Attitudes toward Productivity Pay Programs

Abstract

Impressive results have been achieved by implementing financial incentive programs in construction in several foreign countries and in numerous other industries in the United States. This paper identifies the historical causes for the scarcity of such programs in the U.S. construction industry, highlights current obstacles to their introduction, and recommends steps to avoid or overcome them, so as to open the way to future introduction of incentive programs. The study employs the Delphi technique and concludes that the near absence of pay programs in the construction industry in the U.S. can be attributed to: (1) Tradition and conservatism of the industry; (2) union opposition; and (3) the nature of the work. The panel predicted significant differences between the overall attitudes of the various parties toward productivity pay programs; the contractors and the owners will be supportive, the employees somewhat supportive, the government neutral, and the union opposed.