Better pay yes, but what about experience?
‘The person gets paid well, and hence should get the job done’, is a statement that I get to hear fairly often. This is said with very little thought on the experience that the individual goes through. While the theory that high pay means higher performance is fine, that alone cannot be the basis of expecting an individual to deliver. However, somewhere that seems to get lost.
It is the classical ‘experience’ vs. ‘things’ discussion. In the professional world, there has to be a balance between ‘experience’ and ‘things’.
Some simple examples:
- It is your birthday. You get an automated mail wishing you and are asked to get your gift from the reception
- Your boss takes you to a fine dining restaurant and it lands up being a status meeting or all about the boss’ achievements
- You get a high paying job but you waited long for interviews and had to wait for an offer letter that was promised the next day
- You get an award and all that is said is ‘well done’ over a mail
- You get your incentives but after multiple follow-ups
The list can go on…
While we get the fat pay check and all the perks, it is these small experiences that drive satisfaction and higher engagement levels.
Like the two-factor theory states that salary, vacation, benefits etc. are ‘hygiene’ factors in a job and responsibility, sense of importance and belonging, opportunities provided, etc. drive ‘motivation’. None of these come if the experience is not great.
For some reason, a lot of engagement activities take the materialistic view with the assumption that fancier the ‘object’, higher the happiness and engagement. In my mind, these are only the cherry on the cake and maybe the icing, but never the cake in itself.
Are we creating the right experience which most of the times is a very simple ‘human’ touch?
It is said, waiting for an experience drives higher levels of happiness and excitement, while waiting for a possession drives impatience. Yes, the destination is important but it is the journey that we probably remember the most. Better pay yes, but equally important – the experience…