Work, Effort and Performance

Abstract

Reports interviews with workers and managers in two organizations, concerning the relationship between effort and performance at work. The findings show that a high proportion of those interviewed reported working longer than their contractual weekly hours without receiving extra payment and that respondents had a commitment to completing their work within the deadlines imposed. Effort was seen as coming from imposed job pressures, not conscious decisions by staff to achieve self‐determined goals. Managers tended to be unhappy about the poor relationship between their work effort and their performance outputs. Workers doing routine jobs, however, had difficulty in saying whether their time at work was spent effectively. Discusses implications for quality of service and standards of work.