Why have bonuses?

There were a lot of doughnuts at Goldmans this year, not among the partners.

Anyone read The Art of Captaincy by Mike Brearley?

Funnily enough different people are motivated by different things. So how many more pages do we need to prove this obvious fact?

Northwind +1

Also, I think there’s the aspect of direction/focus as well as level of effort which I think incentives can strengthen. It’s possible to have two extremely motivated colleagues, putting in equal levels of effort. However one is putting their efforts into less value-added activities. I’ve experienced bonus systems which address this, and which in effect replacing some supervision / line management resource, and hence being beneficial. When I’ve been on the receiving end of this, I appreciated the ‘breathing space’ that I had (no manager over my shoulder all the time), and the KPI & incentive system gave me clarity of objectives, and a sense of progress / job satisfaction that far outweighed the modest bonuses.

Why have bonuses?

different people are motivated by different things

Are we done?

There were a lot of doughnuts or zero bonuses at Goldmans this year – not among the partners. Frankly I don’t know how they can justify to shareholders the level still paid out as profits plummeted.