together, and give one of them a better treat. Capuchin monkeys like cucumber fine, but they like grapes even better because they’re sweeter. If one capuchin sees you paying another one in grapes, it will refuse to cooperate, and will no longer hand over the rock in exchange for cucumber. “Listen, buster,” it seems to say, “you’re paying that guy in grapes and my work is at least as good. I want grapes too, or I’m going on strike 13 .”
In another experiment using brain-scanning equipment, this time on humans, researchers found a centre in our brains that lights up whenever we believe we’re being treated unfairly. It seems that fairness is not just a nice ideal to strive for — we have a biological need to be treated fairly 14 .
This explains why one of the most demotivating factors in the workplace is unfairness. People react immediately to any perceived unfairness, especially when they’re not happy at work. Jack Welch, ex-CEO of General Electric, tells this story from early in his career:
“My first boss, I just didn’t like his methods. I thought I was doing well and I got $1,000 more — a 10 per cent raise, and I was quite pleased. I thought I was doing much more than everybody else, I thought I was performing at a different level and everyone came bouncing back with their raise and they all got $1,000. So the raise that sort of pleased me at one point now irritated the hell out of me. And so I quit. I had a baby and no money. I borrowed $1,000 bucks from my mother. I quit.”
It matters less what your salary, your title, your bonus and your perks are. It matters much more whether you think they’re fair. And while fairness in itself is not enough to make us happy at work, unfairness can make us desperately unhappy.
Which reminds me of the New Yorker Magazine cartoon where an employee is turned down for a raise and then promptly asks his boss “Well, if you can’t give me a raise, could you at least give Peterson a pay cut?”
Fear of losing your job
Last year, Jakob, a 37-year-old IT professional, got a job he really likes in a medium-sized IT company. His boss is a great guy, his co-workers are competent and fun, and his clients are all terribly nice people.
There’s only one fly in the ointment: Jakob’s boss’s boss (one of the VPs) is… not nice. He tends to summon all his employees to meetings and chew them over collectively and loudly for whatever problems he sees. He’s abrasive and unpleasant, always complains, and never acknowledges his people for the good work they do. His emails to his underlings are a case study in rudeness. And, of course, he’s known for summarily firing people who cross him in any way.
Now, while Jakob likes his job, he doesn’t need it. He’s independently wealthy and so skilled he can always go out and get another job, and therefore has zero fear of being fired. While other people in the company feel they must watch their tongue for fear of the consequences, he feels free to say and do exactly what he thinks is right.
And here’s the thing: when Jakob stands up to this VP and tells him that he won’t stand for his unpleasant approach and explains exactly why his abrasive style creates problems for the company, he listens. Nobody has ever told any VP at the company these things before, and for the first time the company has an employee that is totally unafraid of doing so.
The result: this particular VP is slowly changing his ways. And he certainly pulls none of his usual attacks on Jakob, who he knows simply won’t stand for it.
The risk of being fired is the biggest axe that a company or manager holds over employees’ heads. It’s a mostly unstated but well-known fact of working life that if an employee gets too far out of line, they’ll be fired/terminated/axed/given the chop — all terms with a dark, violent flavour…
Of course, we’ve all been taught that being fired is a terrible thing that should be avoided at all costs, which is why
In another experiment using brain-scanning equipment, this time on humans, researchers found a centre in our brains that lights up whenever we believe we’re being treated unfairly. It seems that fairness is not just a nice ideal to strive for — we have a biological need to be treated fairly 14 .
This explains why one of the most demotivating factors in the workplace is unfairness. People react immediately to any perceived unfairness, especially when they’re not happy at work. Jack Welch, ex-CEO of General Electric, tells this story from early in his career:
“My first boss, I just didn’t like his methods. I thought I was doing well and I got $1,000 more — a 10 per cent raise, and I was quite pleased. I thought I was doing much more than everybody else, I thought I was performing at a different level and everyone came bouncing back with their raise and they all got $1,000. So the raise that sort of pleased me at one point now irritated the hell out of me. And so I quit. I had a baby and no money. I borrowed $1,000 bucks from my mother. I quit.”
It matters less what your salary, your title, your bonus and your perks are. It matters much more whether you think they’re fair. And while fairness in itself is not enough to make us happy at work, unfairness can make us desperately unhappy.
Which reminds me of the New Yorker Magazine cartoon where an employee is turned down for a raise and then promptly asks his boss “Well, if you can’t give me a raise, could you at least give Peterson a pay cut?”
Fear of losing your job
Last year, Jakob, a 37-year-old IT professional, got a job he really likes in a medium-sized IT company. His boss is a great guy, his co-workers are competent and fun, and his clients are all terribly nice people.
There’s only one fly in the ointment: Jakob’s boss’s boss (one of the VPs) is… not nice. He tends to summon all his employees to meetings and chew them over collectively and loudly for whatever problems he sees. He’s abrasive and unpleasant, always complains, and never acknowledges his people for the good work they do. His emails to his underlings are a case study in rudeness. And, of course, he’s known for summarily firing people who cross him in any way.
Now, while Jakob likes his job, he doesn’t need it. He’s independently wealthy and so skilled he can always go out and get another job, and therefore has zero fear of being fired. While other people in the company feel they must watch their tongue for fear of the consequences, he feels free to say and do exactly what he thinks is right.
And here’s the thing: when Jakob stands up to this VP and tells him that he won’t stand for his unpleasant approach and explains exactly why his abrasive style creates problems for the company, he listens. Nobody has ever told any VP at the company these things before, and for the first time the company has an employee that is totally unafraid of doing so.
The result: this particular VP is slowly changing his ways. And he certainly pulls none of his usual attacks on Jakob, who he knows simply won’t stand for it.
The risk of being fired is the biggest axe that a company or manager holds over employees’ heads. It’s a mostly unstated but well-known fact of working life that if an employee gets too far out of line, they’ll be fired/terminated/axed/given the chop — all terms with a dark, violent flavour…
Of course, we’ve all been taught that being fired is a terrible thing that should be avoided at all costs, which is why
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