Over forty years of trying to get veg picked and boxes sold, packed and delivered,
I have repeatedly experimented with performance-related pay, or “piece work”
as it is known in the fields. I have seen fights over who filled a sack with carrots,
had a punch thrown at me when, after two bonus years, no bonus was paid, and
witnessed the most petty internal politics. If you assume and reward self-interest,
that is what you get. It is seldom the best way to get good things done.
I was finally convinced that money is a poor motivator by an animated lecture
from the fast-talking Dan Pink (on the Royal Society of Arts YouTube). It turns
out that far more effective motivators are our need for purpose, autonomy and
mastery (getting better at things). The problem is that these universal human
needs are more demanding for a manager to deliver. Money is the most easily
managed lever on performance and the one favoured by unimaginative managers
– and many of our politicians. Human management is not slack management;
expectations are no lower and accountability is as important as ever. It is harder to
deliver but gives better results for everyone.
My life-long issue with capitalism is the demeaning and false assumption that our
only motivation is greed; it just doesn’t match the evidence, my experience of
employing people or being treated by the NHS, or indeed the majority of human
interactions. Yet, it has a vice-like grip on how we organise ourselves. It would be
naïve to dispute that we all have a degree of selfishness within us, but our world
has been distorted by those with the greatest greed (and often the least humanity)
acquiring the most money and influence, and so shaping the world to their values.
I am determined to fight this society-corrupting falsehood to my dying breath.
It is why Riverford is employee-owned, why the shares are held collectively, why
profit not reinvested is shared equally, and why we have phased out almost all
performance-related bonuses. But at my farm Baddaford, the borlotti beans
(available from Riverford soon) will still be picked on piece rate. I think
the difference is that the rate, method and quality standards are set
with the pickers by Maddie, the manager, who is fully aware that
her job is to make the work fair and fun, as well as to make a profit.
Money has not replaced purpose, mastery and autonomy.
Summer picking at Baddaford; photo by Emma Stoner
Our News from the Farm posts come from Riverford. They are the digital versions of the printed letters which go out to customers, every week via Riverford’s veg boxes. Guy Singh-Watson’s weekly newsletters connect people to the farm with refreshingly honest accounts of the trials and tribulations of producing organic food, and the occasional rant about farming, ethical, and business issues he feels strongly about.
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