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Walk like an Egyptian…. Incentivise like a Russian? (Court)
3 Minute Read
3 Minute Read

Some interesting news this week, a Russian Court has sought to fine Google Two Undecillion Roubles. That is this much:

2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (or 2 x a trillion x a trillion x a trillion).When a thousand Roubles is roughly £7.97, it’s still rather a lot of money. I am sure there is a maths wiz who can correct me, but I believe it would be in the region of £16,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 16 Decillion Pounds.

Google has a stock market value of $2,16 trillion. Slightly short then, and unlikely to be stumping up the cash, despite the warning from the Russian Court that once the debt has been outstanding for long enough, it will double each day.

Reason Behind the Fine

The reason? According to Sky News, Google hasn’t restored YouTube accounts belonging to 17 Russian TV Channels. Google may return to the Russian Market when they comply with the Court’s conditions (and pay the fine).

Something tells me that Google are not going to feel particularly incentivised to do so. It’s a bit like a fall out in primary school where one child tells another they will be their friend again for a ‘million, billion pounds and some ice cream.’

Threats are not particularly the best way to incentivise generally, and whilst balanced financial penalties in some areas of life work to stop certain behaviour (think speeding fines, parking fines, HMRC Late fees) generally these leave a bad taste in the mouth rather than buying engagement.

Insights from ChatGPT on Incentivising Positive Culture

Given this topic has come out of the ‘tech’ world, I asked Chatgpt what it thought was the best way to incentivise a positive culture and loyalty (it’s a bit of a trick question, clue, you can’t buy your way out of such issues, management approach, engrained and consistent wellbeing policies and practices, fair treatment and the ability to be heard and respected in a healthy workplace go a long way), that’s an article for another day though….

Chatgpt said:

  • Personal recognition and appreciation
  • Team and culture building events
  • Clear path to growth
  • Flexible rewards and time off
  • Culture building initiatives
  • Personalised benefits
  • Encourage open feedback

I have to say it isn’t a bad effort, however, what is missing here is that if the foundations are rotten, I wouldn’t build a house on it. Making sure your managers are appropriately managing, that your business is fair in the way it operates with its people and has a psychologically safe environment and a clear and adhered to wellbeing focussed approach is crucial to avoid any of the above looking like a sticking plaster!

How do you do that?

Need Further Guidance?

Training on psychological safety, emotional intelligence and proper delegation and feedback techniques – that’s us! It is our most popular management training.

Need help with fair and consistent processes and managing your employees in an organised and legally complaint manner? The Hroes platform has this sorted, contact us today to get started.

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