Motivation theory looks at what drives people to work towards a specific goal, the decision-making involved and how it impacts actions and behaviors. It helps us understand what incentivizes people, how a person’s behavior influences others, what needs they want to fulfil through their actions and the difference between engagement and motivation. Rather than simply accepting motivation as a random human quirk, motivation theory uses a research-backed framework to understand what pushes people forward. Motivation theory essentially focuses on two key factors:
- Intrinsic factors: People are motivated by a desire to satisfy certain human needs, such as achieving personal or professional goals or pleasing their employer
- Extrinsic factors: People are motivated by external factors such as a bonus as a reward for their hard work or a sanction if they fail to meet their targets
The following comments were the best of the best, these poor employees:
- Work in sales (top performing team). The entire team got the same book on how to be better at sales. We are supposed to read this book in our downtime (whenever that is) and then management wants to go over the book chapter by chapter in our weekly team meetings.? This “gift” was not well received on the team. There’s been talk about sending management a book on effective leadership or “management for dummies.”
- ?Not in sales, but a few years ago I had a skip level manager give everybody a copy of "How to talk so kids will listen" saying that was how he developed his management style (which was?super?micromanager-y). In effect, he said he sees us all as children.? He left less than a year later.
- Boss sent out a $10 Starbucks gift card the day he laid off 10% of our staff. “It’s not a layoff, it’s a coffee break” is now a banned phrase on teams/slack.
- ?I got a $5 Starbucks gift card from work for my 2yr anniversary ???? That's not even one drink at Starbucks.
- ?My company used to do gift cards on 5- and 10-year anniversaries for 50 and 100 bucks and people complained that was insultingly small. In response, the company totally eliminated the program, so now you get nothing for your 5- and 10-year anniversaries.
- My husband’s work used to give out turkeys 10ish years ago some dude decided his turkey was too small and hung it on the plant fence.? There were no more turkeys after that.? They got new owners the past couple years - turkeys are back
- We got told we were getting nothing. And the management excuse was "Well, not everyone celebrates Christmas, so it wouldn't be fair".? My colleague hit the nail on the head "I've never heard diversity weaponized until I heard that"
- We get a mandatory work party which will cost each of us 25 dollars
- I was handed a stack of holiday cards and told to sign all of them. Once I was done, I was told I was the last one to sign so I could choose mine. ??Really felt the thoughtfulness of 20 people rapidly signing cards.
- We got a digital cake. As in a clip inserted into an email as a thank you. There's a grocery store across the street.
- I get paid monthly, (quite common here).? As a 'bonus' we are getting paid on the 15th rather than the 30th.? Basically... January payday is 45 days away.
- Got a gift card in an email. Turned out it was IT testing our spam detection knowledge… so nothing.
- My wife got a flyer with a QR code so she can pick her own gift from a list of five company-branded items (sweatshirt, speaker, water bottle, etc.).? Only the checkout link is broken, so she can't actually order anything.
- One year our work bought everyone a ham. Didn't matter if you couldn't eat ham. They were delivered to your desk at midday.? There was not enough room in our fridge to store them all. It was weird. Every year prior to that we got cash.
- I used to work at a retail store that gave everyone who worked on Black Friday a free, uncooked thanksgiving turkey.? Yes, they gave us a turkey to cook for thanksgiving the day?after?Thanksgiving.
- Got one tall boy of bud light. Just watched the CEO leave in a new Porsche while typing this. Had to hold back my feelings of throwing the can at him.
- I don't work there anymore, but they gave us a cup of hot chocolate at Tesla last year.
- I got a house plant. Correction I got seeds and planter so I can grow my own plant
- My boyfriend got a $50 gift card to his company store to buy a required uniform.
- We are getting a pi?ata at the holiday party. So, we can crawl around on the ground for candy while the boss watches. Fun.
- Last year at my wife’s holiday party, the CEO of the company she works for shot dollar bills out of an air cannon. Watching a millionaire shoot dollars at his underpaid employees that then have to scramble around on the floor to pick them up made me feel gross.
- Jelly of the Month Club....I guess I'll never be able to get my family that in-ground pool.
- We got a $25 dollar bonus for Thanksgiving. But it is on a check separate from our pay checks. Since I have extra taxes taken from each check I get, it all went to taxes.
- I started a job just before Christmas. On my first training day someone asked if I had “picked up my butt yet?” I was extremely confused, thought it was some sort of joke that I didn’t understand. The trainer sent me to the kitchen where I was presented with a 13lb pork Butt.
