Using Peer Recognition to motivate clock watchers

While the usual types of monetary rewards and daily quotes of encouragement written on a whiteboard may seem to be the obvious choices for motivating clock watchers, studies suggest that these are indeed the most ineffective methods incorporated by organizations. Rather a streamlined and well-planned peer recognition program shall be the best approach to motivate clock watchers.

Clockwatchers are common at every workplace, in every country, irrespective of the domain your organization is part of. However, to ensure that everyone is on board, let us briefly understand who exactly is a clock watcher and how do we categorize them?

A clock watcher is any individual who demonstrates a regular lack of interest in the job they do. This lack of interest is expressed by watching the time closely to ensure that they stop working as soon as the clock marks the end of their shift. Additionally, in this process, they end up procrastinating by keeping track of time throughout the day in anticipation of getting done with their shift as soon as possible.

These types of employees often are viewed negatively by their respective organizations. They are deemed as liabilities, and organizations look forward to getting rid of these employees for technicalities and obscure reasons. However, we at PeerFives firmly believe that every individual needs to be well understood, and it is our belief that such employees aren’t always liabilities; they could be valuable assets that just need to be pushed in the right direction.

A little bit of motivation and encouragement could end up yielding the best fruit for the organization on the whole. This is not from the perspective that we are talking about just one individual in the organization; organizations that have more than 100 employees could end up having up to 10 percent of their total workforce classified as serial clock watchers.

Surveys and research have suggested that one of the biggest reasons behind clock watchers being disinterested in their jobs is the lack of passion for what they do and the lack of connection that they feel with their peers. Thus, to begin with, every organization needs to micro-manage teams in order to ensure that each and every employee is in a position where they are comfortable. Once they are comfortable, it is essential that the employee is surrounded by individuals who are driven and motivated. If a team has more than one clock watcher, it is highly likely that the output of the team as a whole may drop drastically, and the efficiency of otherwise sincere workers also drops.

After ensuring most of the above, it is vital that each employee feels a sense of belonging to their team; they should be able to freely interact and connect with their team members. This helps distract them from whiling away time at work; rather, they feel more involved and are constantly pushed to do better by their colleagues.

In many ways, clock watchers at the workplace are like the disinterested students in class, but in the case of the latter, teachers need to deal with them whether they like it or not. The onus of motivating them in innovative ways lies with the teachers and fellow students. Similarly, by taking a leaf from their book, the corporate world needs to learn and adapt. Often many of these clock watchers have hidden talents and skills; they just aren’t motivated enough or are lazy to apply themselves. Thus, giving them roles and responsibilities in which they can excel and shine shall be a great way to shake them out of their slumber.

Sometimes, people in leadership positions need to think out of the box while dealing with certain situations, and similarly, when it comes to clock watchers at the workplace, leaders need to have an empathetic approach to turn things around. Clockwatchers are essentially brilliant minds who are just stuck in a mundane life with a monotonous schedule. For them, taking their mind off things for a couple of days and returning refreshed is a great way to start afresh. In many ways, this can be compared to the writer’s block that authors often face. Surveys have suggested that almost two-thirds of the employees who return from a break find themselves rejuvenated, ready to take up new challenges and ultimately deliver.

Considering all of the above, there are undoubtedly multiple ways to deal with clock watchers at work, but what if we told you that there is one solution to all your woes? Yes! Peer Recognition is the answer to your woes. However, not just any random peer recognition program shall solve your issues; rather, you need the help of a one-stop solution such as PeerFives, which shall offer you a comprehensive peer recognition program with all the possible tools needed for recognition, rewards, and gifts.

To start turning around clock watchers at the workplace into efficient employees, you need to begin by giving them roles and responsibilities that they can excel in. Once done, your instant peer recognition program using PeerFives shall enable all peers to recognize great work done by an individual instantly. By studying the data from the PeerFives Dashboard, you shall be able to monitor which employee performs best in certain teams, and then you can assign them to particular teams for projects without worrying about the output that they shall deliver. If they continue to excel, they may not just get recognition from peers but also rewards in the form of Peer Points. While these may just be monetary rewards on the surface to many, they serve a greater purpose. The continuous cycle of recognizing good work and rewarding keeps compounding to the feel-good factor of working for a particular organization; this, in turn, shall build a sense of belonging, which then shall self-motivated employees to give their absolute best at work. Finally, even if your clock watchers are burnt out or need to be regularly rejuvenated, you can reward them with movie tickets, restaurant vouchers, or even customized merchandise from the PeerFives Marketplace to keep them motivated and refreshed from the heavy toll that long hours of work extract.

In conclusion, there are various ways in which organizations can deal with clock watchers, but there simply is no better approach than turning the weakest link of your chain into the strongest one and then accomplishing goals like never before. So schedule a PeerFives Demo today to Unlock the Full Potential of Your Team!