Bonus Based On Morale?

[Newell Steamer]

I was at lunch with my friend yesterday and he tells me that his bonus would be determined by his morale.

I've honestly never heard of this before.

Has anyone ever experienced this before? And, if yes, how do you judge/determine someone's morale,.. and then decide how much their bonus should be?

Also, when I think about the message this sends, You better be happy at work, otherwise, I will punish you by holding back your bonus!, this is actually counter and detrimental to the idea of 'boosting' morale.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Sounds like someone who is incredibly happy with their job because they get away with taking two hour lunches and going home early every day is going to be rewarded handsomely.

But I always thought the term "morale" was mostly used in a collective sense, applying to groups of people rather than to individuals.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Sounds like BS to me and a way for the company to screw employees.

 

[CPA]

It's not really called morale anymore. It's called employee engagement, and there are several companies that charge a lot of money to measure it. Gallup is one of them.

 

[Smoblikat]

I would owe my company money if that were the case.

I am fairly certain that my company is hell, and my boss might be the anti-christ.

 

[rcpratt]

Yeah, Gallup Employee Engagement is what came to mind for me as well. But frankly, I think it's a huge mistake to connect Gallup scores to compensation for individual contributors. Leaders I can understand.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

It's not really called morale anymore. It's called employee engagement, and there are several companies that charge a lot of money to measure it. Gallup is one of them.

My last company made a big deal about installing a new culture in the office. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars doing this and then conducted surveys of the employees. The majority of employees said it was poorly done, was terrible, was unclear, etc. Management's response was: "They just don't understand what we're trying to do!" instead of saying "We messed up and didn't do a good job." I LOLed and am so glad I left that place (a very well known sports org).

 

[highland145]

What's he do?

 

[IronWing]

Sounds like BS to me and a way for the company to screw employees.

I'm afraid you're not showing enough flair. Flair is critical to the company demonstrating high morale.

 

[Ken g6]

Makes sense if you're management and your bonus is based on the morale of those under you. Otherwise...

Sounds like BS to me and a way for the company to screw employees.

 

[smackababy]

How much flair does he wear to work?

Thankfully, my bonus is based on how well the company does! Which, of course, is never good enough to max it... =( Oh well, it is enough to get close to maxing my IRA for the year in Feb.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I'm afraid you're not showing enough flair. Flair is critical to the company demonstrating high morale.

 

[purbeast0]

on the subject of morale, it's incredible how little a company can do to boost the morale of people at work, and how much more productive they will be. i've been on low morale projects and high morale projects, and the difference is night and day.

if by "morale" they mean attitude, then i say it's not too bad of a reasoning. working with people who have bad attitudes about work puts a hindrance on the whole project usually, and it will start to rub off on people.

 

[Newell Steamer]

What's he do?

He buys IT hardware, software and IT related consulting services. So, there are TONS of other metrics that would be more viable than morale to determine if he is doing a good job or not.

 

[highland145]

Yeah, sounds like a way to screw him on his bonus.

 

[smackababy]

on the subject of morale, it's incredible how little a company can do to boost the morale of people at work, and how much more productive they will be. i've been on low morale projects and high morale projects, and the difference is night and day.

if by "morale" they mean attitude, then i say it's not too bad of a reasoning. working with people who have bad attitudes about work puts a hindrance on the whole project usually, and it will start to rub off on people.

Having people on your team that have bad attitudes always results in bringing the whole team down, in my experience. I've had times where I just want to grab the guy and shake him, saying "If you hate your life so much, just get it over with already!" or "I wouldn't be so quick to hate this job, as you would have a hard time being hired anywhere except McDonalds with those skills and attitude."

 

[Newell Steamer]

Sounds like BS to me and a way for the company to screw employees.

Yes.

But, to be fair, I think it may just be his boss,...

He was telling me how the regional CEO issued an edict at the beginning of the year; "Let's define our culture" (reading through everyone else's posts,.. it just jogged my memory,..). And then his boss came up with this bonus based on morale business.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Sounds like a win win for management. If there are no hard metrics, they can do whatever they feel like doing and can't be held responsible for anything.

 

[NoTine42]

Yes.

But, to be fair, I think it may just be his boss,...

He was telling me how the regional CEO issued an edict at the beginning of the year; "Let's define our culture" (reading through everyone else's posts,.. it just jogged my memory,..). And then his boss came up with this bonus based on morale business.

What the !?!?!

Don't leaders define the culture?

This sounds like Phil Jackson asking Dennis Rodman to define the Bulls culture.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Don't leaders define the culture?

Agreed.

Leaders, in the corporate world, would define the culture as;
- work from home
- once a month organize an outing (food/drinks, dinner or lunch)
- birthday parties
- dress down days
- monthly lunch and learn meetings (eat while you get an overview of what your fellow coworkers do)

 

[vi edit]

The lack of pay raises will continue until morale improves.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

What the !?!?!

Don't leaders define the culture?

This sounds like Phil Jackson asking Dennis Rodman to define the Bulls culture.

Agreed.

Leaders, in the corporate world, would define the culture as;
- work from home
- once a month organize an outing (food/drinks, dinner or lunch)
- birthday parties
- dress down days
- monthly lunch and learn meetings (eat while you get an overview of what your fellow coworkers do)

There you go trying to hold management accountable for something again. I can see you're not a team player.

 

[fleshconsumed]

I've read this on CNN the other day:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/19/pf/unlimited-vacation/

Now that sounds like a way to screw the employees. Sure, you can take as much vacation as you need as long as all your projects are on time and as long as your vacation is not detrimental to the bottom line. Well, easy solution, just pile up a ton of work and voila - no more vacation for you cuz you got work to do.

Ugh...

 

[Jeff7]

I'm afraid you're not showing enough flair. Flair is critical to the company demonstrating high morale.

"You will attend the Christmas part and you will have fun goddammit!"

Yes.

But, to be fair, I think it may just be his boss,...

He was telling me how the regional CEO issued an edict at the beginning of the year; "Let's define our culture" (reading through everyone else's posts,.. it just jogged my memory,..). And then his boss came up with this bonus based on morale business.

I know that there are trade magazines for the engineering professions. I think there are also similar things for management.

We also had a "let's define our culture" thing this year.
There were forms for everyone to fill out the company's core values, and the "winners" are now on a banner in our database and on posters all over the place. Brainwashing through repetition I guess?


Gotta keep up with the latest trends.

 

[BoomerD]