Hourly Worker Incentives: How Michael Fortinberry Uses Performance Pay to Change Behavior | Ep. 172

Episode 172 Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)

Hourly worker incentives are one of the most misunderstood—and most powerful—levers for improving productivity, quality, and accountability in service and trade businesses. In Episode 172 of Business Superfans®, Michael Fortinberry, Founder of Protiv, breaks down how the right performance pay system can fundamentally change behavior on hourly teams.

Most companies pay by the hour, unintentionally rewarding time instead of results. Michael explains why this model stalls productivity and how transparent, simple, and frequent hourly worker incentives realign teams around winning together. By turning the labor budget into a visible scoreboard, crews begin holding themselves—and management—accountable. The result is better output, stronger culture, and improved margins without adding headcount.

If you lead hourly employees in construction, trades, or field services, this episode delivers a practical playbook for building incentives that actually work.

Discover more with our detailed show notes and exclusive content by visiting: https://linkly.link/2Vv1v

Key Takeaways

• Hourly worker incentives must reward outcomes, not time — otherwise behavior will always drift toward inefficiency
• Performance pay works best when it’s simple, transparent, and frequent
• Turning labor budgets into “their money” changes how crews treat quality and rework
• The best incentive programs create peer accountability—not micromanagement
• Hourly teams need basic financial literacy for incentives to stick
• Behavior changes faster with a visible scoreboard than with verbal expectations
• Strong hourly worker incentives improve culture, not just productivity

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Guest Bio:

Michael Fortinberry is the Founder of Protiv, a platform helping service and trade businesses modernize performance pay for hourly workers through simple, transparent, and frequent incentive structures.

From growing up with construction roots to serving 10 years in the U.S. Army and leading in the multifamily/tech world, Michael now helps contractors unlock productivity, improve quality, and build culture by aligning labor budgets with team incentives.

Freddy D’s Take

This episode is a championship film review for any owner running hourly crews. Michael’s core move is classic: put a scoreboard where everyone can see it—and pay out when the team wins.

In sports, you don’t tell the team, “Just play hard.” You track points, clock, and execution. Protiv’s ProPay turns the labor budget into a live game plan: budget vs. actual, progress tracking, and a clear bonus forecast.

The real power is ecosystem momentum: when your people win, they become internal Business Superfans®—promoting the company, recruiting talent, and defending the standard on the field. And that’s exactly the type of strategy I help clients implement through my SUPERFANS Framework™ in Prosperity Pathway coaching within the Entrepreneur Prosperity Hub.

The Action:

The Action: Launch a “Friday Scoreboard Bonus” pilot for one crew this month.

Who: Your crew lead + hourly field team

Why: Because behavior changes when the target is clear, the math is trusted, and the reward hits fast.

How:

• Pick 1 repeatable job type (or one project phase) with a clean labor budget.
• Define the win: “Beat budget + pass quality checks = bonus.”
• Show the crew the numbers weekly (simple + transparent).
• Celebrate winners publicly (badge, board, shout-out, big-check moment).

Guest Contact

Connect with Michael Fortinberry:

• Website: Protiv.com
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: Michael Fortinberry (mentioned)

LinkedIn Client Pipeline

Resources & Tools

Protiv — Performance pay + incentive management platform for hourly teams

ProPay (inside Protiv) — Bonus structure tied to labor budgets + real-time tracking

Ninja Prospecting — Sponsor: human-first outreach that opens real sales conversations

This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Protiv
• Ninja Prospecting
• Procore
• Aspire
• Service Titan

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