I have experienced multiple situations where I altered by behaviors due to compensation. The most recent situation was when I worked at a local bakery. When I first started, I tried my hardest to improve my production efficiency to make sure management would consider me a valuable team member. However, as time went on, I noticed that some of my coworkers weren’t producing nearly as much product as I was in the same amount of time, and they all were receiving higher pay than me. After being with the bakery for about a year, I talked to the bakery manager about receiving a pay increase. I brought some notes that demonstrated my improvement over the year and a log of how much product I was able to produce in certain time periods. My manager told me that I would not be receiving a pay increase because they only give people pay increases for their time spent at the bakery. I immediately decreased the amount of effort I was putting in and no longer “hustling.” Compensation was the main motivation of the effort I put in because my first priority in working is being able to meet my financial needs. I was becoming exhausted and developing pain in my hands from my high effort. The combination of not receiving any extra financial gain and wearing myself down made the effort not worth it. It would be better worth my time to prioritize the health of my body and make the same amount of money. It also became not worth putting in extra effort because compensation at the bakery was determined by seniority and not effort or skill.
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