Employers' Efforts to Deter Shirking in Teams: Evidence from Job Vacancies

Employers can use profit sharing to elicit effort in teams as long as shirking is sufficiently costly. Analysis of descriptions of job vacancies from the online job board monster.com reveals that the threat of shirking does not deter employers from offering profit sharing to reward workers in teams. However, when team work is prevalent, employers are more likely to advertise a work environment where shirking is easier to detect and penalize. We do not find evidence of similar employers' efforts to deter shirking in teams if jobs entail: frequent interactions with a supervisor, volunteering, or work for a non-profit organization.