Fear not, lousy U.K. managers. Come year end, you’ve got a good chance of landing a major bonus.
Almost a third of underperforming U.K. managers were paid a bonus in 2015 for the prior year, according to a new survey. Meanwhile, only 55% of managers who exceeded expectations received a bonus, indicating that pay and performance are far from aligned.
The survey, conducted by XpertHR and the Chartered Management Institute, covered 317 organizations and more than 72,000 employees.
In the top ranks of management, the problem was even worse, with 45% of underperforming senior managers receiving a bonus. According to the survey, the average payout was £8,873 ($13,560).
“Too many managers are reaping the rich rewards of their positions despite being poor performers,” said Ann Francke, chief executive of CMI. “Unfortunately, it seems to be a lot easier to reward poor performance than to face the awkwardness of having difficult conversations with underperforming staff.”
Mark Crail, content director at XpertHR, said that many bad managers are benefiting from “a culture of rewarding past glories.”
“The biggest and most significant indicator of whether someone will get a bonus this year is whether or not they got one last year,” he said. “The longer that goes on, the more people come to rely on the money and the harder it is to stop paying it.”
The survey also showed that U.K. businesses are facing problems in recruitment and turnover.
Worker productivity in the U.K. has flat-lined in recent years, while the unemployment rate has dropped.
“I’d rather have the employment miracle and then work on the productivity gains rather than the other way around,” Prime Minister David Cameron told The Economist in April. “I think this is the right way round to do it.”
