Rewarding Mediocrity Over Performers

Watching the trends of our employee opinion surveys over the last few years has been interesting. We have hit some considerable swings in some areas. With the strong employee market, most managers are just trying to hang on as they can’t hire people fast enough. And, when they do, there is a 50-50 chance they will show up on the first day. One thing that caught our eye is how many times we have seen the question regarding rewarding the highest achiever show up in the lowest-rated questions. This can be an alarming trend.  

When managers don’t reward high performance but instead focus on rewarding all their staff equally, it can have significant negative outcomes. Below are examples of a few of those outcomes. 

1. Demotivation of High Performers: Nothing demotivates a high performer faster than when managers don’t hold all staff to the same performance standards. When your high performers are putting in the extra effort and performing at a high level, then another employee is allowed to not meet standards and slide on performance; your top performers will feel undervalued and unmotivated, leading to decreased productivity.
2. Mediocrity is Contagious: Rewarding mediocre performance sends a message that subpar work is acceptable. This can lead to a culture where employees do the bare minimum, knowing they will still be rewarded. Over time, this can wear down overall team performance as well as the quality of your team’s work.
3. Turnover will Increase: When high performers don’t feel their efforts are valued, they are more likely to leave and go somewhere where they are appreciated and surrounded by others who value the same level of performance. When this happens, not only do you have higher turnover rates, but you also lose your most engaged employees, who were probably doing most of the work.
4. Innovation will Suffer: High performers often drive innovation and improvement, as they are constantly looking to improve and do better. When they don’t receive recognition and rewards for their efforts, they will be less likely to go the extra mile and get to that innovative mode; progress will come to a standstill.

So, how do you, as a manager, counter these consequences listed above? 

1. Set Clear Expectations: To reward performance, the number one thing every manager must do is clearly explain and outline the performance expectations. If everyone knows what the goals are and what is expected, they are going to be more likely to hit the target. As a side benefit, since you have set clear expectations, it will make the performance feedback conversations much easier since they know what the expectations are. 
2. Reward and Recognize Based on Performance: As the saying goes – you get what you reward. As we mentioned above, if we reward everyone the same, you will demotivate your top performers. Rewards, raises, and development opportunities all have to be based on performance and meeting or exceeding expectations. When you reward high performance, it will be contagious. 

As you can see, it is crucial to the team and organization that managers recognize and reward high performers and hold all staff to the same performance standards. Doing so will drive morale, innovation, and productivity.