What gets you out of bed in the morning? It’s a question of motivation — the underlying reasoning behind your actions. For the vast majority of society, employment is the gateway to earning enough money to fund a lifestyle. Whilst money motivates workers, in a healthy working environment, it shouldn’t the sole factor that drives performance.
Digging Deeper into the Psychology of Workplace Behavior
Professor Dan Ariely at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently conducted several studies to analyze the psychology of workplace behavior. From productivity to collaboration, each of the studies explored a different facet of workplace culture. Today, we’re particularly interested in the Professor’s study on appreciation and its relationship with money in the workplace.
Ariely gave study participants — a handful of MIT students — a piece of paper each, filled with random letters. Upon gazing at the paper, the students were asked to find pairs of identical letters. In return for their efforts, they were offered a sum of money. This activity consisted of several rounds. Each round, they were offered less money than the previous round.
Students in the first group wrote their names on their sheets and handed them to the experimenter, who gave it a brief glance and said “Uh-huh” before putting it in a pile. Students in the second group didn’t write down their names, and the experimenter put their sheets in a pile without looking at them. Students in the third group had their work shredded immediately upon completion.
In order to keep doing the activity, students whose work was shredded wanted twice as much money as those whose work was acknowledged. The second group of students, whose work was placed aside and ignored, needed almost as much money as the students whose work was shredded.
Unappreciated Employees Are More Expensive
The findings of this study clearly present a correlation between appreciation and money. If an activity or task is going to be strenuous, frustrating or dissatisfying, employees require increased motivation to complete it to a high standard. Many companies see heightened salaries and paychecks as the only way to motivate their workforce, but this isn’t a sustainable solution.
A workforce that is performing to their highest potential isn’t just showing up for their paychecks. There’s a greater dynamic than money at play here, motivating employees to perform. Peer recognition and appreciation can unlock plenty of motivation in your employees. As we saw from the study, the students who received recognition for their work were less interested in the financial reward.
Leading a productive and happy workforce is all about rewarding employees for their efforts, both principally through money and further through recognition and appreciation. For team leaders, whilst the act of giving recognition and appreciation to team members may be time-consuming, it presents an incredible return-on-investment. The simple act of congratulating an employee in the morning for their recent efforts and achievements can set the tone for a productive rest of their day. Appreciation makes you feel good inside. Like money, it offers a sense of value and self-worth. This isn’t about inflating the egos of your employees, it’s about empowering them to be productive and drive results for your company.
Enable Productivity and Reduce Costs
So, where do you begin? Well, we might just have the answer for you. say “hello” to Karma Bot! Our initiative workplace tool can bring appreciation to the very core of your business operation, with seamless integration into Slack.
Karma bot is designed to foster a high-performance team culture, building stronger, happier teams through a consistent stream of appreciation and recognition from peers and leaders. Those in leadership positions can send messages of appreciation and recognition to team members, whilst setting goals and tracking their performance, ensuring a productive and motivated workforce that is never overlooked for their efforts.
Ready to start promoting a workplace culture that shows consistent appreciation and recognition amongst employees? Spread motivation and enable productivity in your workplace today by adding Karma Bot to your Slack or Teams.
Karma Bot is designed to foster a high-performance team culture, building stronger, happier teams. It enables leaders to set goals for their team, track performance and reward excellence on Slack. Our tool features fun and positive GIFs to unlock faster levels of productivity amongst your workforce.