Sign-On Bonus Vs. Retention Bonus

Start With The End In Mind

By:Lee
Start with the end in mind. Start with the finished product and see what it took to get there from where you currently stand. What does the end look like? Are you sure this is what you’ve wanted all along? What if you won’t want the same thing when at the halfway point and now, you’re stuck? If anxiety has not sent you back to the drawing board, then proceed forward until you start to feel its pull. Now that you have defined what the end looks like, what steps will you take to get there? How many steps are there? How long will each take? All of them? Now that the path has become clearer, is the finish line as bright and inviting as you had hoped? Or has it lost some luster before you reach the line for real even there?

Asking ourselves these questions can be overwhelmingly difficult, especially when the answers become "no's" sooner than expected, if expected at all. Now that the foundations of the goal have been tested, how much different does the end look when the finish line is the starting point? How strong were those foundations? Did they stand the test, or should they be abandoned in favor of starting fresh with a new approach?

Now that the game plan has been audited, time to reformulate. How different does the plan look now with the end in mind? What needs to be changed? Where was the bottleneck? Were there multiple? Be honest with yourself and how you intended to reach your goal and use this exercise as a test run. Imagine if the exercise had not been conducted at all, would you reach your goal at the same pace now that previous problems have been addressed? Or would the goal even be reached at all?

Starting with the end in mind is an invaluable strategy to help one see the path to victory just a little more clearly. No, it is not a guarantee that your endeavor will be successful, but it is guaranteed to aid in your success. Gaps will be filled with solutions that you applied, issues addressed, worries soothed. With no true cost but time, yet potentially yielding a superior product, Start with the end in mind.

“It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the business of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover that it’s leaning against the wrong wall”

- Stephen R. Covey

Sign-On Bonus Vs. Retention Bonus

4/4/2022

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By: Lee Oca
An incentive bonus should be implemented as a way of attracting candidates to a position. The bonus is to be given to the new hire shortly after they begin work at their new position, just as the name suggests. This differs from a retention bonus in that retention bonuses should be given after an employee stays with a company for a set amount of time. Both methods are effective in motivating candidates when the compensation reflects the name of the incentive. Problems arise when applicants are misled with what they believe to be a sign-on bonus but in order to receive this, the applicant must stay with the company for a set period of time.

Applicants put a tremendous amount of trust in the company for which they now work. When someone chooses a position, they have usually weighed their options and have decided, “This is the right step for me, this makes sense.” When the level of trust is not reciprocated by the employer, applicants see through this and lose faith in the position and the company almost instantly. Once it has been communicated that the employer is only looking out for their best interest, candidates are more likely to call in sick, leave the position altogether, and begin to tell those they work with and know how uncaring company “X” is. All of these can be prevented if the employer continues to treat the new employee with the same level of respect and trust shown throughout the onboarding process.
In order to gain and keep an applicants trust through the onboarding process, they must have have a “yes” for both of the following questions;

1: Can I trust you?
2: Do you care about me?

Once the applicant trusts the company, the process, and is doing what feels right to them, it is up to the employer to maintain this level of trust by following through on what was promised and making sure the new employee sees themself as more than a cog in the machine.
Applicants are human beings, not a source of labor that can be manipulated, exploited, and then terminated when they ask for what they rightfully deserve. Bonuses are expected to be given once the minimal requirement that was previously agreed upon is met. Leading candidates on with false promises or “dangling the carrot” in hopes they will keep working based on a lie. Being mislead from the start about a sign-on bonus which may have heavily influenced their choice, being led on with the requirement of “You must also work X number of hours to qualify,” then designing their schedule so they cannot reach X is unethical and one of the fastest ways to lose an entire workforce.

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Start With The End In Mind