If you hire someone, you are paying them to make you money, not necessarily to give full effort. If that employee is netting you a loss (don't forget opportunit

If you hire someone, you are paying them to make you money, not necessarily to give full effort. If that employee is netting you a loss (don't forget opportunity cost) whether from incompetence and/or incompatibility, you let them go. Otherwise, you keep them. You can only incentivize them to be more productive if they're not putting forth "full effort", and in my experience, it requires a balanced laxness/strictness of scheduling, among other factors, such as bonuses, raises, interesting work, etc. But since you already accounted for opportunity cost in your hiring considerations, you've already made the best hire you could. The fact that an employee puts forth 20% effort shouldn't be a source of frustration; your only real consideration should be your next profit-maximizing move.