â–¶ Bonus Time: A PALAZZO Advisory & Acquisition study reveals that while bonuses are shrinking in many industries, over 92% of PR, marketing and advertising agencies gave 2009 bonuses to employees at all levels. Other findings:
• Only 28% of respondents base their bonus allocations on a specific formula, the rest relying on general factors. Of those who use a specific formula, 20% rated their incentive plans as a better tool to meet company and drive company profits.
• Only 21% said they used long-term bonus planning.
• Nearly 30% of respondents allocate less than 10% of their profit before tax to incentive programs and only 19% allocate the industry standard 20% or more to bonuses.
• While the 92% of respondents assessed their bonuses as being fair to employees, far fewer reported that bonuses drive company success (66%), drive behavior to meet company’s needs (66%) and drive profits (57%).
• In terms of distribution, C-level bonuses skew high (30% of salary) and non-officer bonuses skew low (10% or less of salary), but EVP and SVP bonuses were relatively low, with 53% of EVPs receiving bonuses equal to or less than 20% of their income.
Source: PALAZZO Advisory & Acquisition