Work ethic vs pay/work

[mattpegher]

When I was younger, I thought people would attempt to do their job to the best of their ability. But as I gain more experience, I think people will tend to do the minimum necessary to get paid. I have become a strong proponent of incentive programs.

I am paid a base hourly wage with an incentive package that rewards me for the volume and the quality of work I do. I think this should be a consideration when ever evaluating the pay of any position. I recently suggested that a new program be incentivized and the administration chose not to, thus those in this program routinely avoid and delay work.

I was interested to see what people here think. Do you think people want to do the best they can or are people inherently going to attempt to do the least amount of work unless paid to perform.

 

[JS80]

depends

 

[FoBoT]

some jobs are more about what you know than what you 'do'


a ditch digger gets paid for digging
his supervisor gets paid to make sure the job gets done
the engineer that plans the ditch gets paid partly for his knowledge of how to plan to dig the ditch, and prepare the work order or whatever
the architect gets paid for his knowledge of where the ditch needs to be dug
the owner of the ditch digging company gets paid for, you know, putting all his capital into running a company etc etc

it just isn't as simple as it was 500 years ago when everbody was a dirt farmer

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The nature of the job greatly affects the attitudes of workers. In our current information age, few jobs have immediate feedback that encourage hard work. Attitudes can change and certainly, a person's upbringing will affect work ethics but, society seems to reward those who avoid responsibility for mistakes long enough to rise to the next level. Of course, by then, it's an ingrained approach to life and work.

 

[Imp]

I got out of undergrad 3 years ago and wanted to do my best at my job, not for a reward, but just because I thought that was "right".

Now, I show up as late as deemed acceptable, count my unpaid lunch "hour" towards my billable hours, and never volunteer for anything. Place is a f*cking passionless cemetary where everyone else does the same. I'm in an office full of late 50 year olds, where half of them are/have/will retire within the next few months. My supervisor phones it in, and takes naps every day around lunch time. The job sucks too as all I learn to do is find out which form to fill out, how to fill it out so we don't get sued, who to get to sign the form, and who to blow so it can get approved.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

some jobs are more about what you know than what you 'do'


a ditch digger gets paid for digging
his supervisor gets paid to make sure the job gets done
the engineer that plans the ditch gets paid partly for his knowledge of how to plan to dig the ditch, and prepare the work order or whatever
the architect gets paid for his knowledge of where the ditch needs to be dug
the owner of the ditch digging company gets paid for, you know, putting all his capital into running a company etc etc

it just isn't as simple as it was 500 years ago when everbody was a dirt farmer

500 years ago, everyone wasn't a dirt farmer anymore than they are now. The major difference was instead of a degree, the engineer, architect and, owner were either from the 'right families' or toadies of the same. Given the state of our current economy, not much has changed.

 

[CrazyAznDriver]

My wife is a surgeon. She earns a base salary and then productivity bonus for certain things. It works nice imo. She can increase her base salary by a couple hundred k if she busts her ass.

 

[Farang]

why i love sales.. i tend to work my ass of just to make things interesting, it was always frustrating before I was on commission to deal with lazy people

 

[Slew Foot]

I get a base salary and then paid on top of that for every case I do.

#winning

 

[dave_the_nerd]

When I was younger, I thought people would attempt to do their job to the best of their ability. But as I gain more experience, I think people will tend to do the minimum necessary to get paid.

It depends on whether they like their jobs or not.

Most people don't.

Of course, they make it so nobody else can either.

 

[Leros]

I get a base salary. Every quarter I get a bonus based on performance. I also get an annual raise based on performance.

 

[DrPizza]

My pay isn't based on performance, but I try to perform as well as I can & continuously attempt to improve.

 

[Engineer]

Having not been there long, I don't know all of the details of my "small" employer's bonus structure but I've been told that EVERYONE gets the same amount based on the yearly profit figures. I don't quite think that's fair at all since some of us bust our asses to make it happen and others don't give a shit. It's not my company to decide but it does make me think about not working so hard though.....

People who call in sick often and don't earn their pay (IMO - even though it is much lower than mine) get a bigger and bigger bonus the more that I (and others) work and perform.

The ole "how do you reward your best workers?....with more work!" phrase comes to mind.

 

[IEC]

The most important thing I ever learned to do as a salaried employee is to know my limits and say "no". I still need to take random vacations every now and again to keep from burning out.

 

[sleep]

i know that being very social will make you get very far.

people that i worked for know that i'm a hard worker.

 

[mattpegher]

I just seem to think that you can predictably see more productivity out of your workforce if they share in the outcome. And conversely, if their income is independent of the success of the company their productivity will decrease. The trend will initially be to get rid of the slackers, but eventually the amount of productivity that is acceptable will decrease.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I just seem to think that you can predictably see more productivity out of your workforce if they share in the outcome. And conversely, if their income is independent of the success of the company their productivity will decrease. The trend will initially be to get rid of the slackers, but eventually the amount of productivity that is acceptable will decrease.

Have you ever thought of writing your ideas in English?

 

[FoBoT]

I just seem to think that you can predictably see more productivity out of your workforce if they share in the outcome. And conversely, if their income is independent of the success of the company their productivity will decrease. The trend will initially be to get rid of the slackers, but eventually the amount of productivity that is acceptable will decrease.

i believe this is relatively easy in a smaller company and near impossible in larger corporate situations

 

[JackBurton]

I can't stand lazy workers that try to do the bare minimum. If you want to do the bare minimum, prepare to get paid the bare minimum. When raise time comes, don't even open your mouth about, "where is my raise?" You did the bare minimum, so don't expect anything extra.

 

[DrPizza]

Weird - 33 minute gap between double-posting? (Internet connectivity issues with the snowstorm.)

 

[purbeast0]

i actually enjoy my job so i always try to get the job done as fast as i can. over achieving will look good come review time and raise time.

EDIT:

nothing does piss me off more than lazy workers though, especially lazy fucking employees working at like fast food or retail stores.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think it really depends on the work environment. If it's a happy work environment people are more willing to give more effort. But if it's a crappy work environment with tons of red tape and lot of BS, people will probably only put their minimum. The best thing a manager can do is say "good job". Some never do, and rather just blame every little thing on everyone.

Where I work, it's not really that great of an environment. I mean, it's not hell or anything, but it could be way better. I have gotten to a point where I'm actually only putting in the bare minimum just because I see zero return by putting more effort, not even a "good job" or any feeling of satisfaction. We even get in trouble for fixing things before they break, so we either secretly do it, or wait till it breaks.

I think the work environment can really have a big effect on the overall performance of employees. Companies like Google do this right, and I'm sure their employees are more productive than if they were working in a red tape filled environment.

 

[Raduque]

My manager is an asshole that micromanages some employees (the ones who do good work) and leaves alone the ones who do shitty work so much to the point where the employees who outright do the job completely wrong aren't corrected.

I find myself saying "if the managers don't give a shit, what incentive do I have to give a shit?". I do enough work to feel like I'm justifying my pay, and no more. Volunteering doesn't even get you the "More work for the hard worker!" recognition. So, hell with it.

Edit: I wasn't like that when I first started over a year ago. I used to bust ass and find something to do during down time. Now I just stop during down time and find somewhere to hide till there's actual work (per my position) to do.

 

[sleep]

as long as the work is done.

there are so many ways to put this in. but again socializing.

 

[mattpegher]

I really hate it when administration/managers feel the need to give busy work during down time. They portray an attitude that if the employees are being paid that the management can create work that neither produces revenues nor makes the office more efficent, as if they own you while at work. This kind of disrespect is very distructive to moral and ultimately productivity.