" The question then becomes, if people are not going to out of their way to contribute to the success of the business or office unless they get rewards, what rewards are appropriate? The following may seem almost "no-brainer" in its simplicity, but Fournies explains there are two kinds of rewards: a) those externally delivered that are tangible ("jellybeans," "money," a "trophy") or intangible ("a verbal compliment" or a "smile"); b) and those internal (people talk to themselves about achieving some goal and say things like, "I am an honest person," or "I am a hard worker," or "I am working less and getting away with it") rewards.
What Fournies points out - cogently and importantly - is that "small rewards received immediately and frequently seem to have more effect on performance than larger rewards delivered long after performance" (34).
In Chapter 12 ("There Is No Negative Consequence to Them for Poor Performance") (58-60), Fournies takes on a difficult problem: the slacker employee that even though he or she is incompetent, and has a personnel file jammed with negative reports, just keeps getting bounced to different departments and hangs on. Sometimes, the author explains, management just doesn't know the subordinate is failing, and that is a failing of management; meantime, when an employee is performing work they like badly, "assign work they do not like to do"; and, this seems a "no-brainer" again, but "when an employee willfully performs...
Solutions? Fournies says: "at least half" of the reasons ("personal problems") for non-performance are reasons only because "managers permit them to be reasons"; he says "permit employees to take time off," but ask them to make up the time in the future when it's more convenient." The most practical and intelligent advice the author offers on "personal problems" is found on page 81: "...tell them it is okay to be bothered by personal problems as long as they do what they are supposed to on the job."
Reference
Fournies, Ferdinand F. (1999). Why Employees Don't Do What They're Supposed to Do
And What to Do About it. New York: McGraw-Hill.
