Grass skirts and ‘goody-two-shoes’ gongs are designed to kick-start workers’ days with some genial bonhomie; Editor’s Comment looks at the utter humiliation of a new suite of motivation tools.

M&S declined to comment on the successes or otherwise of their new motivation programme. Mary Gober, an American motivational guru was tasked this summer with delivering tailored training for 60,000 workers or so following the ‘Gober Method’ – a three-step instruction said to provide “the required mindset and motivation for superior service.”

Estimated to cost a whopping £10 million, which surely could have been used to introduce a new range of clothing and keep the aisles of the food halls stocked to Santa’s satisfaction; M&S certainly can’t be accused of failing to put its money where its mouth is or is that its money where its grass skirt is?

Reported in the press, the motivation programme was alleged to consist of ‘inspirational dancing’ and fancy dress.

Forgive me for my lack of understanding but since when did dressing up like Uncle Bulgaria help in delivering a ‘superior customer service’? I certainly haven’t seen any service bar the norm in my local M&S but I’m not sure I could cope with too much attention when stocking up on undies and wool-lined slippers anyhow.

Shy shoppers aside, what has it done for the profits? In the 2005 annual report, M&S admitted to an overall sales slip of 3.1% in clothing to £3.8bn while the share of the UK market fell by 0.5% to 10.5% across the year.

And it’s the clothing departments, the bedrock of the M&S offering where most of the 60,000 workers can be found. It might be too early to see any relation to profit but certainly the signs so far don’t show much bang for the £10 million buck.

But it’s not just M&S that have climbed aboard the ‘alternate’ motivation-bandwagon.

King of the budget airlines, easyJet has announced the launch of its new online programme designed to boost staff motivation and improve retention rates.

Utilising Archer Young’s new online recognition and reward programme RecogniseMe.com, individuals can nominate any employee or team throughout the organisation for a GEM Award – which stands for you, yes you guessed it: Going the Extra Mile. No pun intended or maybe Stelios overlooked that.

A judging panel reviews all entries and votes on line. Successful nominations receive GEM Award points which can be 'banked' or redeemed against the online reward catalogue which includes a variety of merchandise, travel and vouchers available throughout Europe.

And at least easyJet can be applauded for discarding the temptations to don an amusing moustache and a pair of leggings. With take home pay for the average probationary cabin crew worker being just £800-£900 a month after tax you can see that fiscal rewards lovingly bundled as tempting holidays and travel delights is perhaps a little more in line than making a £5.50 per hour M&S store worker find some motivation from the depths of a grass skirt.

And isn’t it all not just a little humiliating? For workers teetering on the edge of the minimum wage surely there is another way of aligning attitudes more closely with ‘superior’ customer service than resorting to expensive fancy dress parties and playground nomination rituals.

I’d be interested to hear your views. Has fancy-dress had its day in the motivation stakes? Simply post your comments in the box below.

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