There are certain rules about your business that everyone knows are true, right? Most workers are lazy if they have the chance, layoffs clear out the deadwood and help the company, people will fight you tooth and nail on change, and, of course, that workers are always in it for the money — more money.

Beware — don’t get caught up in workplace myths and let that drag down your efforts to motivate employees and encourage them to perform their best at all times.

Here are those four myths — and the real scoop on each:

• Gimme money, money, money: Most employees are only in it for the money — and there’s never enough of that, right? Surprise: Only about one in every five employees describes their salary as poor or very poor. In fact, 40% of workers describe their salaries as good or very good.
• Quick, the boss isn’t looking: If you turn your back, employees will be goofing off, surfing the Internat, taking a nap … trying to get away with not working. Guess again, the experts say. Most employees are hard-working, care about what they do, want to be productive — and want to be proud of what they do.
• Lean and mean = success: Sure, there are always a couple of slugs at every workplace. But when an employer sweeps through the workplace and knocks out all of the low performers, the benefit is short-lived. There’s an initial bump in productivity. But after three years, studies show, companies end up lagging 24% behind their peers in performance.
• But we’ve always done it this way: There’s some law of physics that makes employees exercise strong force against change, right? That happens only if they believe the changes were concocted behind closed doors or the changes are designed to hurt them. Keep workers informed, ask for their feedback if appropriate, make sure expectations are clear, and offer help (training, if necessary) in implementing changes.

Tags: employer, money, training