Interesting article. He doesn't really hide that this was a PR move, and I think a lot of the problems are a result of the flashy way it was implemented. Worth reading just for some of the ridiculous reaction quotes:
“What’s their incentive to hustle if you pay them so much?” Ms. Brajcich said they asked.
The employees themselves had a good counterpoint: "Am I doing my job well enough to deserve this?"
There are incentives in both directions, with poor performers still receiving raises and hard workers wondering if they should work harder to earn the extra money. In the end, management style and a larger applicant pool might have more effect than the actual raise on worker motivation. I've seen the same conflicts discussed in the article (pay varies little with performance, who "deserves" a raise, etc.) among people being paid less than $10/hr, so I suspect the issue has more to do with cultural expectations and the way management handles poor performers.
Interesting article. He doesn't really hide that this was a PR move, and I think a lot of the problems are a result of the flashy way it was implemented. Worth reading just for some of the ridiculous reaction quotes:
Yeah, that's not how capitalism works.
The employees themselves had a good counterpoint: "Am I doing my job well enough to deserve this?"
There are incentives in both directions, with poor performers still receiving raises and hard workers wondering if they should work harder to earn the extra money. In the end, management style and a larger applicant pool might have more effect than the actual raise on worker motivation. I've seen the same conflicts discussed in the article (pay varies little with performance, who "deserves" a raise, etc.) among people being paid less than $10/hr, so I suspect the issue has more to do with cultural expectations and the way management handles poor performers.