Show your boss this article and get free pizza this lunchtime

Great news everyone! Lunch is on your boss. At least, if they value your work output, it is. 

A recent investigation at an Israeli factory has proven that pizza - delicious, cheesy, heaven-sent pizza - is the ultimate workforce motivator. 

The mouth-watering discovery was made by author Dan Ariely in his new book, Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations. In it, he conducted an experiment at a manned computer chip production line in Israel using some cash, a few encouraging and complimentary messages from the boss of the workplace, and some slices of the good stuff. 

At the beginning of the test, Ariely divided the unsuspecting workforce into four: one group would receive the "Well done recently, mate" text from the factory boss; the next would be promised $30 for their hard work; the third were promised pizza; and the final unlucky group got nothing, acting as the control group. Sucks to be in with those guys. 

What happened next might just cause you to throw your lunch plans out the window.

Ariely then monitored the performance of the employees, observing whether computer chip production increased or decreased in each of the groups. 

The group that received the promise of pizza were, incredibly, noted as having the biggest increase in productivity, upping their output by 6.7 per cent. The compliment  receivers were a close second, with 6.6 per cent (maybe don't show your boss this bit); with the money-makers, surprisingly, falling into third with just 4.9 per cent. 

What's even more amazing, though, is that the bonus-takers, on the second day of the week, actually performed 13.2 per cent worse than those who received nothing at all. Er, yes, maybe don't show your boss this bit, either.

So if your boss is the decent, caring, driven individual they want you to believe they are, they should be dialing Domino's as you read this. Or, if they're the heartless b*astard you knew they were all along, they'll be hitting 'delete' on your yearly bonus.

Yeah, er, sorry about that.

[Via: First We Feast]