Quest to find a better bonus

By Fran Metcalf   

A Christmas bonus may make some staff happy but bosses serious about rewarding employees and boosting their performance should take a more individual approach.

So says human behaviourist, author and business consultant Dr John Demartini who is touring Australia and New Zealand this month to run workshops on matching goals with values.

Demartini says bosses should find out what makes each staff member tick so they can custom-make the Christmas bonus most likely to keep them motivated and productive.

“People have to feel they are getting something meaningful out of work before they’ll dedicate their energy,” he says.

“Money is a general motivator for most people but it’s not always the biggest factor.

“It could be recognition or having a day off or getting away for a holiday.

“What really drives people from within are those things that are their highest priorities – their values.

“Nobody ever goes to work for the sake of the business.

“They go for their own values. If these are being met at work, they perform better.”

Demartini, who has shared the stage with noted speakers including Deepak Chopra and Donald Trump, says Christmas is generally a stressful time for people and finding out what each individual values most for the festive season sets a positive mood in a workplace.

He knows this from experience with his own staff at the Demartini Institute, which has offices in South Africa as well as the US.

“It depends on the size of the company and it may need to be choked down to smaller units but we asked each staff member this: `If you could have any outcome for Christmas, what would it be?’,” he says.

“Some were unrealistic but many weren’t.

“One lady wanted a new set of business cards with her title on them and another person wanted to earn $1200 so she could spend $100 on every person in the family for Christmas presents.

“We sat down and thought about ways the company could meet their requests and then told them, `If you do this, you will get it’.”

Everybody achieved their goal and received their custom-made Christmas gift, and Demartini says no one was left feeling envious or angry that they didn’t get a cash bonus.

“Whenever you are setting work or company goals, they need to be congruent with the person,” he says.

“If we don’t value something, we will not work for it.”

Good managers are aware of the individual values of their staff but mistakes are sometimes made in the initial hiring process, resulting in a mismatch between a person’s and the company’s values.

“When you hire someone for a position and the job description doesn’t match their values, they are not going to be inspired,” he says.

“They will need outside motivation to get them to work. When I interview people, I ask them questions like how the job will help them fulfil what’s most meaningful to them.”

On the flip side, Demartini says employees shouldn’t expect any kind of bonus unless they’ve delivered more service and produced more for the company than they’ve cost.

“Many employees live in a fantasy where they think they only cost their employer their salary, but there’s the rent to have them in the office, the equipment they use, the insurance, car parking and more,” he says.

“When they know what they actually cost, they always produce more and as long as they produce more than they cost, they will always have job security.”

Demartini is speaking about strategies of wealth building at a one-day event called New Wave on November 26, 9am-7pm. Tickets and info at www.global1training.com. More info at www.drdemartini.com.

Article from The Courier Mail, November 20, 2010.