Is tipping culture creating a generation of performative workers?

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, writes Roxanne Calder.

I just wanted a coffee and a cookie, not a moral dilemma. But here we are. Staring down at a glowing checkout screen, asking if I would like to “Add a Tip?” If that’s not enough, there are options: 15 per cent, 20 per cent, or if you really like the way I took your order, tip me 25 per cent. Of course, adding to the guilt conundrum is the expectant eyeballing of the tipping screen holder. All this, and the coffee was OK and the cookie average. Dare to tap, “No tip”? Not likely! Thirty-one per cent of us are being asked to tip for a service we wouldn’t normally consider worthy, with 60 per cent saying they are tipping more.

It’s not just ordinary coffee and baked goods either. It’s at the hairdresser’s, petrol station, basically anywhere a screen is used to pay. It’s tip creep. No, not the weirdo eyeballing, it’s how we are being asked to tip for a wider range of services than ever before. Give the wily banks credit (yes, the pun). By normalising gratuity prompts for even the smallest transaction, they’ve not only provided a whole new incidental revenue for themselves and their shareholders but also seeded a mindset where reward is expected regardless of effort. Also known as tipping’s logic.

And here’s the leap: this same logic, rewarding the performance of service over the actual value, has migrated into the workforce, “tipping” our colleagues and employees for the optics of work rather than the substance. And we act surprised when productivity tanks. Welcome to the performative workplace culture.

The self-esteem movement

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.

The optics

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.

It matters

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.

The fix?

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.

Roxanne Calder is an author, career strategist, and the founder and managing director of EST10.