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My best friend came up with a system that saves the company he worked for around $100,000 a year. His boss took notice and gave him two free tickets to a movie

My best friend came up with a system that saves the company he worked for around $100,000 a year. His boss took notice and gave him two free tickets to a movie theater. He quit that afternoon. He told me a sincere thank you would have been ok. He was getting paid to work there already after all. The token bonus was taken as an insult, as if that was the value of his contribution. If you give a bonus make sure it matches the value of the action. If you can't measure the contribution in dollars, find some reward that isn't in dollars.

cdr 18y ago
I did something similar cost-saving wise at my first job, but the managers didn't have a clue because I had to go around them to get it done in the first place. I did get promoted, mostly because most everyone liked me. Why did they like me? The process improvements I made saved them hours a week.
tamersalama 18y ago
I say that's insulting for the reason that its value is low. A 2 free tickets or an XBox is a reflection of how bad a manager is, rewarding sincere efforts disproportionately. The friend wasn't hired to save a business. If an external company was hired to do that, they would have been compensated accordingly. Why would making him a partner or offering him a 'good' percentage of the generated revenue be out of the question?
- netcan 18y ago
  Interesting side no.te: If you ask a bunch of people on a project to estimate modestly how much they 've contributed, you almost always get >100%
megaduck 18y ago
Been there. A number of years ago, I worked for a largeish company as a contractor, supplementing their full-time staff. We all did the exact same job, doing second/third level helpdesk stuff. Kind of mindless, but it was the best work I could get at the time. After a massive desktop upgrade project, we had a little "awards ceremony" for all the people involved. The full-time employees got $500 checks. I got two movie tickets, not good for new releases or special engagements. When I think about it, I can still feel the rage. The money wasn't important, although it would have been nice. What burned me was the message that my contribution would NEVER be valued as equal, no matter what I did. It was an insult, plain and simple. Employers need to remember that their employees, contractors, and interns are human beings, who want to feel like their contribution is properly appreciated. "Properly appreciated" means a lot of different things to different people, but there's some sure-fire ways to screw it up.

cdr 18y ago

I did something similar cost-saving wise at my first job, but the managers didn't have a clue because I had to go around them to get it done in the first place. I did get promoted, mostly because most everyone liked me. Why did they like me? The process improvements I made saved them hours a week.

tamersalama 18y ago

I say that's insulting for the reason that its value is low. A 2 free tickets or an XBox is a reflection of how bad a manager is, rewarding sincere efforts disproportionately. The friend wasn't hired to save a business. If an external company was hired to do that, they would have been compensated accordingly. Why would making him a partner or offering him a 'good' percentage of the generated revenue be out of the question?

netcan 18y ago
Interesting side no.te: If you ask a bunch of people on a project to estimate modestly how much they 've contributed, you almost always get >100%

megaduck 18y ago

Been there. A number of years ago, I worked for a largeish company as a contractor, supplementing their full-time staff. We all did the exact same job, doing second/third level helpdesk stuff. Kind of mindless, but it was the best work I could get at the time. After a massive desktop upgrade project, we had a little "awards ceremony" for all the people involved. The full-time employees got $500 checks. I got two movie tickets, not good for new releases or special engagements. When I think about it, I can still feel the rage. The money wasn't important, although it would have been nice. What burned me was the message that my contribution would NEVER be valued as equal, no matter what I did. It was an insult, plain and simple. Employers need to remember that their employees, contractors, and interns are human beings, who want to feel like their contribution is properly appreciated. "Properly appreciated" means a lot of different things to different people, but there's some sure-fire ways to screw it up.