Ask the expert: Reward the best workers

Q. It's the end of the financial year, and in January I will be determining staff bonuses. Most of them are straightforward; it's been an average year for them and they'll get an average bonus.

I have two employees, though, that are above average, but in different ways. One is a solid performer across every category. If the others are very good average 'C' achievers, he is consisently B/B+ in every aspect of his job.

The other is exceptional in some areas, good in others, and in one or two, bordering on the hopeless. How should I approach the bonuses for these two high performers.


A. First, if you are trying to actually reward this greater level of performance, make sure the bonus is distinctly different from the average, and that the employees are aware of it. In these times of relatively small wage movement, employees may struggle to reconcile words of praise coupled with a small financial outcome.

Your B/B+ performer is pretty straight forward - try to think through the extra value that they create, communicate that, and make sure their bonus is communicating that additional value clearly as well.

With the uneven performance, though, that is distinctly trickier. If your bonus structure is not differentiated by area ($X for this area, $Y for that area) but is an overall judgment, then the areas of low performance create problems. You want to recognise and build on their strengths, but they need to bring their problem areas up to an acceptable level or you are actually communicating that good performance in those areas is not important.

In your situation, I would probably give them an average award (or even no award if the shortfalls are serious) and discuss their performance profile with them. You do not want to lose their brilliance, but you need to bring up the standard to acceptable.

In the future, you might want to look at your bonus structure. You can establish bonus systems where acceptable overall performance is required for bonus eligibility, and where bonuses are allocated to different areas of performance so that employees can allocate their efforts.