SET GOALS AND INCENTIVES THAT DRIVE CHANGES IN BEHAVIOR

“I CANNOT afford to give staff bonuses,” a practice owner told me. He said profits were pretty tight, and sales had not gone up enough to warrant bonuses. When sales are down and things seem tight, that may be the exact time to implement a team bonus program. Here’s how.

STRUCTURE

Bonuses should not be simply given out. Instead, a bonus agreement sets goals to achieve and is structured so that the business will have grown enough revenue to more than cover the cost of giving additional compensation. In addition, the bonus should be lucrative, enough to drive behavior change, and create staff excitement.

Also, I recommend that it is a team bonus program. Although there are a variety of bonus programs, I prefer the team system because it results in cohesiveness and less conflict.

A BONUS PLAN ILLUSTRATED

The “Team Bonus Program” section at the bottom of the page provides an example of a team bonus based on growing gross revenue. The practice in the example grew its sales by $110,000 and paid $11,000 in bonuses. This size of practice has, on average, seven employees; so $11,000 divided by seven is $1,571 bonus payout each.

In this example, the structure could make for very happy staff! On the other hand, a $110,000 increase in revenue should make for very happy practice owners, as well. OM

MS. CHAREST is the co-founder of 4ECPs, a practice management resource company for eye care professionals. 4ECPs has six divisions, including eye care jobs, marketing, social media, payments, events and training. Visit www.4ecps.com , or email trudi@4ecps.com.