It is very important to offer a deserving reward to the person immediately after the work is done, without a delay, in an open-hearted gesture.

Shirdi Sai Baba

 (from "Quintessence of Sai Charitra"):

One day Baba came in front of Radhakrishna Mai's house and asked for a ladder. A devotee rushed to fetch a ladder from nearby. Then Baba asked him to place the ladder against a wall of the house of a certain Baman Gondar. Baba promptly climbed the ladder, roamed about for a while through connected terraces, and then got down at a different point, passing through Radhakrishna Mai's terrace. Nobody could understand anything of Baba's sudden unaccountable action. At the time when all this was happening, Radhakrishna Mai was down with a high fever in her home and was shivering badly. So, many surmised that it might be possible that Baba acted in such a way to relieve her from the fever. More interestingly, as soon as Baba landed to the ground, he handed two rupees of labour charge (a large amount in those days) to the devotee who had fetched him the ladder. Right then one person mustered the courage to ask Baba the reason behind his giving him such a great sum of money.

He replied, "It is never the right thing to make someone work for free to suit one's need, and it is very important to offer a deserving reward to the person immediately after the work is done, without a delay, in an open-hearted gesture." Through the demonstration of this teaching, Baba made us understand that by offering deserving respect to the divine entity within all human beings, society only rises in terms of the evolution of consciousness and thrived in divine blessings sourced in mutual harmony. Every hard work has its own value. If a poor labourer is paid for his hard work timely and liberally, and no untoward advantage is taken of his subservient position, it helps in easing some of his difficult financial struggles along with instilling a sense of self-dignity in the heart of such a person. In such a situation, a beautiful relationship based on trust and respect can blossom between the labourer and the employer. It leads to all-around prosperity in both of their lives, where the divine force manifests in both their hearts and unites in harmony and higher consciousness.