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SHRM-SCP: Incentive Plans That Frustrate Top Performers

By: Author Nina Norman

Posted on

Categories Exam

Discover which common incentive plan is most likely to cause frustration among high-performing employees. Prepare for your SHRM-SCP certification exam with expert insights.

Table of Contents

Question

Which incentive plan is most likely to cause frustration to higher-performing employees?

A. Gain sharing
B. Piecework
C. Behavioral encouragement
D. Profit sharing

Answer

The incentive plan most likely to cause frustration to higher-performing employees is:

B. Piecework

Explanation

Piecework is an incentive system where employees are paid a fixed rate for each unit of output they produce, regardless of the time taken. While it can motivate employees to work quickly, piecework tends to particularly frustrate top performers for a few key reasons:

  1. Pay is capped by production speed. No matter how efficiently they work, high-performers can only earn as much as they can physically produce. Their earning potential is limited.
  2. No reward for quality or innovation. Piecework solely incentivizes quantity, not quality of work or process improvements. High-performers who find better methods are not rewarded.
  3. Perceived as unfair. Top performers may feel it’s unfair that lower-skilled workers earn the same per-piece rate despite the high-performers’ greater capabilities and contributions.

In contrast, the other options tend to be better for high-performers:

  • Gain sharing rewards employees for improvements in organizational performance, which high-performers help drive.
  • Behavioral encouragement (e.g. praise, recognition) boosts motivation across all performance levels.
  • Profit sharing allocates rewards based on company profitability, which high-performer contributions support.

Therefore, of the incentive plans listed, piecework is the most likely to uniquely frustrate and demotivate top-performing employees. The SHRM-SCP exam tests knowledge of how different incentive structures impact the workforce.

SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) certification exam practice question and answer (Q&A) dump with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the SHRM-SCP exam and earn SHRM-SCP certification.