Although it is common practice to motivate staff with bonuses and incentives for extra work, the CEO of ReferRush, Vikram Pai, shared a completely different experience. He recounted that after an alleged conflict with a former client, his team began working late at night and on Sundays.
According to Vikram Pai, this former client subsequently became their competitor and launched their own product. He noted that his previous attempts to stimulate the team to a faster pace had not resulted in such a reaction.
Following this incident, a different kind of energy emerged within the team, and employees started voluntarily working late and on Sundays. This case sparked a new discussion about personnel motivation methods.
He posted this story on the social network X, stating that one of the clients had treated his team extremely negatively. Later, this same client decided to create a competing product. Pai mentioned that he had used various methods to speed up the team's work, including bonuses, incentives, setting deadlines, and providing equity stakes, but none of these had had the desired effect.
However, the team was so upset by this client that employees began working at night and on Sundays voluntarily. Pai even shared a screenshot of a conversation with an employee in which the employee stated they would work on Sundays for the next three weeks, except in emergencies.
As soon as the founder published the post on social media, discussions began. Users debated whether anger or the desire to surpass someone could motivate employees more than traditional incentives like bonuses. Some users related Pai's words to their personal experiences, while others questioned why this client eventually became a competitor to the company.
One user jokingly suggested that motivation from rivalry could prompt employees to work excessively. Another user asked Pai why he did not name the competing company. Pai replied that he did not wish to make the name of this competing firm public.
Nevertheless, not everyone agreed with this story. User opinions were divided. Some questioned how a person who was previously a client of the company and treated the team poorly could later launch a competing product. Others doubted whether the competitor had truly added enough new features to make ReferRush employees work nights and Sundays.
These comments also raised an important question: can such competition sustain employee enthusiasm in the long term, or is this surge of activity only caused by short-term rivalry?
Pai's post can be viewed as a humorous founder's story rather than a human resources management guide. While working at night and on Sundays can temporarily increase the pace of work, maintaining such a rhythm in the long term is difficult. Nevertheless, this incident demonstrates an important point: employees are motivated not only by bonuses, deadlines, or equity stakes. Pride, a sense of ownership over one's work, competition, and the desire to prove someone wrong can also be powerful motivators.
