It is often said that highly paid officials should be paid a lot to ensure outstanding results, and to prevent them being lost. A couple of years ago there was a survey that was reported in the Financial Times examining the link between executives pay and their results. The conclusion was that there was no link. The highest paid senior executives were no more successful at running their businnes that others. They were just more greedy. Most bonuses don't reflect the contribution of individuals. Most simple reflect whether the econony is booming, in which case everyone is doing well, companies make big profits and their share prices rise, or if the economy is in recession. I see no reason to pay any bonuses at all. It is generally only the banking and financial sectors that do this. And they do so because they are sitting next to the pot of honey (ie ourmoney - our pension, insurance etc) and they keep sticking their fingers in it. I would suggest that a law be passed that says it is illegal to have legally binding bonus clauses in a contract. I would then suggest that the government prohibits any banks that receive government aid from paying any bonuses. Some banks such as Barclays have not received direct government aid but still benefit from the government guaranteeing their savings accounts. If they want to pay bonuses then the government should remove the depositors guarantee from those banks.
Last year I miscalculated my income and was literally 10p short in my account for just 24 hours, to pay a direct debit and got stung £25 for it. I was then very rudely insulted by a member of staff because I wanted to change some small change into notes. "We ONLY do it for our customers, nobody else. You will have to go to your own bank." My answer to her: "This IS my own bank thank you very much bitch. With staff like you working here, I'm surprised you Have any customers." and reported her FAST. I got an apology, but no compensation. I went into a branch of Barclays this morning and their system was palying up, the Teller couldn't have apologised more for the delay and thanked me for be patient. Then she said: "They can pay the big bosses big bonuses, but they can't afford a decent system that works properly when we need it." I returned this with a big Thank You and smile to go with it. That Teller was 100% right in what was said. :gnthb:
That`s the point, it isn`t the ordinary hard working staff who have to face us the public who get bonuses, it`s the greedy fat theives who steal big time. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
There was a headline yesterday that Gordon Brown was angry about this, but when I read the article his spokesman (not the man himself) said something like "Gordon has suggested that bankers may want to consider opting out of their bonus" or something like that. Good strong messages from the top then eh? I don't know the full solution to all these problems, but I suspect a good place to start would be to vote this complete idiot and his cronies out of power as soon as the next election comes round. If we do it then, we might just be able to pick up the shattered pieces of our nation up out of the gutters.
That bonus money would go along way for schooling and medical needs, go on bankers [yes I said bankers] pot the money and share it out to some good causes please
Don't tell them that. To some of these people a "good cause" means a brand new Aston Martin for them.
Seen the news today? This may be a step in the right direction. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7895235.stm
Why should there be any bonuses at all? - especially if they are rewarding faikure. Banana Man said "To be fair, what about all the processing staff that have nothing to do with making or losing money but simply process and administer accounts, products, people etc. If they met their internal targets then they are entitled to be rewarded for their efforts." I have heard this arguement a lot. To my mind if you meet your targets you are doing your job and are rewarded with a salary.
I tend to agree PeterS, surely the reward for not meeting targets should be your P45. What planet are these people on?
It depends on your salary structure and contract. Some firms pay a salary that is below market rates, and top it with with performance related bonuses. If that's the nature of your contract, then not paying the bonus would be a breach of contract and the employee would have the legal right to sue their employer. Such action would cost the employer (and in the case of bailed out banks - the taxpayer), a lot more than it would to just meet the contractual obligations. I do agree though that there should be no discretionary bonuses for banks that have been bailed out by the taxpayer.
I can understand that thinking in a sales driven business as it can work to make staff perform better...but a decent salary is also a good incentive to do a good job-that and a good place to work. I do think businesses in this country look at employees in the wrong way far too often. Looking after them and not just with financial carrots goes a long way to happy staff taking pride in their jobs and the company, resulting in a better business. Or am I being too simplistic?
The trouble is that banks simply can't spend too much looking after their staff. That's because their number one priority is to look after the shareholders. This might seem bad (and in some ways it is) but many of the shares are held by pensions companies and the likes, so letting the value the fall not only lets down Mr Rich in suburbia that owns loads of shares, it also lets down Mr and Mrs Ordinary who are about to retire and are depending on their pension fund to sustain them. The other thing is that people become complacent after too long in the same job. If you offer them performance based incentives instead of just raising their salary, they have reason to put their complacency behind them. Of course you could say that they could just move to another job when they get bored, but a high staff turnover costs a company loads, because they have to pay recruitment agency fees, mess about with interviews and background checks, and then train the new staff.
