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Okay, just a thought I had. My boss recently let it slip how much he makes in bonuses for us reaching our monthly targets. It's quite a bit of money. My bonus however is a pittance, it's actually somewhat insulting how they are like you can make extra money if you really bust your butt and I bring in 50k yet make like $150 that gets split between myself and two coworkers.
I get the company thinks the manager motivates us or wants the manager to motivate us but with retail or lower level hourly jobs it's not my career, the bonuses are nothign and I really don't care to be honest. I'll do enough to keep my manager off my back and keep my job.
My thought was why don't they pass along some of his bonus to us as performance incentives. Really in my role my boss isn't going to motivate me, what's goign to motivate me is money. Sure ill do enough to keep him off my back and keep my job but that's about it. If I had some incentive to make more money however I could probably bring in an extra 10k-30k a month for them. If htey paid me say up to $500 in bonuses I'd bust my butt and bring in another 20k but since I have nothing to gain I don't really care and just do enough to get by.
Why don't companies take some money away from lower level managers and pass it on to frontline revenue generating employees. Money is what motivates us not peptalks from a manager.
Most companies don't care much about frontline employees. The turnover is high, skill level is low, and replacements easy to find.
Managers with a bit of seniority are valued more. The bonuses are intended to reflect additional efforts at training, keeping the frontline employees happy, making the department run smoothly and efficiently, all that good stuff. The idea is that each of these things contribute to employee productivity/sales, etc, and a good manager who consistently hits goals is constantly working on all of these factors in order to hit goals.
I am not really convinced that it is a good theory. I tend to agree with you that any job with trackable sales goals should have decent achievable bonuses.
Why don't companies take some money away from lower level managers and pass it on to frontline revenue generating employees. Money is what motivates us not peptalks from a manager.
My suspicion is most companies have researched and analyzed what will generate the most profit. They are under tremendous pressure to do so. They employ or consult with PhDs and MBAs to arrive at their corporate structure.
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Originally Posted by doodlemagic
I get the company thinks the manager motivates us or wants the manager to motivate us but with retail or lower level hourly jobs it's not my career, the bonuses are nothign and I really don't care to be honest. I'll do enough to keep my manager off my back and keep my job.
You answered your own question with your attitude.
Most companies don't care much about frontline employees. The turnover is high, skill level is low, and replacements easy to find.
Managers with a bit of seniority are valued more. The bonuses are intended to reflect additional efforts at training, keeping the frontline employees happy, making the department run smoothly and efficiently, all that good stuff. The idea is that each of these things contribute to employee productivity/sales, etc, and a good manager who consistently hits goals is constantly working on all of these factors in order to hit goals.
I am not really convinced that it is a good theory. I tend to agree with you that any job with trackable sales goals should have decent achievable bonuses.
Agreed, someone who's stocking shelves isn't really generating revenue though they are helping the store function but I'm talking about someone like you said with trackable sales results.
Really nothing my manager can do can motivate me. Maybe he says he'll buy me a cup of coffee if I hit some goal. that's nice of him but really who cares, I can buy my own $2 cup of coffee. What I would care about however is earning something for my added work and success, even if its just like 1% or something like that, at least I have something concrete to work towards and I can see how much more I'm making by trying harder.
I guess my point being lower level managers like retail managers really aren't that high level, specially trained or educated. Also there's really nothing they can do that can motivate an employee as much as money as lets be honest we dont show up to work to please our manager we show up to make money.
I personally think its just common sense.
Yeah maybe your right high turnover with frontline employees but maybe that wouldn't be the case if there were soemthing to gain and you do have those standout employees who with incentive could generate huge amounts more in revenue just by rewarding them and giving them a cut.
My suspicion is most companies have researched and analyzed what will generate the most profit. They are under tremendous pressure to do so. They employ or consult with PhDs and MBAs to arrive at their corporate structure.
you can do all the studies you want but i'm a real word example. my manager is not going to motivate me or get more out of me with words or speeches. ill do enough to keep him off my back and keep my job. at times they have run special performance bonuses and ive done as much sales as my entire region put together.
now maybe my situation isn't typical but money would motivate me and i know for a fact i could make the companies revenue go up probably 15% to 30%. with no reason to do so though i do the bare minimum
You answered your own question with your attitude.
I know some people are like regardless of what I'm doing I'm going to do the best possible job I can. Yeah I'll admit that's not me, I need incentive. Like it or not a good percentage of people are like me so either wish for an ideal world or reward people and get more out of them.
Agreed, someone who's stocking shelves isn't really generating revenue though they are helping the store function but I'm talking about someone like you said with trackable sales results.
Really nothing my manager can do can motivate me. Maybe he says he'll buy me a cup of coffee if I hit some goal. that's nice of him but really who cares, I can buy my own $2 cup of coffee. What I would care about however is earning something for my added work and success, even if its just like 1% or something like that, at least I have something concrete to work towards and I can see how much more I'm making by trying harder.
I guess my point being lower level managers like retail managers really aren't that high level, specially trained or educated. Also there's really nothing they can do that can motivate an employee as much as money as lets be honest we dont show up to work to please our manager we show up to make money.
I personally think its just common sense.
Yeah maybe your right high turnover with frontline employees but maybe that wouldn't be the case if there were soemthing to gain and you do have those standout employees who with incentive could generate huge amounts more in revenue just by rewarding them and giving them a cut.
You are so wrong and clearly lack good leadership where you work. Effective leadership finds a way to drive the business to meet company goals. Clearly, you are either not a good fit where you work or your leadership team lacks the willingness, ability or vision to maximize profit (or both). I recommend that you move on.
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