Tips for Motivating IT Workers? 68
RexCelestis asks: "I work for a small (35 employees) tech company that provides consulting and software to law firms of all sizes. Last year, our company moved from rewards based on the fulfillment of personal goals to a more general reward, based almost strictly on sales. Outside of the sales staff, very few of us have felt motivated by this plan. As we near the annual meeting, I'd like to offer a few alternative methods to help motivate employees outside of sales. Can anyone offer any suggestions to help drive a development team, support staff, and/or consulting group towards greater success?"
Since nobody else has an answer (Score:2)
Re:Since nobody else has an answer (Score:2)
Wasn't a similar question asked not so long ago? (Score:2, Funny)
Prescription Drugs (Score:2, Funny)
There is no IT in MoTIvate (Score:1, Informative)
character in 'Torn Curtain', Hitchcock is reported to have replied,
"Your motivation, Mr Newman, is the $250,000 you're being paid."
Re:There is no IT in MoTIvate (Score:2)
$250,000
That'll work.
How big are the rewards? (Score:5, Insightful)
You really have to look at two factors here:
Re:How big are the rewards? (Score:3)
For myself, I would probably still take the $1000, but if it was only $400, then I would probably take the iPod, as that way I have the toy without having to justify
Re:How big are the rewards? (Score:2)
Sure, you are *ahem* supported to file the value of it as income when you do your taxes, but even if you actually do, its still way better than getting a huge chunk of your bonus removed right away.
Re:How big are the rewards? (Score:1)
Re:How big are the rewards? (Score:2)
Mistake #1 - telling your wife about the $1000
Re:How big are the rewards? (Score:1)
I once worked for a place that would set an annual sales goal. If we met that goal (as a company), we would get a 1% bonus. Yep, you read that correctly: work hard all year and we will give you 1%. And being the low guy on the totem pole (and pay scale), my 1% was a lot lo
Re:How big are the rewards? (Score:2)
But if I was a manager trying to figure out how best to motivate my team, I'd probably give iPods. Frankly, at the pay level we're at, the gov't takes 50% of any money we make. That leaves me with $500. I make more than that on a pay in overtime/pager. To me, an iPod would be much more appreciated, espeically if came with some free iTunes or something - it's something tangible, in my hands, not just another number on my paycheck that the governmen
obligatory? (Score:5, Funny)
Bonuses? (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:Bonuses? (Score:1)
Re:Bonuses? (Score:2)
Well... (Score:4, Funny)
* Hawaiian Shirt Day
* Red Swingline staplers[1]
* Music played at a reasonable volume.[2]
* Some kind of a stock option equity sharing program.[3]
* And of course, lots of followup regarding TPS Reports.
[1] Management only.
[2] From 9 to 11.
[3] This is hypothetical.
Whores (Score:2, Funny)
After all your clients are the real whores, you need to balance out the corporate karma and employ the kind of whores that actually make people happy.
My concern (Score:3, Interesting)
A happy customer can sometimes inform potiential customers about your service. Likewise, a dissatisfied customer may be more trouble than any software problem you could ever have.
Therefore, at the very least, maintaining relations should be considered on par with selling. Meaning that the support staff is just as important.
Furthermore, maintaining relations also includes those people that may never see the customers. Developers are cruicial here. If they do a bad job, everyone else is either selling shit or having to spend resources and good will to maintain it.
This is much like a waiter being the only one who gets a tip when the chef prepared the meal. Not a good way to motivate people (and may have the opposite effect of critical people feeling under appriciated).
Then again, I'm just a 21 year old CS student... What do I know about the business world?
Re: (Score:2)
Donuts. (Score:2)
That's all it takes, I swear!
Re:Donuts. (Score:2)
Donuts?
Maybe in America. We like pizza here!
Give the employees lots of pizza - that works wonders for motivation. Make sure you give them something to wipe their hands on though, or you might end up with lots of typos in the code.
-- Steve
Proper Motivation (Score:4, Funny)
Every step of the way (Score:5, Insightful)
Accomplishment/Completion bonuses/prizes/etc:
Not a bad idea, but more designed to be coupled with something else. Continue reading for suggestions.
Performance evaluations:
You have to be careful with these. Most workers hate knowing that their performace is being evaluated constantly. These are most effective when the environment is positive. Eliminate the negative focus and focus more on positivity and learning.
Take for example, if a small part of a project was scrapped 2 days in due to the worker finding it too difficult or not-feasible. Instead of wrapping your head around why they wasted 2 days of company time on something impossible, focus on what they may have learned from what they worked on, and if any of their new knowledge may further the rest of the project in any way.
Be sure that evaluations are done in a relaxing environment. Offer coffee and donuts or other light fare, keep the door open, and seat them in a comfy chair. It goes a long way - and that's experience talking. If they've had outstanding performance, then consider offering a prize/bonus (nothing too expensive/elaborate though).
