Question

If Google paid its programmers based on how many programs they wrote per day, what would happen?

Answer 1

Employees are paid for a set amount of work for a valid reason, that is, the quality of their work. There is a saying in the programming world, "it is easy to write bad code." For a programmer at that level of competition, it is easier to write usable but lousy code, and if the incentive is based on quantity, the entire aspect of performance can get diminished. It would not only be hard to track any significant progress, but it might also lead to unhealthy competition and a lack of collaboration, which eventually ends up disrupting the synergy of the organization's operations. Google works well the way it does because the teams have a necessary understanding of striking a balance between efficiency of output and quality of input, and thereby, a balance is struck between quality and quantity.

We have to recognize that at such a high level of competition the firm needs to work together and not against each other to be able to compete with other companies in the market, creating pay for the quantity of work system would end up disrupting the entire process and therefore, would not be optimal.

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