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I think there are three kind of workers:
A) Those who prefer to work for somebody and to get a fixed salary without having to worry about anything once their daily work is done and they head back home.
The problem is that most of those workers are also the ones who won't work a minute extra and will leave work every day at the exact time, also will have little initiative on their own. Good for grunt work, usually won't switch jobs as they want security, good for big corporations where initiative or extra time work is not a big need. A fixed salary and schedule works well for for them, and you need to give them enough work and instructions to keep them busy enough and not having to think a lot on themselves.
B) Those who are more brilliant, more enthusiastic about their job, about starting new projects, that give it all and don't look at the clock if they need to finish something today.
Those are great for our adult online business, where you need to do new and innovative things all the time and need to be done quick. The problem is that they are usually so smart and ambitious, so they might want to work for themselves once they learn enough. They usually work better on a fixed salary + incentives based on their performance, so they will see that their extra work hours and initiatives get a recompense. They are usually a bit more undisciplined and you probably need to give them more freedom about work schedules, etc as they tend to start a revolution when you are too rigid on the rules.
C) The guys in between, probably the harder to manage as they tend to move to type A) or B) depending on the boss, job, etc so you need to study them well and mix things enough to keep them happy depending on to which type A or B they are moving at a given time.
All those kind of workers are good to have in the appropriate mix. The key for you as boss is to find that perfect mix, to assign them the appropriate tasks and responsibilities, to adjust salaries and/or incentives, rules at work, and to keep them happy enough to not to want to leave you, and in fact to make them proud and an important part of their company and projects they work for.
Another key is to show them that being a boss is not just about making more money than your workers while they do all the job. They need to underestand the costs of running a company (you will be surprised of how many workers think that gross sales = net profit) and the headaches a boss has, that you can't ever disconnect from work even when you are at home or holidays etc. In resume, respect them, underestand them, give them what they want but deserve, but also make them to respect and underestand you.
I have been both a boss and worker (type B) and also both things at same time and i have dealt with all those kinds of workers and bosses (i could also split bosses in different types), the rules i posted before always applied.
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