How an ‘Effort-Reward Imbalance’ Can Make Work Miserable

Life isn’t fair.

It’s a phrase so often repeated that it has become a cliché. But studies have shown that humans are hard-wired to want their fair share, as are other animals that have cooperative relationships, like monkeys, birds and wolves.

In one famous experiment, researchers trained two capuchin monkeys to hand them tokens in exchange for a cucumber snack. At first, the animals were happy with this arrangement — that is, until one of the monkeys received grapes instead, which are considered far more delicious. The other monkey, who continued to receive cucumbers, looked enraged, shook the walls of her enclosure and hurled the cucumbers out of reach.

She would rather have nothing, it seemed, than receive an inferior reward.

In the workplace, psychologists refer to this as effort-reward imbalance. The effort is the time, energy and emotional labor devoted to completing a task — and the rewards are what you get back from your workplace, such as compensation, benefits, recognition and opportunities.

In humans, the perception that you are getting less than others for the same amount of work can contribute to symptoms associated with burnout and lead to a higher risk of depression. The need for fairness is most likely a biological predisposition to avoid exploitation, explained Sarah Brosnan, a professor of psychology, philosophy and neuroscience at Georgia State University who co-led the capuchin study.

“We should care what we get relative to others,” she said. “We do best if we can work well with others, but it only benefits us if we’re working with someone who isn’t taking advantage of us.”

If you feel that your efforts in the workplace are not in line with your rewards, here are some steps that you can take to examine the situation and, hopefully, find more balance.