Effort rewards:
These are used synonymously with performance evaluations. These don't have to be anything too significant, and can be given to a team as a whole. If the team has shown some good performance for the past week or so, take them all out to dinner at some place nice but casual (optional: pool-tables, karaoke or other games may help enhance the fun). Tell them to leave their PDA's and laptops at home, and come just to relax and have a good time. This quite often raises team spirit and can also raise their respect for management. If you feel that an individual deserves a reward, give it to them privately, and make sure it isn't worth too much bragging about.
One-on-One:
Much like a performance evaluation, but different. Instead of monitoring individual performance, only monitor team performance. With a One-on-One, you speak to each team member individually, and have them report to you on how they think they are doing. With this, they can set their own goals, and put plans in place that fit with them, which eases their levels of stress. As with a performance eval, keep the environment relaxed and follow the guidelines mentioned in for performance evaluations.
General tactics:
Here are some general leadership and motivation tactics to help out:
* Don't assign impossible tasks. As well, don't assign a task and then change it without due reason. Undue changes will cause your workers to lose confidence in your abilities.
* Comfort counts. If during the summer months your workers are constantly overheating, spend the money to get each of them a desk-sized oscillating fan and offer them cold drinks periodically. During winter months, offer them coffee to warm them up from the cold. Minimal expendadures such as those can do wonders to raise productivity.
* Keep yourself motivated. An unmotivated leader will demoralize everyone.
* If someone is in a slump, work with them to get them back on track. Maybe they just need a talking to, in which you should remind them of their past successes. Perhaps they need a little time off. Being treated well and like a human being will garner a sense of loyalty. Nothing can be more valuable to a company than a loyal worker.
Good luck. If you need any more tips, feel free to email me.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Every step of the way (Score:2)
Now taking the staff out to lunch, that would not conflict with that as much, but it still would not be much of a reward. Hey I would be eating lunch with the same people I do everyday, just probably at a "casual" place that none of us
Re:Every step of the way (Score:2)
And to be considerate to folks like yourself, who have families and would rather go to
Little things mean a lot. (Score:5, Insightful)
Say hello to your employees every morning, individually, greeting them by their name. Take fifteen minutes and walk the cube farm, stopping at each employee's cube. Say hello. Banter for a moment. Do not discuss work in these rounds unless it is an emergency; it will spoil the effect.
When an employee does well, recognise this. You don't have to give them anything physical, but a public "thank you" at the next departmental meeting can be very valueable, especially if your boss is there.
Don't do stupid shit. For example, if you've been providing broadband to people's homes to enable working remotely, don't cut it off while still spending $$$ on conference calls. It pisses people off. If you need to cut (hey, it happens), cut evenly.
Provide your employees with some space to socialise, and don't prevent them from doing so. It makes the workplace more bearable.
Offer to take employees to lunch once in a while. Don't make it a CLM if they decline.
Greet new employees with a welcome luncheon. Send off departing employees with a farewell luncheon. It gives everyone a chance to say hello and goodbye.
Don't hold meetings unless they are needed and productive. Nothing kills morale like wasting time in a meeting where nothing pertains to you.
Find a way to dispatch your employees' complaints efficiently, effectively, and reasonably. If it is something you can't do anything about, at least give the employee a sympathetic ear.
Go to bat for your people.
Re:Every step of the way (Score:2)
You're saying management should threatent to shoot the workers for treason if they don't do as they're told? Or just shout and scream at them in a domineering and aggressive way in order to make themselves feel like big men to make up for their personal inadequacies? Oh wait co
Use Lean and Agile Thinking (Score:2)
Reward them (Score:4, Insightful)
1. understand how what they are doing impacts things
2. give them projects that they enjoy
3. encourage them to make their own projects
4. set aside money to encourage things:
"steve, I wanted to let you know we appreciated you staying late and working on x last week, so we put $300 extra in your paycheck"
5. have them interact w/ people outside of dev. If your developers interact with customers they understand how what they're doing impacts things and they get to see the rewards of people being satisfied by their good work.
Oh, and say "Thank you".... a lot.
6. Lastly: Ask them what you could to to make their job better and more productive.
Re:Reward them (Score:2)
What happens when there is one job that nobody seems to enjoy?
I seriously doubt there is just one unenjoyable task.
But letting even one go undone reaks of failure.
Failure of management and the assigned worker.
Shit rolling down hill and all, who takes the heat?
Re:Reward them (Score:2)
Re:Reward them (Score:2)
5. have them interact w/ people outside of dev. If your developers interact with customers they understand how what they're doing impacts things and they get to see the rewards of people being satisfied by their good work.
These two items go hand-in-hand. And they are very, very important for a lot of developers, especially younger ones. Personally speaking, I would be much, much, MUCH more satisfied with my work experience if I knew anything about th
Motivation and Money (Score:1, Informative)
At least one study has shown that providing increased monetary rewards will encourage staff to become money-hungry.
Motivation often works best when you can provide varied rewards. It is quite natural to receive a $1000 bonus one year, and think "Great!" and then receive another $1000 the following year and think "So I didn't improve at all?" even though your actual salary may have improved. And of course it's even worse if the second year bonus is $700...
