If this feels like it didn’t happen overnight, you’re right. We’ve been in training since school. With every child receiving some form of award, trophy or certificate, it was about building self-esteem. No first prizes, everyone is a winner. The intent was to boost confidence, but it instead teaches that rewards come just for showing up.

Blanket recognition just for participation can foster entitlement, devalue and even ostracise those striving for excellence, creating delusional expectations for adult life. In the workplace, that early conditioning plays out exactly like the new tipping’s logic, the applause for how things look, not the quality of work.

Effort has become optional; the performance of effort, mandatory. We have a litany of subtle and not-so-subtle cues for “reward me”. The endless parade of green, “I’m definitely working” status dots on Slack or Teams. Turning up to every meeting, whether you contribute or not. The quick-fire email reply late at night, not because it’s urgent, but to signal you are “on”.

And the emojis, tiny trophies for the optics of effort. They are our digital lollipops, providing microbursts of dopamine for trying. Sent freely, they are designed to reassure and nurture rather than to recognise outcomes. If effort were a currency, the emoji would be our counterfeit note.

These are workplace tipping moments. Little performances designed to earn approval, trust and visibility regardless of whether they deliver on the task at hand. We are in an economy of perception trumping production. The coffee cup is empty, the cookie is not that great, but hey, they smiled while handing it over.

When reward floats free from effort and results, quality slides, and complacency soon follows. Even then, many employers are too afraid to call it out. Instead, wrapping it up as something else, pretending their team is simply “relaxed”. There is so much ado about the rushing, stressing and pressure and the shaky connection to burnout, let alone “toxic” environments, so who wants to risk asking for performance?

Cultures like this undermine the workers who are willing to grind and put the effort in for results, let alone show pride in their work. The performance that drives excellence, efficiency, productivity, high customer loyalty and profitability disappears. Just like tip creep, the exchange gets worse over time. You give more and get less.

At this rate, the next generation of performance metrics could be reduced to a simple stethoscope check: heartbeat? Tick. Reward granted.

We have co-created an environment where customers, employees, and managers are “tipping” for the show, not the substance. If we are not careful, we’ll have workplaces where showing up is the job, and results are just a nice-to-have. That’s a hard shift to change back. Instead, have courage, re-anchor reward to value and recognise substance over superficiality.

Our habits set the culture, and right now, they’re teaching us to cheer for the show, not the work. If we keep paying for just the smile, we’ll forget what good work even looks like.