by C Tanner

Created on: October 14, 2009   Last Updated: October 15, 2009

The first word that comes to mind is "WOW"! Having been in the personnel industry advising and guiding employers on how to grow and maintain a quality workforce for the last decade, I can honestly say "No, people do not work more when they are paid more!"

Truth be told, employers are now dealing with employees who have a lower level of "drive and determination" and a much higher "sense of entitlement" than their counterparts 2 decades ago. One of the biggest challenges employers have today is actually FINDING an employee who will work the overtime, come in early, stay late and be a team player...regardless of how much they are paid. The fact that "working overtime" actually equates to more money, if the answer to this question were "yes" then our employees would be working more hours to make more money, correct?

It would be a wonderful world if all of our employees had the same "gung-ho" attitude they did during their first few weeks on the job. This is what we call the "honeymoon phase" where the employee is still concerned about "proving themselves worthy" and making high marks on their first performance review. It is really only in this phase where the employee is willing to work more to get more money, be it higher commissions or their first raise. After which, the honeymoon is essentially over and the employee has quickly figured out how to work the least amount possible to earn the amount of money he/she needs to maintain their quality of life, which could be just enough money for fast food, video games and skateboards...you don't know.

The vast majority of the workforce is made up of a group of people who played soccer throughout their youth instead of football. Why is this important? Well it's not, but it reminds me of the analogy we use in the sales industry: "A great salesperson is the guy who was the best player on his team and strived for individual recognition and accomplishment, the MVP." And "A low performing salesperson is like the guy who played soccer where everyone is rewarded equally with a trophy at the end of the season regardless of his performance." No, I don't have any experience as a soccer player or "soccer mom" but I am not a "soccer hater"...this is just my opinion. HOWEVER, when is the last time you saw an ENTIRE TEAM get drafted into the big leagues because of the "team's winning season"? But what you DO see in the big leagues are "star players" who out performed and out shined everyone else.

OK so I may have gotten off track

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>