Q: We get great interns and occasionally hire the best ones, but I've noted that their productivity drops almost immediately when we start to pay them. Any idea why?
Jan 15 2011
Answered by: Peter Done Ask a question
One issue that stands out here seems to be motivation. When an intern starts out they are motivated by the fact that if they do well, they may be kept on and in turn, start earning money from a full time job. However, once they begin to be paid for their work they may start to believe they can take their foot off the gas, safe in the knowledge that they have already done enough to impress you.
Another issue is as employees of any position, whether it is an intern or manager, become more accustom to their surroundings and colleagues they may start socialising in the workplace, chatting to colleagues and this can affect productivity greatly as they try to settle in to their workplace.
One way to keep productivity high is to offer incentives for reaching performance related targets. This way, employees are still motivated to get the results you desire. If productivity remains low, it is important to raise this issue with employees and outline that poor performance will not be tolerated.
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