Sales staff are often in the game because they ar
Re:Whips (Score:1)
Re:Whips (Score:1)
Some Ideas for a better Motivation (Score:4, Insightful)
"Managing programmers is like herding cats", so think "cats":
Also have a look at Googles way [google.com] of motivating their "cats".
Tux2000
Get this book (Score:2)
Get this book [amazon.com].
Rewards based work is dumb (Score:2, Interesting)
My advice to you is to quit whining and do they job you agreed to do when you were hired for the amount of money you were promised.
This is what you're saying: "I'm paid a salary for my job, b
Re:Rewards based work is dumb (Score:1)
Ugh!!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's a hint, if you want to setup a bonus scheme then ask your staff what they want as rewards.
Ed Almos
Re:Ugh!!! (Score:2)
I finally realized that it (reward) wasn't worth the stress
This is exactly what has happened to the corporation I work for. The rewards are not worth the extra effort you have to put in to get it. It's amazing what my corporation expects just to get a 5% raise. No one is going to work 40% more to get a 5% raise. Especially when the person next to you is doing half as much as you and gets a 2% raise. So in reality, if you work 40% more, you only get 3% mo
Is it *really* a good idea ? (Score:1)
Good project management, not perks (Score:2)
Stop Demotivating Them (Score:2)
Tawny Roberts... (Score:5, Interesting)
There are two ways of improving the bottom line. The most obvious is to increase sales. The second is to reduce costs. Unless you are directly involved in sales, it is difficult to influence sales, and even harder to convince management to pay you a commission for those sales. On the other hand, anyone can reduce costs through improving the operational efficiency of the company. So, how does a company reward cost reduction? Just as with sales, they pay a commission for cost reduction.
My first real job was working as a tool designer at Boeing. They had an Employee Suggestion program that allowed anyone to submit a suggestion for saving the company money. The suggestor had to include a basic ROI with the suggestion. Management evaluated the suggestion and if it could be implemented, the suggestor received 10% of the savings. I had a nice little revenue stream from submitting suggestions, many of which had to do with creating custom macros for our CAD system. In a nut shell, I got a "commission" for improving Boeing's bottom line.
One of the fringe benefits of this program was that employees were constantly analyzing every aspect of every business process, looking for opportunities to improve efficiency, even if it wasn't in their core area of expertise. One guy won big for submitting a suggestion that the company switch from standard toilet paper rolls to giant rolls. Seems kind of stupid, but when you have 100,000 people wiping their asses 250 days a year, it adds up. Estimate: 2 feet of toilet paper per employee per day = 50,000,000 million feet per year. Cost per foot for standard roll = $.010 Cost per foot for giant roll = $.008 Savings per year =
Employee suggestion programs are generally viewed as cheap management tricks, but if they have a financial kick to them, they can be effective tools for rewarding employees. If they are pitched as commission for non-sales employees, they will have a better chance of taking off.
Re:Tawny Roberts... (Score:1)
long term motivation (Score:1)
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/ en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=388X [harvard.edu]
I would also recommend "Rapid Development" by Steve McConnell. It
Motivation (Score:2)
Mr. Scorpio says productivity is up two percent, and it's all because of
my motivational techniques! Like, donuts. And a possibility of more
donuts to come.
Two, asking nicely:
Hank: I'm gonna leave everything to you. We're on a tight schedule. You keep them motivated.
Homer: [to staff] Are you guys working?
Man 1: Yes, sir, Mr. Simpson. [typing]
Homer: Could you, um... work any harder than this?
Man 2: Sure thing, boss! [typing faster]
Homer: Hey, call me Homer.
When all else
My old company (Score:2)
Other company outings were, trip downtown to the theatre, a ski trip, etc.
In summary, anytime you take the company out and buy drinks and dinner, it is a motivating factor.
It is the season, take the whole company, including significant others, out to dinner at a fancy place.
a little different view (Score:2, Insightful)
The best technical people aren't motivated by the same things as salesmen and managers. Sales people (in general) can use their personality and people skills to win money. The eye is on the money and the skills develop to support that. That is fine, business needs that. However, managers tend to reflect owners desire for the business to make money and apply incentives like every
Make them owners. (Score:2)
1) Make them owners. Pay them partly with shares.
2) Pay everybody the same cash amount.
3) Let them chose there own management.
http://www.thenewagesite.com/jjdewey/molecular/bu
a model for everyone (Score:2)
Treat staff like they know something (Score:1)
Drive me to Fry's this afternoon? I need to pick up x y & z. Mileage plus a time out.
Chased away sales and marketing slime when there was a problem, sometimes took them away so we could fix things, rudely if required.
You've been really busy, take Friday afternoon off if you're all caught up.
This is
The BEST I've found yet... (Score:2)
No, I'm serious....
Depending on which the developer liked
If a developer did something cool, or busted his (or her - yes we had some female type programmers) butt, or anything else that was "above the bar", that afternoon, around 2pm (after lunch) - I would walk over to their cube, with a tray - with a cup of coffee form them, and a snack - and a little hand written "Thanks" note. The company supplied the coffee,
What really motivates todays IT workes (Score:1)