One of the clearest examples of compensation shaping my behavior happened during my high school and college job at a Putt Putt, a mini-golf and family entertainment center franchise. The job sounded simple, but it was one of the most physically demanding roles I’ve ever had. Between laser tag, bumper boats, batting cages, arcade repairs, a full kitchen and ice creamery, birthday parties, and two 18-hole golf courses, I was constantly running from one issue to the next. I took pride in being the person new hires went to when something broke, and I genuinely cared about the place.
I started at minimum wage, which is a whopping $7.25 per hour in Georgia, and after three years of hard work, raises, and college classes, I had made it to $9 an hour. I didn’t question it until a new hire casually mentioned she had been brought in at $10. She had just started, didn’t know how to run anything yet, and when I asked, my boss told me he offered her more because she was starting the job while in college. I told him that I was also in college and had been there for years while holding everything together, but he still didn’t want to raise my wage.
That moment triggered what this week’s materials describe as negative equity. According to equity theory, when someone with similar inputs receives higher outcomes, motivation drops (Smith, 2015). That’s exactly what happened. I still showed up, but I stopped going the extra mile. If a machine broke, I let it sit. If the floors weren’t spotless at close, I stopped scrubbing. My boss hoped for high effort but unintentionally rewarded underqualified newcomers instead.
Within two months, I found a different job at $10 an hour and gave my notice. In the end, it wasn’t necessarily about the money, it was the fairness behind it. I felt extreme unappreciation after years of hard work and praise. My reaction reflected the classic issue outlined in Kerr’s “On the Folly of Rewarding A While Hoping for B,” where organizations unintentionally reward the wrong behaviors and create misaligned incentives. My boss wanted high performance but paid newcomers more while relying on my experience, essentially rewarding the opposite of what he hoped to see. Compensation didn’t only reflect my value; it directly shaped how much effort I was willing to give.
References
Kerr, S. (1975). On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B. Academy of Management Journal.
Smith, D. (2015, October 5). Most people have no idea whether they’re paid fairly. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/10/most-people-have-no-idea-whether-theyre-paid-fairly