Every person who had performed well and met the deadlines was offered a cash bonus at the end of six-month period when performance appraisals were done. However I realized that Sarah was not motivated by this cash reward. She had one child who went to kindergarten and her husband earned well. This meant she needed something other than money to motivate her. This was indeed a challenge since I had no idea how to discover her needs which could enhance her performance and inspire her to meet deadlines. The first stage was to determine if the job actually suited her aptitude. I spoke to her personally and asked her if she really liked her job. But this was done in a candid manner so she wouldn't know what the real issue was. Sarah talked eagerly about her work and her ideas about the next month's magazine. Studying her resume, I realized she had worked in similar positions in the past and had a brilliant portfolio. There was no doubt in mind that she loved her job and had the aptitude for it.

The next stage was performance. I reviewed her performance appraisals over the last two years and realized she had always been positively appraised. There had been an issue of deadline for some time but otherwise her work had been par excellence. I could see that the effort she was putting in was producing the kind of performance the company expected of her.

The third stage was the outcome part. This is where I had serious doubts. I knew there was some reason she had been missing deadlines regularly even though she was fully capable of producing highest quality work in shortest period of time. What was holding her back was completely beyond me but I could...

This is when I designed a simple questionnaire which could be passed around. This questionnaire asked questions about our reward program and what could be added as alternatives. Even people who had been happy with monetary rewards came up with some good suggestions like paid vacations, awards and recognition, bigger titles etc. Sarah's response revealed what had been bothering her. She did not choose any other reward except additional time off and flexible schedule. She explained in great detail that people who could work from home should be allowed to do so as long as they finished their job on time so they could spend more time with their young kids. She also stated that instead of a work shift of 9 to 5 each time, it could be shortened to 9 t 1 so mothers with young kids could be there for their children when they got back from school.
This was a very interesting and enlightening survey. I spoke to Sarah and we discussed her various options. I told her that as long as she promised to meet her deadlines, I could allow her to work from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays and she could leave around 1 p.m. provided she guaranteed timely delivery of the work assigned to her. Needless to say, Sarah was thrilled. This is the last time we ever had a problem with her deadline issue. The new reward program motivated her so much that she was putting in extra effort to get everything done on job. The company had no problem with her new schedule and I was finally convinced that a happy employee is a company's best resource.

Reference

Ken Smith, Great minds in Management. Oxford University Press, 2005