day 1356: Bonus Money

"For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows."

 

End of Q1 just happened.  Annual bonuses for the prior year have been paid, or are readying to be paid.  Bonus time can be an awkward time because we distill down a year’s worth of work and results into one single payout formula or reason. Bonus payments can cause all kinds of consternation and mixed messages.  Not to mention that we need to be sure that bonuses are not just turning into deferred compensation for doing only what was expected in the job.  Bonus means something above and beyond.  Are we using our bonus program for such, or are we just allowing our people to become obsessed on an amount of money that doesn’t really drive greater than expected results and performance?

When everyone around us is obsessed on bonus time, it’s hard for us to not also become that way. But, we have to keep ourselves in check because we know that at its root, the love of money is not good.  We have to be careful to not allow ourselves to fall into this money trap.  There is nothing wrong with expecting and working towards earning what we think is commensurate with our efforts and performance, but there is a line and we need to be sure that we stay on this side of that line.

Reference: 1 Timothy 6:10 (New Living Translation)

day 1114: Bitcoins

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal."

If you have never heard of a Bitcoin, you are not alone. Bitcoins are an internet currency that was created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, who is believed to be a hacker.  Bitcoins replace cash on the internet as a virtual currency. According to a recent article in Businessweek, "There are 10,952,975 Bitcoins in circulation". What is most fascinating to me is that Bitcoins have value but there is no central bank or holding place that makes this determination.  Bitcoins are valued on trust and move around the internet without regulations or policies. There aren't people sitting in a room deciding what the value should be. All that said, there is a real value and today that appears to be about $80/Bitcoin.  Somewhere else I read an anecdote that in the early days of the Bitcoin a group bought a pizza, that today would be valued at $1.1MM.  You just never know.  That is the lesson of the BitCoin; we never know what will have, hold and increase in value or what will ultimately end up as worthless.  We make these decisions each and every day as we invest and decide against good ideas and bad ones. Just because we missed the Bitcoin, doesn't mean there won't be another one just around the corner.

We can never know what will hold value, except for one thing, and that is why Jesus told us that treasures that we store here on earth will come and go.  But, we also know that the treasures that we store in heaven are safe and multiplying. This is the time of the year when many companies are determining what the annual bonuses from last year will be and payout is coming soon.  Bonuses and compensation can be a source of excitement and a source of disappointment. Our challenge is in how we will react and how much of our personal self-worth that we associate with these payouts.  If we are allowing this relationship between the two to be influential in our emotions and actions then it might be that we are storing our treasures in the wrong place.  Let's consider that we should be valuing and storing our treasures in only one place, that place being under the management of One who only wants the best for each of us.

Reference: Matthew 6:19 (New Living Translation)

day 446: Bonus Time

Yes, even in these days, some companies are continuing to pay bonuses and beginning to add back on some of the extras that were taken away over the last few years. Bonus plans are usually built around the time frames of the business cycle. For some that is annually, others semi-annually, quarterly or monthly. As we have just come through the April, May, June business quarter and the halfway point of the year, there are many who are calculating their bonus payments or getting ready to deposit a check. A bonus, by definition is what we receive when we go above and beyond and what is paid to us above and beyond what is regular to receive and expected. Bonuses can be great things but they can also be dangerous. A number of years ago when companies were going to direct deposit instead of paper checks, I had a lot more people that I ever imagined who came to me and pleaded to not have their bonus checks go to direct deposit but instead to have them given to them personally as a check that they could go and cash themselves to deposit. Every reason imaginable was given to me including some that seemed honest, although sad, like, "I don't want my spouse to see this money" and "this is my fun money and I don't want to mingle it with my other monies." Regardless, it proves that sometimes when we receive something extra that we don't always do the best things when they come our way. As humans, I have long thought that we aren't well built for too much, too fast or too often. God was saying the same things to the Israelites about what happens when prosperity comes. His words were words of warning; "But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt." The next time an extra or a bonus comes your way, think about what God would have you do with it. He wants you to remember where it comes from so that our human nature doesn't take over and we not only forget but we deny the true source of our talents, abilities, opportunities and rewards.

Reference: Deuteronomy 8:11-14 (New Living Translation)

day 358: Quarterly Bonuses

I am working with a company that wants my help in building out a performance bonus plan for their executives. They have never had a bonus plan before and now that they are making money as a company and hitting regular revenue targets they believe that if they put in a more formal bonus payment plan that they could even exceed what they are doing now. When diving in further as to what they would like designed they expressed the interest in a quarterly plan versus an annual payout. This makes sense for a lot of companies and for certain jobs that have quarterly revenue targets, etc. it definitely fits. However, as I continued to dig what I heard was that the real reason behind the quarterly targets comes down to a matter of trust. There is a lack of trust by some that if the plan is built annually that by the end of the year management might change the targets or explain the results in a way that would not benefit the employee who had earned the bonus. Much of our troubles at work are built off of mistrust about what is going to happen to us versus what we deserve. We see lots of examples where the mistrust is justified but we have to avoid becoming one of the mistrustful people. My Father said never to put your faith in people for they will let you down. He was right, but that does not mean that we can't live with an attitude of healthy trust instead of being one of the people who always think the glass is out to kill us. God tells us to be trustful because if we have placed our trust and faith in the right place then we can take whatever comes our way as part of His plan. We read in Psalm 31:19; "Your goodness is so great! You have stored up great blessings for those who honor you." There it is. We don't have to worry about what we can trust or not. We can make our way today and tomorrow knowing that if we honor God with our hands, our mind and our heart that we can expect more blessings than we can fathom. And we can be an example to others that it is okay to to trust and now worry about the short-run, like this quarter, but stay focused on the great things that will happen in the end.

Reference: Psalm 31:9 (New Living Testament)