Must Bad Sales Mean No Bonuses?

The banks have featured in the headlines once more this week and once more bonuses running into billions of pounds are the topic of choice. Critics will say that a slowing in profitability should bring about a loss in bonuses, but should companies look beyond their profits when weighing up the accomplishments of their employees? Investment bankers are not going to get any public sympathy for much, let alone the size of their bonus cheques any time in the near future, but the size and scale that investment banks such as Barclays operate make them an interesting illustration to look at when analysing employee benefits. The financial industry has turned into a public example of how the bonus and incentive system works within huge corporations and the media scrutiny of their affairs offers the general public a unique insight into the reward procedures of the major financial institutions. It is hard to identify with such eye watering amounts of money and regular businesses could not even dream of the size of the payouts on offer, but rewards and incentives are something that matters to employees and companies throughout the land. In general the fashion seems to be large bonuses during the good times and major cutbacks when times aren't so great, but if a company is steering themselves through the downturn successfully, is there not an argument to make that the scale of the incentive should take into account the market in which staff are operating? The boom years are now well and truly over and we are now prepared for a so called "age of austerity". The economic climate that boosted high profits for companies is now behind us and it’s now a lot more difficult for companies to make a profit. For those that have come through the downturn it’s thanks in no small part to the ability of the staff they hire and through the difficult times when companies aren't spending it can be a lot more complicated to bring in healthy revenues. This is where there is a discrepancy in employee rewards. Is it right that workers receive higher rewards when sales are simple to generate rather than in tricky times when they may have to work a lot harder to bring in the sales? For those organizations who are looking to incentivise their staff, business gifts have grown to be a successful means of motivating employees without breaking the bank. We can't all afford billions in bonuses and corporate gifts have grown to be an effective means of recognising achievement and providing a goal to aim for. Incentivised employees are generally more eager to perform and business gifts offer the perfect way of recognising the good achievements of teams and individuals. When times are difficult people are going to be working harder to help keep the company successful and rewards shouldn't just be constrained to the good times. Incentivising staff and showing appreciation for their extra efforts will go a long way towards helping the organization thrive in a tricky economy and using corporate gifts can be a cost effective means of providing an effective reward.

Alan writes content on matters surrounding the promotional gifts industry on behalf of The Corporate Gifts Company.