#Employees perform better with a competitive workplace, study says

By Cortney Moore, Fox News

More than half of workers in the US think competition among colleagues motivates them to do better at their job, according to a new study commissioned by sales performance and time management software company Prodoscore.

In a sample of 1,000 respondents across different industries, 67% said they were interested in knowing how they stack up next to their colleagues.

Particularly, workplace competition was high for people who work in sales, Prodoscore’s Chief Executive Officer Sam Naficy told Fox News. “Sales people are inherently competitive,” he said. “Whether in an office or at home, they compete from a performance standpoint each month, each quarter, each year.”

Although most workers would like to know how they compare to their colleagues, not all are fans of annual performance reviews. In fact, less than 50% of respondents said they found performance reviews to be helpful in setting up job success in the workplace and only 33% said they are excited to participate in the process.

Meanwhile, 30% of the polled workers shared that performance reviews make them feel anxious or pressured while 22% shared that they feel frustrated with the workload associated with self-evaluations and other review documents.

Sixty-seven percent of workers said they believe “active coaching” from their manager is more helpful than annual performance reviews and 54% clarified that they would actually be interested in replacing these reviews with coaching and regular engagement with higher-ups in the workplace.

When performance reviews do take place, 51% said they expect a raise or recognition for their work. At the same time, 53% shared that they feel frustrated when their efforts go unrecognized.

As of July, 77% of the survey’s respondents are currently working from home at least part of the time. This is up from 61% Prodoscore had on record from a previous survey that took place before the coronavirus pandemic. The work from home shift has notably made employees more interested in improving their performance, according to the software company.

Thirty-six percent of workers shared they think they are more productive when they work from home versus the 20% who think they are less productive in a work from home setting and 44% who think they aren’t experiencing a difference in productivity.

The national unemployment rate went down to 11.1% in June, according to the most recent economic news release from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from the coronavirus-related record high of 14.7% the government agency saw in April.