Are you rewarding bad behavior?
I have never met a manager that at some point has not rewarded bad behavior. We all do it. Have you ever worked for a company that did an across the board pay raise for all employees? Everybody gets a 2% raise or something along those lines. I have seen it more than once. It is insulting to the people that work hard, and it rewards those that do not pull their weight. It encourages laziness because it is the laziest form of management. It tells each worker that you do not care enough about them to actually evaluate their performance. When I was climbing the corporate ladder, I was forced to roll out across the board pay raises at several different points. I am fortunate enough now to work at a company that I do not believe would ever condone such behavior. At this point in my life, I don’t think I would ever again go along with this type of policy. It undermines good management and I will never stand for it again.
Across the board pay raises are not the only way that we reward bad behavior. We fail to address the employee that comes in late every day. It is only a couple of minutes right? If I come in ten minutes late each day, then I will work 43 hours less a year then my counterparts that come in on time. The tardy employee is essentially rewarded with a week’s paid vacation each year. Not only that, but do you think they will limit it to ten minutes? If I come in ten minutes late and you fail to address it, then I will not think twice about hitting the snooze button tomorrow and coming in fifteen minutes late.
How do you dole out the work that needs to be done each day? Do you give the hardest projects to your laziest employees? Of course not, you give the hardest work to your best employees because they can handle it. You give the simple easy stuff to the slackers. For being lazy, they are rewarded with easier work. What lesson are they learning?
I know why we do it. Our instincts tell us to give the hard stuff to the talented people because they will knock it out with minimal questions and we know they will hit their deadlines. It is easier for the manager to give the hard stuff to the best employees. It is okay to do every now and then, but if you do it consistently then it starts to send a very bad message. The harder you work the more work I am going to give you.
Chances are you are not going to make it up to them at evaluation time. They may get a higher score on their evaluation, but financially is it really going to make a difference? Most companies are in the 2-3% range for increases if you are lucky. If I have two managers that make $30K a year, and one is a superstar and one is a slightly below average performer, then chances are that their increases will not be significantly different. Say manager A gets a 4% raise and manager B gets a 2% raise. Their salaries are now $31,200 and $30,600 respectively. It is the difference of about $11 in pay a week. That is hardly punishing bad behavior.
So what are we as managers to do?
- Address bad behavior immediately when you see it. If you see it, so do all of your employees. If you do nothing, then their faith in you as a leader will erode over time. It also sends a clear message that bad behavior will be tolerated which in turn encourages more bad behavior.
- Reward good behavior. Does your company have a perfect attendance award? How valuable is an employee that you know is going to show up for work each and every day? Pretty valuable in this day and age, but yet most companies do not reward perfect attendance. Rewards do not have to be financial (although money is nice too). Each quarter all of my managers chip in and we give a $100.00 to the employee that we feel had the best performance. It is not much, but I truly believe that it means a heck of a lot to the winners.
- Stop giving increases to employees that are not meeting the minimum standards. It is harsh I know, but if you are going to succeed as a company then you have got to encourage employees to either meet the standards or move on.
I know many of the people reading this post are high performers (I am not pandering, I really believe that) so you will likely work hard regardless of the situation. I am however curious, do you feel like you are adequately rewarded for your extra effort over your less then ambitious peers? If so, how are you rewarded? How can we as managers keep from rewarding bad behavior? What other ways have you seen managers reward bad behavior?
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This is excellent advice that I follow as a Cub Scout Den Leader.
One week, I gave the Scouts an easy project to do and told them that those who did well would get a prize. I made sure that all of the Scouts succeeded so that they would all learn the lesson I wanted to teach that week.
The following week, however, we had a game-show themed test of all we had learned in the past month. I told them there would be a single winner. They seemed flabbergasted, because in the current climate of “Yay, you’re all winners!” they thought that all would be rewarded.
Sometimes you have to slow down so that everyone succeeds, but more often you have to push for excellence.
If you reward mediocrity, then you can’t be surprised when that is what you get. It is a hard and cruel lesson to learn, but it is one we all need to know. Great example Laura, thanks for sharing.
I work with a lot of young leaders, and this is one of the hardest concepts for them to grasp – and I find it’s not out of a lack of WANTING to do the right thing, but the emotional attachment to their friends leads to favoritism and like you said, rewarding bad behavior.
I appreciate you tackling this topic, I am going to share this with everyone I know!
I certainly appreciate the feedback and I love any marketing help I can get. I really think that this is the most common negative issue I see with managers. Taking the path of least resistance causes us to reward bad behavior. Thank you for your continued support sir.
My pleasure!
Small rant: First off, I’ll just apoliogize to the *hard working* smokers right now. But it’s a pet peeve of mine that, at many companies, smokers are given extra breaks throughout the day to appease their addiction. I get that nicotine is the most addictive substance known to man and is a very, very difficult habit to break – and I admire those who are able to break it – but cummon! The non-smokers should not be punished with extra work so smokers can get their fixes and the smokers should not be awarded with extra breaks because of it.
I cannot believe that I forgot about smoke breaks. There is not a better example than this. I have never worked anywhere that I think did a good job of regulating smoke breaks, and the reality is that the nonsmokers end up doing more of the work. I don’t want to work in a company that is run like a prison, but I certainly do not want to take on extra work simply because I do not smoke. If anyone works in a place that has a good system for regulating smoke breaks, I would love to hear about it. Excellent point Regi!
