“It’s like I don’t trust them to do their best without a bonus, and they know it,” Alicia explained.
“It sets up this stupid game and now people have excuses for their behavior. I’m not going to do this or that, because I don’t get a bonus for it. And people are smart. If this is the game, they will figure out how to take advantage.”
“And what about you?” I asked.
Alicia sat up, looking innocent.
“And what about you?” I continued. “How much of your responsibility, as a Manager, have you abandoned, thinking a bonus will be an effective substitute?”
Since I don’t like absolute statements, I will say that giving bonuses is USUALLY a bad policy – about 99% of the time. In my experience, the bonus becomes “expected pay.” After the first bonus is given, an employee feels a sense of entitlement. A salesman that I new said he never called on a particular company the day they gave out the bonuses becuse he hated to hear all of the employees complain about their bonues. The employees complained that the bonus was never big enough. They didn’t look at it as something “extra” but rather an EXPECTED part of their compensation.