Top Performers
Too often, supervisors reward their top performers with… more work.
Don’t be that boss. If you are giving people more than their share of the work, you’d better be giving them more than their share of the paychecks.
Seriously.
People going above and beyond need more than a “good work today, buddy!” acknowledgement. If you are short-staffed and your remaining team members are picking up the extra work, then a significant chunk of the money that should be going to pay that empty staff member position should be going to bonuses for the people doing that job. Or those top performers should be fast-tracked to promotions that also include pay raises, which should be stated as they are doing the extra work and followed-through-on promptly.
If you don’t fairly compensate your top performers, they will leave and find someone who will.
And if you overload your top performers while their less competent coworkers have a significantly lighter workload, you will demotivate everyone. The top performers will wonder why they bother to do the extra stuff for the same paycheck, and the rest will see that there is no benefit to doing more than the minimum.
In the end, it’s about treating people fairly. Acknowledge, respect, and reward those who go above-and-beyond… or people will learn that you, as a leader, are not worth it.
(image source: https://instoremag.com/bad-manager-memes/?slide=18)