Rewarding Good Work
salcorp says : Recently Iīve experienced a stupid mistake of mine become a genuine incentive for my team.
Due to one of my projectīs scope modifications I had to pull an all-nighter with my entire team through the weekend. Of course... some of them couldnīt make it so I cut them a little slack and pushed harder the ones that actually were available to work friday/saturday/sunday 24hours (or at least the most of it). About 50% of my team (5 people) were working in this situation. New week comes and the product changes are delivered as planned and the team is all satisfied with the outcome. But then I reach a crossroad. How will I reward the ones that stayed that weekend? I couldnīt give out extra-time in money because it was too short notice to get management to sign on it. It would take me at least 4-6 weeks to get my managers to sign in for the extra-time in cash. I gave them, literally, the week off. My project is in the delivery phase so I can run a contingency of 50% of my team on a weekday without glitches.
At the time it seemed a good idea. the ones that workd on the weekend were really beat, so I thought it was the right thing to do. I couldnīt afford to get a no from management on a cash payout once I promised it so I took the bullet and worked with on half my team during te following week.
What I noticed then is that the ones who didnīt get the week off were really pissed. I mean, to the point of requesting a meeting to discuss the subject. In the end they realized that they were really whinning because if they knew what was in for them maybe they wouldīve stayed. But I felt really crappy for them.
Next week comes and we receive the evaluation of the client and we start to debug/helpdesk/correct/upgrade the software using ClearQuest. everybody is assigned work... christmas holidays are on the verge of comming up... and what do they ask for? Reward for best quality work in days to fill in the blanks of the holiday week.
After a certain consideration I agree... next thing I know Iīm getting 5-6 hours a day worth of quality work. I mean... at first I thought that they would just finish fast... but no, they were finishing it right... and faster.
I probably wonīt do this again... it is working under the right circunstances but I think it wonīt work on others.
How do you guys reward good work?
ross_valusoft says :
salcorp>Recently Iīve experienced a stupid mistake of mine become a genuine incentive for my team.
snip
After a certain consideration I agree... next thing I know Iīm getting 5-6 hours a day worth of quality work. I mean... at first I thought that they would just finish fast... but no, they were finishing it right... and faster.
I probably wonīt do this again... it is working under the right circunstances but I think it wonīt work on others.
How do you guys reward good work?
Wow, your guys must have broken DeMarco and Lister's 40% record for productivity! Makes you wonder about how they have held back on you up until now doesn't it?
How to reward good work? Let's ask it another way. Do they assist in bidding for the work? If they bid a low productivity and you do not win the job...who loses/wins? Sounds like they might need a reality check...or maybe you need to review the commitment of your people? A bit hard from here to look your people in the eye and see who is mistreating whom.
Bernard says : [quote>...next thing I know Iīm getting 5-6 hours a day worth of quality work.[/quote>
That reminds me of the movie Office Space. I loved Peter's meetings with the Bobs:
"Well I'd say in a given week I do about 15 minutes of real actual work"
"It's not that I'm lazy; it's that I just don't care."
bas says : Motivators: free time and money as the unbeatable number one.
Training.
Cool project.
Be able to work from home.
Promote (tricky one).
Just my question: how do you notice they are holding back?
Cheers
Bas
newbie says :
salcorp>
How do you guys reward good work?
My boss doesn't reward any good work....that is why I am looking for another job. He only looks at the money and upstairs. We don't matter downstairs.
newbie
