Golden Handcuffs

 

Sometimes things have been happening to you, things you can define but not name. This was my realization when I came across the term " golden handcuffs". 

Some might think it only applies to white color prestigious jobs or workplaces but it can apply to any environment. It is the thing that keeps you in a place or position. For some people that is a hard thing to figure out. It may take years to realize what keeps you there and prevents you from moving.

Golden Handcuffs. 

That is the term you're looking for, those financial incentives or benefits given to employees to encourage them to stay with a company for an extended period of time. These incentives often include stock options, bonuses, or other forms of deferred compensation that vest over time. The "golden" aspect implies that these incentives are lucrative, but they also serve to tie the employee to the company, making it more difficult for them to leave without forfeiting those benefits.

In my own circumstance, from the outside there were a lot of incentives (even from the inside, if I'm being truthful). It is one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, possessed top-notch infrastructure, had more than enough available resources and the crème de la crème of the country's youth. 

Seems like pretty comfortable handcuffs right? But they're still handcuffs!

What ultimately kept me there longer than I should have stayed, were the children. Sounds familiar?

 A reasoning usually given by persons at the disillusion of a marriage " I stayed for the children", can also be applied to teaching. But what ultimately sealed my decision to leave was poor middle management.

And when the blood was in the water the golden handcuffs came out.

For me it wasn't the right approach for my organization to take. My motivations lay elsewhere and as I've already let you in on the secret-- it was and always has been the children.

For you, your golden handcuffs might be a long term contract with benefits, performance-based bonuses or salary increases, housing assistance or professional development activities-- funding, workshops, conferences. It can also take the form of opportunities for leadership roles and for many of us in the field of education it can take the form of simple recognition and rewards. Of course none of these are bad (they've worked for years) but golden handcuffs have their dark side. 

In the grand scheme of things , golden handcuffs offer short-term focus and provide a temporary plaster to a long-term issue. For one, golden handcuffs may lead to employees' reliance on these incentives, which may lead to a sense of entitlement. Moreover, it may give rise to a lack of motivation and innovation as employees prioritize short term gains over long-term growth. Employers too should beware of this as a tactic as it may give rise to stagnation as these perceived rewards may lead to hesitation, on the part of employees, in taking risks that could benefit their career development-- dangling a carrot, so to speak.

An important thing for you to consider is that golden handcuffs often come with conditions ( everything has a price). Oftentimes that price is a loss of freedom. In the workplace, it will probably be a loss of flexibility. 

I found too that golden handcuffs as a management tactic had a negative impact on morale, as the perceived 

unequal treatment and favoritism led to resentment among colleagues and within the larger organization.

For me, golden handcuffs didn't work in the long run because of mismatched values. I was not motivated by tangible rewards and that approach did not align with my values. Thus I eventually became disengaged for a time. I came to realize the importance of striking a balance between incentives and intrinsic motivation and realized that no golden handcuff can imprison if there is an  absence of meaningful connections and a shared sense of purpose and belonging.

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