When It Comes to Rewards, the Longer the Delay, the Less the Perceived Value

The inability to delay gratification is a common weakness for many people. They want rewards immediately and find waiting for the prize excruciating. Not surprisingly, they are willing to give up a bigger reward later for a smaller one now. Every parent knows this all too well. 

Less commonly known is how people slash the value of a delayed reward over time. Even those who are more comfortable or adept at delaying gratification typically discount the value of a reward when they have to wait for it. The longer they wait, the more the payoff loses its luster. Behavioral scientists call this delayed-reward discounting, and it represents a huge challenge for leaders. 

Most workplaces are delayed gratification factories. Leaders ask team members to work hard and produce tangible outcomes for rewards that arrive much later. 

Because the perceived value of the jackpot diminishes with a prolonged delay, leaders who depend primarily on delayed rewards to motivate team members often find both effort and work quality suffer over time. People lose the energy to work hard when the value of the reward continues to decay. 

Understanding delayed-reward discounting suggests several leadership strategies important to workplace success. Most obviously, leaders who find a way to break up or divide rewards into smaller pieces and to award them at milestones throughout the year will encourage team members to stay focused on producing quality outcomes. Even if the end-state reward is still much larger than the smaller prizes, the discounting effect will have less of an impact on work. 

Equally apparent is the idea that good leaders must find avenues to motivate people other than extrinsic rewards. More intrinsic motivators such as investing in team member skills, elevating the higher purpose of the work, and giving people more autonomy or control over their assignments can help offset the discounting effect. 

Yet another strategy is to frequently remind team members of the jackpot and its value. Describing how team members in the past have benefitted from the reward and used it to their advantage helps to lessen discounting.  Showcasing how the rewards obtained by others have improved the quality of life for some team members can be a powerful intervention that disrupts discounting. 

As we learned as children, good things come to those who wait. Good leaders craft ongoing messages expressing gratefulness that help team members delay gratification and avoid discounting rewards. 

Best of all, proven through their example is that the rewards are less important than the opportunity to learn and work alongside amazing people. When leaders refuse to discount, people follow suit.