BHR 3301 Unit 2 Journal

Unit 2 Journal

Does pay personally motivate you to perform, avoid absenteeism, and create employee loyalty? If so, why? What does your current or past place employment do outside of pay to encourage/motivate employees? Please explain.

Your journal entry must be at least 200 words in length. No references or citations are necessary.

The amount of money I make does not affect the way I do my job. I serve my country because I wanted to be part of something larger than myself. When I had first joined the military, I was not making that much money, maybe around $1,000 a month, plus all the benefits and indirect compensation that comes with the military. This was not a lot to live off of when you are a young 19 year old, married, have no financial saving/spending experience, first time living on your own, bills to pay, family to provide for, and other financial obligations that had to be taken into consideration. But not performing in my career was something that just was not a possibility. Unlike many jobs, I just cannot be fired and let go. There is a process and can possibly owe the military money if I cannot perform my duties in which I signed a contract promising to do so. At first, knowing I did not make enough for all the work I was doing as a Human Resources Specialist, on top of the other Army duties assigned to me by my supervisors, made it hard for me to keep a positive attitude at times and may have slacked a little but never in front of a customer. It was not until I had been promoted a couple times when I see the fruit of my labor. All the hard work that goes into the job I do and all the extra time I spend to make sure the customer is taken care of makes it all worth it. The paycheck I make is nice, it is guaranteed, no matter what happens to me. I have paid vacation time, paid weekends, even days I do not come in during the week due to being sick I will get paid. By pay will never be affected and finding that same benefit outside in the civilian sector is hard to find if it even exists. We do not have to clock in hours or report how many days a month we work. We have a set monthly salary that is guaranteed to us.

In the Units I have been a part of, we have Organization Days every year as something to boost morale within the unit. Everyone gets together and BBQs and has games and music and festivities for everyone. Family is also included and there are usually bounce houses and water events, if done during the summer, for the kids. It is a way for Soldiers who do not normally see each other during the day to talk and hang out without having to worry about rank or status and have a great time and relax without the stress of work. It builds friendships and you start networking with other people. I have also seen supervisors let people work half days when there is nothing to do that day. This is huge in the military. Some days we can work from 6am-9pm without a break, so a half day is a welcomed break. We do not normally work long hours, but when we have a mission that needs to be completed, we must finish before we are released, not matter what time it is. Leaders are aware of morale of the junior Soldiers in the unit and try everything they can to make sure they are happy. I have been given an award for going above and beyond in my job. I was not expecting it but was nice to be recognized. It helped me keep that going and helping everyone the same way. Pay does not matter to me. To be honest, I would do this job for free, that how much I have enjoyed the last 12 years in the Army.