Ask HN: How do you like to be shown appreciation at work? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you like to be shown appreciation at work?

11 pointsnot_the_fda25 comments

If you were to go above and beyond to meet some goal what would you consider appropriate recognition?

For me, just verbal recognition is sufficient. I get a little insulted when someone tries to add a low monetary component to it.

Say you worked a weekend, and you were given a $50 gift card. Now you have put a price on the effort, and $50 for a weekend of effort is down right insulting.

If one were to put a monetary component to it, it should be at the scale of the effort.

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Maybe I’m oversimplifying, but in my experience the most effective reward for extra work is extra time. If somebody that works for me has to work a weekend to hit some objective, I thank them and tell them to take 2 days off the following week.

A parallel comment mentioned burnout, and I think this is the only viable way to enable above-and-beyond surges while minimizing burnout risk: as a business, you have to decide that a surge doesn’t mean you’re getting extra time from people, you’re borrowing time forward against future days.

How do you keep that (awesome) policy from being abused? Say I want days off next week, maybe I'll work this weekend to make it happen.

That doesn’t sound like abuse to me. The downside is if there’s synchronous things (meetings/collaboration) that the person is missing out on, but that’s no different than dealing with somebody working regular weekdays that isn’t collaborating well.

What wrong with that if the work is getting done? I would be much more productive on the weekends because the whole time is a change window so I don’t have to wait for people to get off my apps, but I don’t want to waste a weekend at work so I work during the week instead. If I was my employer I’d be happy to hear that I want to work weekends instead.

At my job we can either get paid hours worked overtime or "bank" those hours to use as PTO later in the year. Unused banked time at the end of the year gets paid out. I've (thankfully) never had to work overtime but it's a pretty awesome perk that more companies should do.

Do you think Tuesday and Wednesday off is the same as Saturday and Sunday, it's like trading a car for a bike.

As someone who works lots of nights and weekends/holidays the "take a couple of days off when it's convenient to the company" thing only goes so far. Granted it's better than nothing but I would think people that give up their time when everyone else is off should be rewarded more than just getting a like for like trade -I mean if you worked for the government you'd be getting time and a half or double time. Don't get me wrong I know it doesn't work that way, working the house till it dies is pretty much SOP it just shouldn't be.

We did the same when I was a founder, but we doubled the time off received. Working a weekend affects plans, wellbeing, and social life. The company should not feel it can trade those days around whenever it wants.

Extra PTO with a decent ratio. Worked a full weekend because it had to be done and you stepped up? Get 3 days of PTO extra. Or the equivalent bonus if you don’t like being at home. That and being flexible when a person wants something. Your best engineer has been working on a 21in TN monitor for 3 years and wants a new ultra wide? Don’t make it a pain in the ass, just give it to them. Sometimes managers will approve 3k for a meeting room tv that gets used once a week (why do you need a 4k HDR display for teams?) but will act like it’s impossible to approve a $250 item for a person that will recover that with their extra output.

There is no one rule, read how the people feel and try to keep them content.

read how the people feel and try to keep them content.

This is what it's all about different employees have different wants and needs. Some people don't care if they work every weekend as long as they are treated special. Others just keep working and get more and more pissed until they finally quit and management wonders why. We talk a lot about burn out and I firmly believe that if people are burning out it's the managers fault. Ask yourself would a manager act if an employee wasn't doing enough, of course they would that's part of the job. If that's the case why shouldn't they be expected to act when an employee is doing too much? Comp time and a pat on the butt is great but it may not fill the bill, it's a managers job to figure out that want/need and fill it.

Yes, I agree, if it's cash or some sort of monetary component, it should be relatively significant. I'm a big fan of thanking people for their efforts and then telling them to take a day or two off after they've put in an extra effort

I prefer just a verbal "thank you".

Small monetary bonuses don't impact me one way or another -- I am paid well enough that $50 isn't a thing I find compelling. But I don't find it insulting at all, either -- just largely meaningless.

I HATE gift cards, though. If you're giving me money, give me money and don't force me to spend it in a particular way or at a particular business. Whenever I get a gift card, I just pass it along to someone else who would make better use of it than I.

EDIT: After reading the other comments, extra PTO is something that I would value a great deal. I've just never experienced that and so didn't think of it.

The larger the effort/accomplishment, the larger the pizza party should be

But only if you enjoy pizza parties.

My old boss and cofounder asked an interesting question. There are some projects that need an extra push. What if employees who earn stock could wager stock against their delivery of a hard-to-get-out feature? The company could set odds and employees could clean up with equity. If they fail to deliver, stock is returned. Interesting thought.

All I want for a coding job done well is for people to stfu the next time I make a big change.

People get recognized where you work?

My company does all sorts of BS related to this. None of its really worth anything. It's movie tickets and gift cards mostly. Promotions, raises, and bonuses are the way to go. But that's rare.

I agree that recognition is what matters. Especially if it’s compounding. Let’s say I work a weekend, then I do it again a couple months later, then when promo time comes around this is explicitly called out.

The proverbial 'pat on the back' goes a long way, whether that's shown with financial rewards or other ways.

Well assuming I'm a wagie, how about some job security? :)

And on the flip side, why would i put effort if not for such a reward.

I wonder if praise for working weekends or long hours is tantamount to encouraging burnout.

I think (hope) people are using "working weekends" as shorthand for "going over and above when needed" rather than literally working weekends.

Just working weekends as its own thing isn't good and isn't really worth kudos. Putting in necessary extra effort in order to put out a fire is, as is coming up with a particularly great solution to a thorny problem, or helping a coworker out of a jam, and so forth.

> Say you worked a weekend, and you were given a $50 gift card. Now you have put a price on the effort

one year I got an $11 check because I was a remote worker and couldn't go to the holiday party. I didn't take it with the joyous holiday spirit in which it was given.

I work nights, weekends and holidays all the time it's when clients will allow me to do my job. I don't mind working the odd hours what I mind is the expectation that I'm available during normal business hours too.

Having input into higher level decisions.

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