Dear Consultant,
I am a small business owner with four full-time and three part-time employees. As the boss, I’ve always been approachable and we all have a great relationship. Lately though I think that my employees have been taking advantage of me by showing up to work late unapologetically, and not cleaning up their trucks after a service call, which they are very clearly supposed to do. When I approach the team about these issues, should I threaten punishment or offer rewards?
Using a carrot or a stick depends on the situation as well as the number of times that you’ve tried to correct this behaviour. The problem may simply be a lack of communication or a lack of managerial follow-up to ensure compliance of your rules. If this is a repeated problem that occurs even after you’ve all talked about it and are on the same page about work expectations, then you’ll want to think about institute a reward or punishment scheme to encourage compliance.
The general rule of thumb is to avoid punishment where possible. Punishment may encourage your employees to want to leave your company, or to subvert you and your company in other, more subtle ways. It is fear-based and utilizes coercive power which can create stress and a negative organizational culture. While it may be necessary, it should be used as a last resort. Rewards may initially be considered more costly than punitive measures, but in the long run I’d suggest that the opposite is true.
Losing an employee and hiring a new one is a very expensive process, similarly lack of productivity due to low moral/motivation, which is frequently associated with punishment can also affect your bottom line.
Here are some tips for using rewards as a motivator to promote certain behaviours, these are based partially on industry best practices and on Yukl (2013).
1) Make sure that the rewards you offer are ones that they actually want. Ask them!
2) Whatever rewards you offer, make sure that they are fair and equal between employees and that the rewards are ethical in nature.
3) Don’t offer a reward if you’re not able to fully deliver on what you’ve offered.
4) Make very clear and simple rules for when rewards are given and when they aren’t. Make sure that everyone understands.
5) It is up to you to give out the rewards if the rules are met. Don’t expect the employee to come asking for the rewards.
6) Try not to be manipulative with rewards, these should be an expression of gratitude for good behaviour.
If on the other hand you feel the need provide punishment for poor behaviour, here are some suggestions, based partially on industry best practices and also on Yukl (2013).
1) Make sure everyone understands the rules and that punishment is the consequence of not following the rules.
2) Always provide the same punishment for everyone consistently when rules are broken.
3) Take your time before using punishment, get all of the facts and make sure that you’re being quick to judge. Don’t make emotional decisions.
4) Offer warnings before punishment, but be clear about when warnings will turn into punishment. Put the warnings into writing.
5) Making an example of employees may be tempting, but it is a bad idea for employee morale. Always offer warnings/reprimands and punishments in private.
6) Always be calm, don’t let the employee perceive a personal attack.
7) Make sure that you’re supportive and it is clear that you want to help them avoid this next time.
8) Ask the person how to avoid this in the future, make a plan together and follow it.
9) Do what you say. If you warn of punishment, make sure that you follow through.
10) Make sure that the punishment is equal to the bad behaviour. Don’t over or under do it.