The bonus scheme are usually seen as the best motivational tool. Generally, it is true, when the economony and the organization grows. The employees get nice bonuses and they expect higher bonuses every year. The economic crisis changes the picture. The employees have to be prepared to get smaller bonuses, but they are not ready to get a bad message.
The bonus schemes are built for the moments of the economic growth, they are not built for the moments of the economic crisis. The HRM Function has to take the quick action about the bonus schemes usually as the employees can get nervous about their total income.
The employees can start the Microsoft Excel and they can make a quick calculation of their expected total cash for the year. Generally, the employees can expect a lower total cash income for the year, but they expect some kind of the communication from the top management. When the top management is silent, the employees feel frustrated and they do not trust their managers.
The bonus scheme does not motivate employees, when they feel, their total cash income is in danger. In the moment of the economic crisis, the employees need the honest communication from their managers and they can survive several periods without excellent bonuses.
The silence from the managers is the worst solution in the organization. The employees do not trust the organization and they start to search for other job opportunities on the job market. The top management does not like to announce the news about the company results and the bonus scheme, but they have to announce it. The potential damage is much smaller than from keeping the status of the organization in the economic crisis in silence.
