Introduction
As indicated by David Pink (2010) employee performance is not always dependent on monetary rewards, rather, some of the most efficient drivers of employee performance are when employees are self directed, purpose driven and want to achieve a certain degree of mastery in what they do (Pink, 2010). In fact, based on his presentation, it can actually be seen that cash and awards often don’t result in boosts to employee performance, rather, they actually have a tendency to result in declining performance in the long term. While this may seem strange since in the current corporate setting reward driven incentives for employee performance are a cornerstone of corporate practices it has been proven based on studies by MIT, the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon that such as system does not improve employee performance when the activities involve cognitive skill (Pink, 2010). While there is a definite improvement when it comes to mechanical skill, when the task utilizes even rudimentary cognitive skill the higher the reward the poorer the performance of the individual actually became.
Taking this into consideration it can be thought that the normal recognition programs, such as the one currently in place within the company, are actually an inefficient means of encouraging employee performance since they fail to address the drivers stated by David Pink (2010). This can make them both a waste of time and expenditure on the part of the company and as such need to be replaced by a system that utilizes drivers of self-direction, being purpose driven and achieving mastery in a certain task.
Proposed Program Change
The new proposed program which shall be named “Valued Employee” will allow employees 1 day out of every quarter to get together not to work but rather to have an “open association day” where they are encouraged to work on whatever type of company improving project they want, in the way they want with whomever they want in the company. All upper management requests are that employees show the results of their progress to the company at the end of the day. The reason why this particular method has been chosen is because it allows employees to be self directed, allows them to have a certain purpose in what they do and gives them the ability to achieve a certain degree of mastery in the jobs they have.
This benefits the company since it enables upper management to utilize the pool of employees that they have at the present to devise new and innovative ways in which the company can innovate its existing product line, manufacturing infrastructure and administrative support structure based on the employees own experience and perspective from working for the company for so long. This brings on a sense of contribution, of purpose, of working towards a particular goal since proposed projects that the employees have come up with will have those employees become part of the new project that the company will undertake. By utilizing this particular program this provides value for both the company from an operational improvement perspective while at the same time provides value to employees by giving them an outlet for creativity and giving them the chance to actually do something that will have a positive impact on the company.
Reference
Pink, D. (2010). Rsa animate – drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us [Web]. Web.