Why doesn't a bonus work...

Many organizations these days require content professionals to contribute to finding new assignments and new colleagues. To incentivize these professionals, organizations often offer substantial bonuses. Yet, this appears to be only marginally effective. Why is that?

In the US, in particular, there's already a lot of experience with bonuses for bringing in a job and with Employee Recruitment Programs. The basic principle is cash is king, or something similar. In any case, a significant amount is paid.

The effect of money…

Much research has been conducted on the effect of rewards on performance, and in summary, the effect is minimal at best. See, for example, on YouTube The surprising truth about what motivates us, or read Drive by Daniel Pink.

When we hear that an organization uses a bonus system, we always ask if it works. The answer is usually something like: No, it doesn't work, or not nearly as much as we'd like, or at least not as much as we'd like.r people, but they probably would have done it even without the bonus. (And we'll probably make them managers later.) Money is rarely the deciding factor. Sometimes it even backfires because people don't want to "sell" their relationships.

 

Yet many managers are fond of this bonus structure. Why? In our opinion, it's because: 

  • Managers themselves are often quite task-oriented and more focused on rewards. That's usually one of the reasons they were asked to become managers at some point. It's human to think that what motivates you will also motivate others. That's just not true.
  • It is relatively easy to implement and it feels like a nice concrete measure.


So the downside is: it doesn't work very well. So what can you do?

Which reward works?

Rewarding good behavior is a great idea. The question, however, is:

  • Whether that has to be done with money
  • When the best time to reward is. So that the desired behavior is stimulated in the future.
The ideal reward?

What are good rewards? Attention often works very well. And you can also ask your professionals what's appropriate. You'll get answers like these:

  • Appreciation from my manager
  • Appreciation of the recruitment department
  • Pay the bill for a drink or high tea for a group of people
  • Dinner voucher – which I can arrange with the candidate/my new colleague
  • Contribute to a good cause with the money you save
  • Movie tickets, etc. 
  • Still money
Rewarding on input and throughput

If your professional has decided to contact a former client or approach someone about working at your organization, that's a great step in itself. Figuring out together how best to approach that is another step. Making contact is another step. And every time, a small reward or compliment is appropriate.

In short: reward input and throughput if you want people to take action more often.

Don't forget the feedback

Even if the professionals themselves are no longer actively involved and account management or recruiting takes over the process, it's wise to keep them informed. Avoid the "They-certainly-don't-think-it's-important" feeling, as that unlearns good behavior.

This article was written by Maarten van Os and Jan Willem van den Brink from DreamfactoryIt's based on a chapter from our book Colleague wanted – Proudly share your network.

If you wish to use it, we would greatly appreciate attribution.

Want to know more about this topic or how we can help your organization? Email or call us at 0348-741670.