A Bonus by Any Other Name

If it can't be measured it can't be paid for ("What Share Is Fair?" Topline, December 2009). If a bonus is just given, it isn't a bonus, it's a gift. Control over the outcome is also necessary to the reward being effective. I was working with an owner who loved to pull out $100 and lay the bills on the desk to challenge employees to reach a goal. I talked to someone who was given the $100 challenge. He said, "The $100 meant nothing, because I couldn't affect the outcome of the goal. We didn't hit the goal and I didn't get the money. It was out of my control."

Dee Gardner
Business consultant
DMGSouth
Austin, Texas

Appalled and Tickled, Too

In "An Agency Ready to Roar?" (Topline, November 2009), I was both appalled and tickled by Securities and Exchange Commission chairperson Mary Schapiro's motivational comment "[We must] act like our hair is on fire." I was appalled because her comment, while well intended, places the wrong perspective on the rather dubious task of an auditor. While they were perhaps intended to counter the increased scrutiny, her inflammatory words may turn up the heat too fast and thus could result in just as much damage as too little scrutiny.

But I was also tickled, because it occurred to me that the last person I can recall who acted while his hair was actually on fire was Michael Jackson. I am sure the SEC staff will be more prudent when performing their acts. Acts to impress versus acts to support require different actors and directors. Let's hope we have the right director and team in place to do the job.

Douglas E. Offermann
Chief Executive Officer
Homeowners Association of Shepherds Crossing
Zion, Illinois

Nothing Wrong with Pizza

Regarding your article about retaining the best and the brightest without hemorrhaging cash to do it ("The War for Talent Is Still On," November 2009), I agree with all the things you listed except for forgoing pizza perks.

I think sometimes management misses the whole point of free pizza lunches — or potlucks, or company socials, and so on. These things are good for morale, especially when upper management sits down at the table with the rank-and-file. Our managing director regularly wanders into the lunchroom and eats lunch with the employees. He also cooks for the entire company two or three times a year.

These get-togethers cement relationships between management and employees. You can't put a price tag on that.

Laurel Matthews
Credit & Collections Assistant
Nunhems USA Inc.
Parma, Idaho

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