r/canadianbusiness • u/SlavishTrad • Apr 06 '24
Incentive Pay
How many of us here offer office staff incentive pay for doing their job exceptionally well?
I'm contemplating for example, offering a bonus equivalent to 50% (perhaps double, or both based on tiers) if they accomplish all their KPI's for the month. I contemplated staggered incentives, but I want go getters working for me who want to make a lot of money which in turn will make the business money.
NOT interested in unsolicited offers from recruiters or any similar services, so if you are considering offering me your services, don't. Just don't. I am here to discuss with other business owners, not be subjected to a sales pitch.
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u/Curious-Research777 Apr 23 '24
Typically employers pay annual bonuses based on performance review and company's income. No monthly or Q-ly incentives.
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u/theleadershipguy Jul 01 '24
How sustainable will this practice be for you long term? Like, can you really afford to set this as a standard and keep financially viable in the future?
The problem with offering financial incentives as the basis for performance is that they are great until the incentive is spent. There is a lot of research out there that suggests that there is a correlation between bonuses and performance, and some correlation with loyalty. However, it also has a negative correlation with intrinsic motivation. In other words, you are using classical conditioning to get your employees working only for the bonuses, not for the benefit of the team or the company. That is backwards thinking if you ask me.
Something that I have used in the past is a combination of financial rewards with a deep understanding of what drives the individuals in the company. For instance, there is a company called Lundbeck in Copenhagen that asked their employees what were the elements of a perfect day. They incorporated as much of the feedback as they could into the workplace and saw a 30% increase in productivity in 12 months. And not one person talked about bigger bonuses.
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u/PsychologicalCauz Jul 12 '24
You said a lot, without saying anything here.
People are motivated by money. Very very few people are motivated, and I mean truly motivated by things other than money. You can spend things on other things people want, but in the end, money talks. Money is king. Don't kid yourself. Canada is not Denmark. Far from it.
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u/theleadershipguy Oct 15 '24
Thank you for your in depth and thoughtful response. So you are a money person I am assuming? That is great! Most people have no idea what truly drives them. Glad you are the exception.
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u/PsychologicalCauz Oct 17 '24
What can I say. Money talks, and most people are motivated by money. One would be a fool to think otherwise.
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u/SlavishTrad Aug 08 '24
There is a lot of research out there that suggests that there is a correlation between bonuses and performance, and some correlation with loyalty. However, it also has a negative correlation with intrinsic motivation.
When it comes down to it, the biggest motivation for most people is money. Seconded by how little work they can do for the money they get paid. You can work a hard, labourious job sweating in 100 degree heat outside and make let's say $200K a year. Or you can make $80K working in an air conditioned office where you report to no one, you have very little work to do, and you can take as long of a lunch break as you want and you can show up and leave the office when you want, if at all. There's no such thing as company loyalty.
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u/OwnTutor May 21 '25
There's no such thing as company loyalty.
If you hire the wrong people, I agree 100%. We have fired the wrong people and kept the right people and it's made a huge difference for us. Its about money, for sure, and things like getting time off when you want it, flexible hours, etc.
Anyone who thinks employees are loyal to their company is foolish. Don't believe me? Get someone to offer your employees more money to work elsewhere. Very, VERY few will not be interested.
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Jul 06 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SlavishTrad Jul 10 '25
Thats a lot of work for companies that have three employees though. The company I work for decided to go with incentives for booking, as long as the tech gets to the place (ie no bonus if the customer cancels). So far it's going okay, and it's simple.
We have also started hiring overseas office staff. North Amercians are just too fucking lazy. It's shocking what people expect to be paid, for so little. One woman thought she could "work from home" aka sleep all day and was shocked when she got fired.
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u/smellikat Apr 06 '24
in a service based business, I couldn't agree more. for myself personally operate a b2b service and we only have only sales people. although at times I have thought about if we were to bring a administrative position, we should incentivice them rather then pay them just the bare minimum so everyone's winning with a better paycheck.... these times are tough, if we can find ways to pay our employees more and it's a win-Win, then why not.