Staff motivation - Vision Realization

For the frill and thrill of it – perks and benefits
First, let me say that I am not against perks and benefits, but rather I believe that a very small
amount of them are necessary. The problems I discuss below include that they are relied upon, given in
excess, and are misunderstood in terms of their value to staff motivation.
Carrots, prods, and other external approaches to motivation will get some kind of motion if they
are big or special enough. What any organization needs, however, is people who have an internal
generator . . . people who will move under their own steam. I have a friend in the Peace Corps who is
serving in Mongolia. Her only real perk is being given a subscription to Newsweek, and having her very
basic needs of food and shelter met. When I e-mailed her and asked her if her effort would change if the
Peace Corps gave her a host of perks and benefits that I could think of, she said that she would
appreciate any and all of them. But, her motivation to do the best job possible and work her hardest did
not depend on getting one or all of them. I’ve found the same thing in exceptional camps with 70 –
90% staff return rates . . . staff appreciated the few perks and benefits the camp provided, but what most
people would consider a meager assortment of such things didn’t seem to matter to their motivation.
Indeed, when I asked them about their need for perks and benefits to increase their motivation, they
looked at me in a puzzled way; it struck them as an odd, and to some, insulting question.
Perks and benefits don’t so much add to motivation, as they do detract from it when people
expect them to be present and they aren’t. In other words, they don’t have the potential to add much in
the long haul, but they can demotivate over the short and long haul when expectations don’t match the
reality. Externally motivated staff often have the expectation that their employers owe them. To some
degree, we all have that expectation based on societal/cultural norms. Health benefits for full-time
employees are almost a given. Providing internet access to summer staff is also expected now. The
danger some camps (and many larger corporations in search of motivation) get into is providing loads of
perks and benefits, which returning staff expect, and new staff come to expect. Beyond the existing
level of expectations, they were never necessary for motivation.
If your staff are not as internally motivated as the Peace Corps woman, or as selfless and
dedicated as the camp with the 90% return rate, you may be in a position where providing extra perks
and benefits will help motivation. Know, however, that motivation – de-motivation don’t exist along a
continuum. Think of a water glass. The degree to which someone is externally motivated, and they feel
entitled to certain perks and benefits, is the degree to which the glass is less full. Once the glass is full,
or near full, folks look for a better reason than water to expend effort. Like Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs, they want soul satisfaction, which they’ll get through working toward meeting their needs to
develop themselves and help develop others. The Peace Corps woman has a narrow, small glass that
was easily filled, and then she stopped thinking about water. Some people come to camp with a bucket
instead of a glass. Even then, filling up their glass/bucket will spur more motivation up to a point.
Pouring in more water than the glass can hold won’t get you more effort, just spilled resources.
That being said, perks and benefits are nice. People don’t usually turn them down, and they
often get upset when you take them away. Once we take perks and benefits out of the realm of needing
them for staff motivation, we can appreciate them for their value in other ways. They can help maintain
and nourish relationships, and communicate values. Caring can be expressed in many ways, but if the
message isn’t already loud and clear, perks and benefits can amplify the sound level. The more caring,
fun, and other values are communicated through some of those different means that I have noted
throughout this resource, the less they’ll need to be communicated via perks and benefits. That is why
camps with very high staff return rates don’t need a long list of perks. Beyond helping communicate
values and nourishing relationships (depending how much help is needed with those elements), perks
are usually fun for those who give and receive them. And, they can serve as little boosters.
© 2004 Randall Grayson, Ph.D. 38