There is an interesting development that I call the “Google Imitation Fallacy”. More and more companies try their best to make their employees’ breaktime a wonderful experience. They try to inject the maximum amount of fun and/or relaxation into those breaks. It began with simple things like gaming consoles and foosball tables, but now, companies are building whole playgrounds in their offices. I see reports about this on TV every now and then, and everyone goes: “Oh, wow, what a great company!”
Don’t get me wrong – that is not a bad thing! A fun break is better than a boring break.
The problem is that many companies seem to confuse “enjoying your breaks” with “enjoying your work”. But these are completely different things. Sure, a great fun and relaxing break can radiate into your work. It can help you free your head, it can help you be more creative, it can lighten your mood. But if you hate your work, then at the end of your break, you will still go “Oh no, I don’t want to go back to my desk!” Nothing you do during your break will change that. Nothing at all.
Giving you a lot of breaks and filling them with activities is, after all, strictly extrinsic motivation. And extrinsic motivation is lazy motivation. It is easy for the company, because all the company has to do is spend some money. Sounds difficult, because money is something a company is not supposed to waste. But it is so much easier for a company than thinking about how to motivate employees intrinsically. Giving people interesting task, allowing them to self-organize, giving them the opportunity to improve their skills and to respect themselves, their work and their team mates – that is incredibly difficult. It actually means that people managers have to do their job as opposed to just pulling some money out of their budget. Motivating people intrinsically is really hard. Spending a few thousand bucks on the other hand – that is comparably easy. And lazy.
So once again, It is great for employees to have fun during their breaks, but it should not be a replacement for intrinsic motivation. It should not even be a companion for it. It should come only after management has really thought about what they can do to make their team members enjoy their work.
Otherwise, fun breaks (like all types of extrinsic motivation) become the equivalent of the little food samples you are sometimes offered at supermarkets. The strategy there is that after you get a “free” sample, you feel obliged to buy the product, even if you did not like it all that much. And later, you regret it. If you are a manager, do you want your employees to work for you because they feel obliged to do so? Or do you want them to work for you, because they actually want to work for you? And what do you think will yield the better performance and the higher amount of creativity?
Companies should not try to be “cool like Google” by installing swings and slides in their offices, but by actually thinking about how to really motivate people, and managers need to understand the difference between enjoying your breaks and enjoying your work.
AgileEvangelist 