…then give them time off! This seemingly contradictory statement is the result of a study by Timo Vogelsang of the University of Cologne. He studied in a laboratory experiment how workers reacted to different incentives. Participants were invited into a laboratory where they had to work on tasks on a computer with access to the internet. In the baseline condition, they were paid a specified amount for the half-hour. Then, they were asked to do another half hour of work and offered a salary that was more than twice the original payment. The salary increase was not conditional on the performance of their work. In an alternative condition, the participants were paid the same but allowed to leave the lab early. And guess what? The participants that were offered the additional leisure time increased their productivity by 25%. With the additional salary, there was no increase in productivity. What’s more, the productivity of the participants with the additional leisure time increased so much that in 30 minutes they completed 8 to 9 tasks more than those participants that had no additional incentive or were given a salary raise.
Do you want your employees to work more?
Do you want your employees to work more?
Do you want your employees to work more?
…then give them time off! This seemingly contradictory statement is the result of a study by Timo Vogelsang of the University of Cologne. He studied in a laboratory experiment how workers reacted to different incentives. Participants were invited into a laboratory where they had to work on tasks on a computer with access to the internet. In the baseline condition, they were paid a specified amount for the half-hour. Then, they were asked to do another half hour of work and offered a salary that was more than twice the original payment. The salary increase was not conditional on the performance of their work. In an alternative condition, the participants were paid the same but allowed to leave the lab early. And guess what? The participants that were offered the additional leisure time increased their productivity by 25%. With the additional salary, there was no increase in productivity. What’s more, the productivity of the participants with the additional leisure time increased so much that in 30 minutes they completed 8 to 9 tasks more than those participants that had no additional incentive or were given a salary raise.