--- description: If bosses want to motivate workers, conventional wisdom dictates a simple solution: offering a clear path to a raise, promotion or other reward. But psychology... title: Why We Work image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why We Work by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 27, 2015 10:06 AM CUT by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 27, 2015 10:06 AM CUT If bosses want to motivate workers, conventional wisdom dictates a simple solution: offering a clear path to a raise, promotion or other reward. But psychology professor Barry Schwartz argues that such tactics can actually hurt performance. The most valuable employees, he writes, are those who work because they want to do well, not to check boxes: great teachers don’t just “teach to the test,” great doctors don’t just order profitable procedures. It’s on managers, then, to foster that impulse–keeping job descriptions general, for example, so workers think holistically about their goals. Of course, good work should be rewarded, financially or otherwise. But, Schwartz writes, “there is no substitute for the integrity that inspires people” to go above and beyond on their own. –SARAH BEGLEY ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4012859/why-we-work/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4012859/why-we-work/"},"headline":"Why We Work","datePublished":"2015-08-27T10:06:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:29:11.267Z","description":"If bosses want to motivate workers, conventional wisdom dictates a simple solution: offering a clear path to a raise, promotion or other reward. But psychology...","url":"https://time.com/4012859/why-we-work/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4012859/why-we-work/","name":"Why We Work"}}]}] ```