A question about bonus culture

Posted by: Jonathan Gorse on 09 February 2009

I'm curious about the current situation regarding bonuses paid to staff in banking. Leaving aside the emotive issues around this subject I'm struggling to understand why bonuses were being paid without any seeming link to profitability i.e. how can RBS for example with its disasterous losses still be contractually obliged to pay bonuses?

In my old field of airlines for example if the sales team increase turnover by selling all the seats at a loss then no bonuses would be paid if no profit is made. (I hasten to add that for flight deck crew we don't get any bonus anyway because you either land it or bend it and they reckon you are paid a salary to do the former)

Just curious,

Jonathan
Posted on: 13 February 2009 by lutyens
Hi Phil
No I didn't think you were defending the bonus culture and I agree that it will not dissappear overnight, rather I was highlighting that exploiting situations happens....it should be regulated/monitored...and that as Bruce was highlighting there are better models out there now that could be adapted.

Incentives will not dissappear and there is a perfectly reasonable arguement that they shouldn't. The issues I think are that they should be moral...in both senses...and that they be relevent/reasonable.

j
Posted on: 15 February 2009 by Don Atkinson
I don't have a problem with cashiers and other similar bank staff getting their £1,000 bonuses on top of their £17,000pa salary - assuming their part of the banking system wasn't deeply involved in bringing the system crashing down, and providing they get on with lending money to decent businesses and for realistic mortgages - even Lloyds and HBOS

Cheers

Don