The objective of this experiment was to compare employment contract systems based of hourly pay and payment for piecework in relation to the main activities performed in an ornamental plants production company. The experimental design was completely randomized, with four treatments and five repetitions. The treatments consisted of hourly payment in the first year and piecework in the following three years. The analyzed variables were the results regarding the numbers of containers (trays/pots) h -1 and the employee's payment in US$ h -1 ; the movement of containers; the spacing of plant containers; the removal of flowers/leaves; and pruning. Both the number of processed containers and the remuneration significantly increased for all the evaluated activities when the company started to use pay staff based on productivity.