Incentives
Looking for something specific? The following topics address a wide range of business needs and challenges.
Does Recognition Make You “Over-Confident”?
We have just signed a new lease for our offices and as such, I am moving spaces. As I started going through my “stuff” I ran across many articles that I previously put aside that I thought…
Measurement: Friend or Foe?
It seems that the world is becoming obsessed with measurement. We are measuring steps, heart rate, calories, sleep—you name it and there is a device to measure it. People are going to waste a…
Mistakes Companies Make when End-of-Year Approaches
About this time of year, leaders and managers begin the ritual, asking themselves, “Have I met my goals for the year? Have I used up my budget? Am I prepared to declare my needs and wants for…
Don’t Ask for a Raise, Part 2: Reality Check
I’m glad to see this topic and the ideas I have shared recently have created such a response. Let me start by saying that I’m not naïve to think that your circumstances will be such that you…
Does Money Make You Smart?
This post originally appeared on Aubrey’s blog 8-19-09 Let's say that you make business decisions where the impact on the future of the business is not well-thought out. The decisions are…
President Obama, You Say You Want Ideas—Here’s One!
President Obama says he wants ideas. How about this one? The government will designate a fixed dollar amount to be deducted from each taxpayer each year. This fund will be…
Urinal Gamification Misses the Mark
However inconvenient it might be sometimes, emptying your bladder is inevitable. You might want to do it at the time, especially if the time is the middle of a long road trip, but it’s not something…
Don’t Ruin My Basketball With Your Mega Millions Jackpot
WVU Mountaineer play-by-play announcer @TonyCaridi tweeted this morning, “If you won the Mega Millions lottery….what 3 hoop officials would you pay to never work another game?” I thought Tony had hit…
Why Wall Street Won’t Ever Change Their Spending Ways
I’m going to get right to the point. I have little faith that Wall Street will ever get smarter about how they spend their money. The reality is they have too much of other people’s money and…
A Dozen Ways to Weather the Economic Storm
Nowadays you can’t turn on the television, pick up a newspaper, or read a magazine without seeing headlines about jobs and the turbulent economy. Inundated with negative news and experiencing the all…
Why Incentives and Safety Don’t Mix!
In our latest video blog, Dr. Judy Agnew and Dr. Aubrey Daniels challenge commonly used safety incentives. Who doesn’t like a good challenge or contest, right? True, but safety incentives…
End-of-Year Bonuses; Some Parting Words
As the end-of-year bonus season approaches, remember the words of Thomas Gilbert, who said,
Money is a beautifully honed instrument for recognizing and creating worthy performance. It is the…
What Was Google Thinking!
The headline read “Google Gives All Employees Surprise $1,000 Cash Bonus, 10% Raise.” While I believe that companies should work to pay employees as much as possible, there is a right and wrong way…
Rewarding Things a Dead Man Can Do
On the face of it, rewarding things a dead man, or woman, can do sounds crazy. But corporations do it every day! Have no accidents, make no errors, and be at your workstation or desk are three of the…
Do Behavioral Economists Really Understand the Behavior Part?
Someone just sent me a YouTube video of Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics, speaking to 1200 business leaders in London in 2007. The YouTube video is titled, “Why Incentives Don’t Work."…
Oops #6: Salary and Hourly Pay
In his latest podcast, Aubrey Daniels discusses the reality that salary and hourly pay produces the lowest performance, and instead companies, at the very least, need to build in contingencies of…
Oops #5: Rewarding Things a Dead Man Can Do
What do having no accidents, making no errors and handing out a bonus across the board have in common? They all reward things a dead man can do! Listen now.
Oops!: The Biggest Mistakes Made By TV’s Top Bosses
From Mary Tyler Moore to Mad Men, the workplace has served as the setting for many of television's most acclaimed and beloved series. It's no wonder. The office provides the ultimate backdrop for…
