Money is not a great incentive lever, somewhat contrary to popular opinion. It has two unexpected characteristics:
1) It becomes expected by the employee. A raise has an effect the moment it is awarded. A couple of months later, the productivity effect wanes and the new salary is part of the steady state.
2) For most people, beyond an hygienic level, it's not really what they want. Of course nobody will tell you they wouldn't like a raise, but in practice they prefer a better work environment: flexible schedules, remote working, simple hierarchies, a trove of other factors that make working fun or at least enjoyable.
The popular belief is that money is not a great incentive lever, not the other way around. And like I said, it's not about the money, this is true. It's the respect - i.e. being paid fairly, in proportion of the contributions. If that condition was met, working remotely, at night or not at all doesn't matter. Optimizing flexible schedules, remote working, number of bosses is treating the symptoms, not the root of the disease. Respect is the name of the game. It's the name of almost any game :)
1) It becomes expected by the employee. A raise has an effect the moment it is awarded. A couple of months later, the productivity effect wanes and the new salary is part of the steady state.
2) For most people, beyond an hygienic level, it's not really what they want. Of course nobody will tell you they wouldn't like a raise, but in practice they prefer a better work environment: flexible schedules, remote working, simple hierarchies, a trove of other factors that make working fun or at least enjoyable.