I wrote a few weeks ago about what motivates people in general, and software developers in particular, to improve their performance. Since then, I’ve been reminded about a conversation I had about a similar topic with a recruiter a few years ago.
Many organisations provide benefits to their staff that are related to their products or services – usually in the form of heavily discounted or free offers. These are offers that would appeal to some people more than others (often enough to make someone go to or stay with an employer), but the person wouldn’t normally consume the products or services in the same quantity if they weren’t discounted in such a way.
Here at Microsoft we have an employee purchase scheme that enables one to buy software at a substantial discount. I used to use OpenOffice on my home PC – I now have Office Professional (and the Ultimate edition of Windows 7).
The examples that I spoke about with the recruiter were of airlines and the discounted travel they offer staff (the “Chalmers” factor – as in Judith, the former TV travel programme presenter), and of automobile manufacturers who allow staff to change their cars every year (the “Clarkson” factor – as in Jeremy, the Top Gear presenter and government advisor on the environment). In neither case is it likely that people would travel as much or drive as many new cars if they were working in a different role in a different organisation, but it’s worth something to them but not the equivalent cash value (it may well be worth more to them).
mmitII 