Bonuses for One and All

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It may be heretical, but Dave Jones decided not to pay bonuses to salespeople for bringing in new accounts. His problem was that the system benefited only ahandful of people. In 1993, he canned the old bonus system and instituted a profit-sharing plan that includes everyone. As CEO of HRStrategies, a$17-million human-resources consulting firm, in Grosse Pointe, Mich., Jones felt that even though not everyone's job directly affects company profits,everyone in a small office has an impact. Each of the company's eight offices is a profit center, rewarded on its own income statement.

To compensate for the fact that some team members work harder than others, each office director can use up to 30% of the profit pot to reward "specialplayers." Otherwise, each individual's bonus is a percentage of salary. And while some salespeople favored the old volume-based sales bonuses andeventually left, most, maintains Jones, were relieved to share responsibility for sales.

Copyright © 1995 G+J USA Publishing

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