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HR practiceOccupational psychologyPerformance management

Motivational veg fails to have the desired effect

by Personnel Today 23 Aug 2005
by Personnel Today 23 Aug 2005

Trade unions in Scotland are demanding an inquiry after managers at HBOS bank tried to motivate two employees by leaving a cabbage and a cauliflower on their desks.

The row started after a cashier in Glasgow found a cabbage on his desk, while a manager in Paisley gave a worker a cauliflower.

John Nolan, national leader of the Amicus banking union, said this misuse of vegetables was an unacceptable way of getting employees to meet targets.

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“The company has been pretty successful over the past couple of years so it doesn’t need to revert to these tactics anyway,” he said. “It owes its success to the staff.”

An HBOS spokesman said the bank liked to focus on positive measures such as good bonuses for strong performance. He admitted the managers had “got it wrong on this occasion”, and had apologised to the staff in question.

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

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