Fighting Procrastination in the Workplace: An Experiment

In this paper we test whether procrastination and planning problems affect the performance, compensation and work satisfaction among employees. We conducted a randomized controlled experiment with a bank in Colombia to change the frequency and intensity with which employees received reminders about goal achievements. We also provided small in-kind prizes every week to remind employees of their goal achievement. Loan officers in the treatment group showed strong improvements in their goal achievements, better workload distribution, and higher monthly compensation (not including the value of the small prizes). The intervention also improved worker satisfaction and reduced stress levels, without affecting the quality of the loan officers' portfolios. We show that including branch managers (the supervisors of the loan officers) in the intervention was central in achieving these results, since they played a key role in reinforcing the reminders and helping employees with planning problems.

Policy implications

Interventions that employ reminders and managerial support with planning can help employees overcome procrastination to achieve more at work.

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Hypotheses/research question

What type of incentives can be implemented in order to resolve worker procrastination problems affecting performance and cash-flow? Can these incentives also make workers better off financially, and in terms of well-being?

Study design

Clustered

Research was conducted with Bancamia, a Colombian bank specializing in credit to small and micro businesses, with 61 branches and 6 loan officers per branch. Branches were stratified by location, and then randomly assigned to treatment and control.

Cost benefit ratio

Not available.

Rounds of data collection

5: Baseline survey + pre-intervention data + during intervention data + post-intervention data + Endline survey

Baseline data collection and method

Baseline surveys (conducted by a professional survey firm over the phone in September and October 2008) provided information regarding participants' personal and socioeconomic characteristics, stress levels, job satisfaction, and work practices. Monthly and weekly financial indicators at the branch level from Bancamia's internal IT system contain data on the pre-treatment period from July to October 2008, including the variables: number of loan officers and prize winners per branch, number of loans per branch, branch characteristics, portfolio composition, delinquency rates, credit placement and loan officer compensation data.

Data collection method and data collected

Monthly and weekly financial indicators from the internal IT system also provided data for the intervention period, with the variables collected from this source being the same. An endline survey collected information on individuals' perceptions about the programme.

Unit of analysis

Loan officer

Stratification

Yes: By geographical area.

Reference

Cadena, X., Schoar, A., Cristea, A., & Delgado-Medrano, H. M., 2011. 'Fighting Procrastination in the Workplace: An Experiment.' NBER Working Paper Series, No. 16944, April.

Fighting Procrastination in the Workplace: An Experiment

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Key facts

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