By Cathi Coppinger

As a supervisor I am always thinking what can I do to keep my fabulous staff motivated? Well, now I know! Have you ever promised your kids pizza if they behave or do well on a test?  Well it doesn’t stop working just because you grow up. A researcher at Duke University wanted to find out what would motivate people to work harder . . . a small bonus, props from their boss, or free pizza.  And PIZZA did surprisingly well. On day one, the employees who got pizza did more work than ANYONE.  It increased productivity by 6.7%, just edging out a compliment from the boss at 6.6%. For some reason, a $30 bonus actually made people do LESS work.  They were about 5% more productive on the first day . . . but did 13% less work than normal on day two . . . and 6.5% less over the course of the week.

A compliment from the boss ended up having the biggest impact over the course of the entire week, and pizza was a close second.  Hmmmm, looks like we are ordering pizza soon!