Vocabulary

• Read and translate new words and expressions using a dictionary.

misconception, intention, incentive, survey, perspective, motivation, benefit, research, encourage, lack ambition, recruitment, appreciate

• Try to give their definitions in English.

• In pairs make short dialogues using expressions from the list above. Read the dialogues aloud.

Reading

• Divide the text into three parts, read them in groups of four;

• Retell every part to the entire group;

Tree Common Misconceptions About Employee Incentives

A.

Having good intentions is unfortunately not enough at all to make employee incentives work for your company. If you want to spend your money on a truly worthwhile cause, do make sure first that you’re not suffering from any misconceptions about employee incentives.

Misconception 1: Money Makes the World Go Round

And maybe it does, but not all the time. True enough, surveys will frequently show that employees desire financial incentives more than non-financial ones while employers believe otherwise. Who do you think is right?

You might think that it’s what employees believe that counts but in reality, the employers have it right. It’s undeniable that money has the power of changing people’s perspective…but once the money’s on their hands and spent for whatever reason, they lose motivation immediately after that.

When choosing and giving out employee incentives, always make sure to do what you can to maximize on its benefits.

B.

Misconception 2: It’s All about What You Do

Many mistakenly believe that they have what it takes to motivate their employees. All they need is to research about the issues at hand, spend for the costs incurred, work hard on improving the incentive strategies they devise, and everything will soon lead to the results they desire.

But in the end, you’ll soon find out that no matter what you do, there are just some people who don’t respond to the incentives that you’re offering. And it’s not because you’ve made a mistake but simply because they just don’t want themselves to get motivated.

If you get confronted with such employees, make it a point to set up a one-on-one consultation with them. During that time, encourage them to open up and explain why they seem to lack ambition and drive. If the answers provided are unsatisfactory, then you have a tough decision to make: take the time and effort to change their attitude or let them go?

C.

Misconception 3: Incentives are Always the Answer

That is patently untrue. No matter how much incentive you’re giving your employees, none of them will work if there’s something wrong with the person – or the job itself.

Review your recruitment and placement strategies and rectify whatever needs rectifying to ensure that you’ll always end up with the most suitable employee for the job.

And to close this topic, always remember that the best employee incentives are those that come directly from your heart. If your employees are aware that you’re giving them incentives not just because you want to increase your profit but also because you truly want to thank them in the best possible way, they’ll surely appreciate whatever employee incentives you end up devising.

Work with the text

• Answer the questions: What are the three main misconceptions about employee incentives? Is salary the most important incentive? Why? Should you use your intuition to give the best incentive?

• Make up short dialogues using the terms from the text.

Translate from Russian into English:

• Иметь хорошие намерения – к несчастью не достаточно для того, чтобы дать служащим стимулы работать на вашу компанию.

• При выборе и подаче служащему стимулов убедитесь, что вы делаете все, что можете, чтобы увеличить свой доход.

• Если вы разошлись в этих вопросах во мнениях с сотрудником, обсудите с ним проблему конфиденциально.

• Наилучшие стимулы служащего – те, которые исходят непосредственно из вашего сердца.