Strictly Business: Bonus by Whimsy

OCTOBER JLC 2000 Having tried several types of employee bonus programs over the years, I have developed two strong opinions about their effectiveness. First, although bonuses can help solve shortterm problems, they’re a poor longterm strategy. Second, a bonus plan based on a mathematical formula represents an easy way out and too often rewards the wrong kind of behavior. Bonuses can be useful motivational tools. For example, you could use a bonus to focus short-term attention on changing a bad habit. Suppose your new lead carpenter is visiting the lumberyard two or three times a day, and you want him to plan better and go only two or three times a week. He thinks you’ve been out of production too