This was a great article to read, and yet a difficult one to read. After 13 years, I just left my job, due to the reasons you listed above. I have never had a negative review (actually, almost every year I heard the same “I wish we could clone you”). Yet for the last 5 years, the company did across the board raises. Why? Because the managers/leadership team were too busy.
I also had to deal with a rude and disrespectful manager, yet, I was always given more jobs to complete (while co-workers came in late, and didn’t answer calls).
As difficult as it was to walk away from work I like, I was so unhappy going in each day wondering if today was the day they walked me out the door (which they were doing to Really Good workers).
So now I begin the task of finding a place of employment that respects me as a person, that sees the hard work I am capable of doing, and to share my natural joy at a job well done!
If your company is doing across the board raises be concerned, be very concerned. I don’t condone quitting before you have another job, but I certainly understand that a situation may be unbearable. I have never gotten to that point, but I willingly acknowledge that I could be driven to that point. Your second point is valid too. If they are too busy to do evaluations, that generally means that they do not have real good metrics or any real idea of who the best performers are. In that scenario, it is like playing the lottery while you are waiting to get laid off. I am sure you will end up in a better place; I just hope that it does not take you too long to find another job.
Thinking outside the lines here and applying your thoughts to my training and myself… That can really be hard. It is easy to award advancements, but what about when we eat the cheesecake we shouldn’t or skip a workout when the excuse is really only that? Thought provoking!
Rewards work better than punishment. If you want that cheesecake then earn it. The extra hour you spend in the pool will start to make you lose your taste for it. This advice falls into the do as I say not as I do category. I have never personally met a piece of cheesecake that I didn’t like.
I am guilty as charged! As a parent though, not as a manager. My oldest daughter is fantastic about helping out, we call her little mother. What this means is that she gets worked harder than her little sister who is just as capable of doing alot of the chores she is asked to do, but has an attitude where it is harder to get her to do it.
I should be rewarding the older one with less chores for being good about following through and more chores for the younger one that fights me harder about doing them. Thanks for the post!
This rule certainly applies to parenting. I certainly understand and sympathize. Some days you just don’t feel like going through the battle, but you have to. A good work ethic is a learned behavior. Not only are you short changing the youngest by showing her that if she is difficult, then she will not have to work as hard but you are also short changing your eldest. She is going to learn to that there are people in the world that won’t do their part and she will be trained to just accept it. Fight the good fight my friend. It will be worth it.
This is a great post, I have shared it with friends and colleagues. The sad part is I myself have been guilty of this in the past. Thanks for the reminder that I do not want to be like this ever again.
Tina
Thank you for reading it, and I especially appreciate you sharing it. I think we are all guilty of this sin from time to time so you are in good company.
I just discovered your blog after reading your comment at the N2growth blog.
When you mentioned the example of an employee constantly showing up 10 minutes late, it made me think about the impact that this person has on other employees. I think the morale of other employees is likely to go down once they see that the behavior is not being confronted. And then they might start to act the same way.
I believe people totally understand if an employee is 10 minutes late every once in a while if there is a good reason. At times, things are just going to happen (e.g. traffic or the weather). But lots of problems are likely to occur if chronic problems are not addressed.
Look forward to checking out more posts on the blog!
Welcome Greg, I am glad you stopped by. Yesterday was my first time on the N2growth blog, but I was quite impressed. Thank you for letting me know how you found us here. I have seen the failure to address personnel issues drive many good employees out of an organization. I am pretty good at not rewarding bad behavior, but I think all of us our guilty of it sometimes.
Please stop back anytime. I will always respond to your comments.
Reblogged this on Laughing at Everyday Life and commented:
This is an excellent post that fits all businesses – large or small. One thing I always try and preach is a person increasing their value. Just being “good” at your job is what you are currently being paid for, reward those that have increased their value to your company.
Amen, and thanks for the reblog.
I have found your blog today and just reading through it all, so I am late to the party. Your articles on command presence, charmisa and grit have been my favourites so far.
This one isn’t though.
I agree with rewarding good behaviour of course. But the pay raise thing.
The opposite of an across the board pay rise is a targetted pay rise. But you are forgetting that management are falliable people. You act like there would be no bias and the pay would be merit based. I think that is impossible. At practically every job I have worked at I get along with all my co workers, and am polite, but rarely am I the hardest worker and rarely the most dedicated. However I am often groomed for leadership (when I don’t want it no less) and these hard working people with less charisma are not. If your targetted pay rises were in place, then I would get it and others would not. What’s more such a thing builds resentment.
For example a bonus for hard work would be acceptable, but to simply raise the wage of one worker more then the other is foolish in my opinion. If you were raised in wage above me because of “management” then I would likely be upset. If I was vindictive my former coworker now rival would never recieve anything but the minimum of help. Why should they need it? They are more valuable. I think it sets a poisonous precident.
Just my opinion.
Clearly I have dissapointed you on several posts. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.
No I wouldn’t say that. I think this is a pretty great blog. Perhaps what I wrote comes across harsh or whingy. I guess communication is more important afterall.
I just had some differing opinions and though to share based my own limited experience.
All the best.
I will say that it came across a tad harsh, but please be assured that I welcome you opinions. I appreciate you taking the time to clarify. Feel free to comment anytime.