Bonuses: Fair or foul?

When it comes to cash bonuses for a job super-well done, federal workers seem to be divided into two camps:

Camp One: Those who get bonuses think they are well deserved and help motivate, recognize and reward workers — and their bosses — to achieve great things. The bonuses, as they see them, are small compared to the private sector and a good-deal for taxpayers.

Camp Two: Those who are regularly passed over and see other people regularly get bonuses say they are a joke, at best, and useless and maybe border on the criminal. They see it as a pot of money divided up annually among members of “the club.”

A recent column on the subject produced a batch of emails, calls and even one rare snail mail response. This one, from a retired newspaperman, revealed a lot about how things are on the other side of the federal vs. private sector fence:

“I spent more than 30 years in the biz, mostly with one newspaper. I was a reporter, editor, columnist. I got the statutory union increases but nothing else. Didn’t expect it. Managers set goals but while we improved steadily for years we never (maybe once) met our goals and got the bonuses which were to be 2 or 3 percent of pay. After retiring, I read a tell-all-book by one of the top editors who had been pushed out. He clearly had an ax to grind. But the things he wrote about bonuses to top management, that I never knew existed, were eye-opening. He said he managed to buy a house in an expensive D.C. suburb with a bonus. No wonder the lesser-ranks never got anything.” Wiser But Sadder

And from inside the government these comments:

“I retired from the federal workforce in 2014, the last 30 years with the Social Security Administration. The bonuses we received were distributed, not earned. Each year managers would give a bonus to the ones who didn’t receive one the prior year. Each year, managers would give a bonus to the ones who didn’t receive them in the first place. I’m sure SSA was not the only agency doing this. Even though I took mine (GS-12) when my turn came around, I really felt it was just another duty to the manager’s position description.” Michael Walega

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“While I admit the way we give out bonus money is not at all ‘fair’, I am curious about how it applies outside the government. My husband started a new job where he makes about one-half what I do as a topped-out Grade 13. In that first year, his bonus was three times larger than what I received in a bonus. Over my 36 years of service, more times than I can count, I was told ‘it’s not your turn.'” Margaret in Dallas

Margaret is onto something. A union official at my company once told me bonuses were “cheap” compared to a pay raise. A bonus is a one-time event. Pay raises are forever and they compound, making the next raise and succeeding raises a permanent higher expense. And applying to the value of the pension. The company finally got wise. Last year it eliminated the retirement plan entirely, forcing workers to rely on Social Security, savings and their contributions to a 401K plan.

A now retired federal executive said the agency bonus process was simple. “People got a bonus in the year they were to retire. Period.” He said most people seemed to consider the system fair, and it only meant one bonus per person.

Different strokes.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Michael O’Connell

The original proposed title for the television show “Different Strokes” was “45 Minutes From Harlem”.

Source: Wikipedia

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