I spoke to a junior employee today. He was upset with his latest pay raise. It was smaller than he wanted and, as a result, he stopped putting in extra effort at work. No more going above and beyond, staying late, or trying hard.
So I said to him, “Were you upset like this before your raise?”
“No.” he replied.
“So, you worked hard. We increased your salary and now you are upset. Would you like us to take back the raise because I’d like to have the old employee back and it seems like paying you more has caused some problems?” I asked him.
He looked at me as my words sunk in. Then he turned and quietly went back to work.
Looking at his timesheet today I see he put in a 12 hour day.
Made me smile.