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Comment by giarc | Hacker News Reader

I personally think people should appreciate any reward, even if it is just a pizza party. Why do people think they should get a cut of the savings? If you work for the company, you should want to see it succeed for the sake of your own future with the company. If a company has a policy in place for 10% cut of the savings, sure that's great. But don't be greedy and expect more.

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This is why: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimatum_game.

Also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium.

Beyond that, it's simply a bad idea for corporate leaders to go out of their way to make their wage-slaves feel exploited through juvenile "prizes" and "games". A genuine smile and a pat on the back can make someone feel valued, even if they're really being robbed blind.

Hey, if they're robbing you blind they probably do value you...

They think that because it's not part of their job, so they should be paid extra for it. I don't think that OP's $8/hour job's reponsibilities include increasing productivity on a company-wide scale. Management is asking the employees to do something that's not part of their job and for which they are not paid.

I don't think it unreasonable to ask your employees for help. If you don't want the iPad, don't give good suggestions.

Doesn't sound like they made it part of his job, just a perk. Participating isn't a requirement. And if an employee was embarrassed by the pizza party and still wanted to submit an idea, I'm sure they could say "I don't want any pizza party, but what if we did this....."

Expecting more than $25 worth of reward for solution that saves the company $5000 a month is not being greedy, it's being reasonable and adequate.

In some cases it is reasonable to expect more. But, if other people are offering the same obvious solution for $25, then $25 is a reasonable reward, regardless of how much it saves the company. In which case expecting more than $25 is greedy.

I think the $5000/month example is likely a very rare event. Perhaps the management did compensate that particular employee separately without telling everyone else.

My point is, if a company sets a policy of pizza party and spin the wheel as a reward, that's the reward. Don't complain after the fact that it's not fair. You didn't have to submit the idea, you could have gone about your business and never said anything. Also, what if 99% of the idea's only save the company $20 or less? You really think they are going to start writing $2 cheques? Or is that even going to motivate people to submit ideas. Pizza parties not only reward the employee, they provide a morale booster.

More likely the manager used the $5000 per month saving idea to promote himself for a raise than pass on compensation to the employee

Yikes.

>Why do people think they should get a cut of the savings? If you work for the company

Because they are directly responsible for the savings.

Why should a lawyer get a cut of her billable hours? Because she's directly responsible for doing the work over those hours. Same concept.

>you should want to see it succeed for the sake of your own future with the company

Why? Loyalty isn't a given. If a company is paying you $8/hr and offering you Pizza as an incentive to do well, they don't value you and won't be loyal to you. Being loyal to them would be accepting exploitation, not being honorable. There is no future in jobs like this.

Further, you are working to provide for yourself. Under no circumstances should you put the needs of a massive company ahead of your own well-being. It's not like you're accepting an opportunity cost for a few years, as is the case when starting up your own company. You're a wage slave at $8 an hour. If the company paying you that can't provide for you, fuck them -- go sell your labor elsewhere, you owe them nothing.

>But don't be greedy and expect more.

It isn't greedy to expect reasonable compensation for quantifiable value you directly provide to a company.

>If you work for the company, you should want to see it succeed >for the sake of your own future with the company.

Lol, no.

That's not a 10% cut. It's a -chance- to win a 100$ item. Saving a company 1,000$ a month = 12,000$ a year -> that's a 1% cut, or possibly less.

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