Good luck! :)

I’m happy that this post could be of such great assistance to you. Thank you Liat!

When I started having trouble with my assistant, I thought, well, my friend would do a great job, she’s terrific – reliable, smart, knows my customers… Then I remembered this post. My friend, Sharon, is motivated internally to do a great job, and there’s nothing forcing her to do the work. When the question is too hard, she just punts to me. She’s not obligated to be nice to people or answer them.

What I would do in hiring her to do customer service is pay her to do work that right now she does for free. Force her to be nice to people, and answer their boring tech-support questions, day in and day out, as a job. What is now a pleasure for her and a source of pride, would be reduced to a paid duty, which, as you said in your article, reduces performance and job satisfaction.

In the interest of KEEPING this great moderator, who I could never motivate as much as she motivates herself, I am NOT going to try to hire her to do more.

Thank you for helping me understand employee motivation better and make better hiring decisions!!