for at least attempting to meet employment targets.

A bus driver is intelligent, experienced and qualified for their work. They know how to do whatever it is that bus drivers do. If they fail to meet extra work targets that have been unilaterally set by the employer it is because the bus drivers are deliberately attempting to cause trouble for the employer. The bus drivers must be punished for their temerity.

So here is the takeaway action:

Employ bus drivers for your executive. As executives they have no experience, no qualifications and perhaps no skills. As such, they exactly match requirements for executives. Yet there is an added benefit for the organisation...

When an executive is unfit for the job and uninterested in performing the work, they have to be paid extra. There is no guarantee that the extra pay will make them work. But if a bus driver fails to perform -- they can be sacked.

The end result -- failure to do the work -- is the same. But the bus driver is a far cheaper option.

Hire an executive or hire a bus driver to run your company, you are likely to get exactly the same zero value for money. But with the bus driver -- the wasted money is far less.

Next week's lesson: In good times there is no need to share company profits with employees. After all, in bad times you don't share losses. Not when you can simply sack them.

Independent thinking & independent analysis of your problems by Agamedes Consulting. Support for your thought: email nick leth at gmail dot com