If you’re looking a little more motivation in the workplace this week, just flick your boss a message with this sentiment: Send me pizza. I’ll work harder.
Sound silly? Well, consider this.
In a study published in Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations by psychologist Dan Ariely, researchers sought to uncover exactly what it is that motivates workers the most.
As per The Cut, they approached some employees at an Intel semiconductor factory in Israel to be part of the experiment. Prior to a day of working, some employees were sent a message with a promise of a bonus at the end of the day if they got all their work done. A quarter were promised a bonus of about $38, another quarter were offered a pizza, another quarter were offered the promise a compliment from their boss and the last group offered nothing. They were the control group.
And this, friends, is where it gets interesting.
The study found that those who were promised pizza at the start of the day recorded an increase in productivity by 6.7 per cent on the first day.
That’s right, a 6.7 per cent increase in a single day.
Though the study found over the course of a week, compliments became the best motivator, Ariely says he believes pizza would have won out if he had tweaked the format a little, and delivered the pizza at home to any winning employee.
“This way…we not only would give them a gift, but we would also make them heroes in the eyes of their families,” he wrote in the book.
Get on the phones and get ordering that pizza.
Can young kids take over smart homes to order toys and delivery pizza? We discuss, on our podcast for imperfect parents.
