Page 53 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

24 Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

One of the major reasons that reward and recognition programs
are unfairly administered is that the program guidelines are unclear
and open to interpretation.

room for improvement. It will be far more difficult for your
hardest-working, most productive salespeople to increase their
sales by 10 percent. Do you really want to punish your best sales-
people and reward your poorest performers for actually stepping
up one month? I didn’t think so.
Exactly what does being a good team player or dealing effec-
tively with a difficult customer look like? This kind of ambiguity
will result in supervisors interpreting the program criteria dif-
ferently and lead to inconsistent administration, which in turn
will lead to more ammunition for disgruntled employees who
view the program as biased and unfair. Unfortunately, it is nearly
impossible to create a program that provides an equal playing
field for all employees. In sum, try as you might, you will never
create a program that is and appears to be fair to everyone.

Reason 7: Added Stress for Supervisors
First-line supervisors who are typically responsible for the
administration of reward and recognition programs are among
the most stressed individuals in any organization. The respon-
sibilities associated with these programs increase their already
burdensome workload. Moreover, they often create considerable
stress for supervisors who don’t want to be put in a position of
being accused of playing favorites or having employees “suck-
ing up” just to earn recognition. In response, many give points
out to everyone regardless of performance in an effort to appear
fair. Of course, such an approach is totally unfair to the top