A new piece of research out recently has delved into workers’ thoughts on what they’d like to keep – and to get rid of – at work.

 

Conducted by Officebroker.com, it revealed that nearly four in ten would rather see a colleague made redundant than take a pay cut, showing how much money is a motivating factor in the workplace. That said, six in ten were willing to sacrifice part of their income for the sake of a colleague, which is actually quite heartening in this current economic climate, where many have been asked to do just that.

 

The survey of 500 office workers also said over half would rather sacrifice green initiatives than lose the coffee machine. When asked what they would be prepared to give up, almost half said they’ve forego lunch breaks. Some suggested they would work through a weekend to keep a job or salary level.

 

Chris Meredith, of Officebroker.com, said: “Nearly two thirds of those polled said they would be willing to take a pay cut to keep somebody else in the job, which shows just how important a good team ethic can be in the workplace.”   But he added: “For some people, money is the sole motivating factor, so it’s no surprise that more than a third of those surveyed said they would be happy to see a colleague fired it if would benefit them financially.”

 

 

There are two thirds who are team-players, prepared to put themselves out for their work mates, and one third who have are rather more dog-eat-dog. Can they pull together?  A healthy, thriving workplace needs a mix of talents and personalities, and that dog-eat-dog approach, when focussed on appropriate objectives, could be just the attitude needed to drive through higher sales, implement change or improve production.

 

Of course – working through breaks and giving up weekends is far more likely to lead to reduced performance and morale.  The misunderstanding of value of breaks and rest periods as a component to build workplace performance levels is incredibly widespread – it is almost a crime…

 

The art of a good boss or manager is to be able to draw all the talents in the team together and blend them with a variety of environmental measure to ensure the team can work as effectively and efficiently as possible. At Be More Effective we specialise in employee engagement initiatives and skill training as part of a strategy to achieve just this, so if you would like to chat about how we can add value to your team and its performance please get in touch.