I can spot a bad idea from a mile away—especially when someone who really shouldn’t be making big decisions skips the whole “talk to stakeholders” step and slams the “Implement by Tuesday” button. HR often comes up with some truly great initiatives. But every now and then, they hatch a real stinker. What follows is a perfect example of a truly bad idea—followed by one that actually got it right.
A really bad idea:
You might remember the story about someone who identified as a wolf. More recently, someone claimed to be a tortoise. Then there’s the viral YouTube clip of a Peace Officer being handed a pet collar as “proof” that the driver of a car was actually a cat. The officer calmly replied that California doesn’t allow cats to drive—and even joked about whether the driver should be taken to a shelter for a rabies shot and vaccinations.
In my opinion, there’s not much upside to allowing employees to self-identify as non-human. For starters, just imagine the new checkboxes you’d need to add to forms. Hire a cat, and next thing you know, they’re coughing up hairballs in the hallway. And just picture the chaos when, during lunch, your self-identified cat-employee spots ‘Ole Ruff’ from Marketing and takes off in a full-blown hallway chase. Sure, the security footage might go viral—but probably not for the right reasons. On the bright side, HR could finally tap into a new recruiting goldmine: pet stores. A market largely untapped—until now.
A Much Better Idea:
Implement Gain-Sharing – a Self-Funding Incentive Plan for anyone not already participating in a variable compensation plan. I can attest this Best Practices initiative works – and helped put it in place within a Fortune 200 electronics manufacturing company. Once the plan was in place, over the new next two years Sales climbed 40.3 percent and Operating Profit increased by a whopping 33 percent. A few details:
• No payout until company achieves 103% of EBITDA.
• Qualifying employees may earn up to an additional 12% of annual salary.
• Employee morale skyrocketed, and helped make us an employer of choice.
Want to know more? Access KeystoneHR.com and in the “HR POLICY STORE box and enter CX2 or Gain-Sharing – Self-Funding Employee Bonus.
Here’s a much better idea: Gainsharing – a Self-Funding Employee Bonus Plan
Gainsharing, which is a Best Practices initiative, works. I helped integrate the plan into existing operations within a Fortune 200 electronics company. By the end of the second year, Sales had climbed 40.3% and Operating Profit increased by a whopping 33%. Payouts to employees for that first and second year were respectively 66% and 96.7%!
• No payout until company achieved 103% of OP and other selected metrics.
• Qualifying employees could earn up to an additional 12% of annual salary.
• Employee morale skyrocketed, and helped the Business Unit and facilities I was responsible for become known as an employer of choice.
Want to know more? Access KeystoneHR.com and then SKU: CX2 or Gainsharing – Self-Funding Employee Bonus.
KeystoneHR offers Best Practices focused HR and related policies and documents, training, consultation, and project work. With over 40 years of progressive HR experience in Fortune 500 companies and upper-end LLC’s, our team is ready to help. See our website – KeystoneHR.com. KeystoneHR – Best-in-Class helping Best-in-Class.
