---
title: Are You ‘Bonusing’ Underperformance?
description: "Check out the first installment in our Managing Human Capital Risk series to find out if you are \"bonusing\" underperformance."
image: https://www.phoenixstrategicperformance.com/hubfs/1659075_PSP%20Underperformance_1_060923%20%281%29.jpg
---

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# Strategic Human Capital Insights

## [Are You ‘Bonusing’ Underperformance?](https://www.phoenixstrategicperformance.com/blog/are-you-bonusing-underperformance)

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***“The best corporate strategy can fail at implementation without a human capital strategy supporting it.”***

**The Critical Importance of the Job Benchmark**

I recently met with a client, and while we were discussing an employee performance issue, I asked a very simple question: *“How is your employee performing against the benchmark?” *Since many conversations on the topic of employee performance often center around an employee in isolation or comparing an employee relative to other employees, we are constantly using inherently biased and subjective information when assessing an employee.

 

With that backdrop, we discussed how the employee was being evaluated relative to:

- the amount the employee was being paid
- an objective assessment of how the employee was actually doing or not doing against the ideal competencies and tasks of the position – THE BENCHMARK.

  
**Busy is Not a Metric**

During our conversation, we moved away from how busy the employee was since ***‘Busy is not a metric.’ ***It was determined that this employee was being highly paid relative to both the work being done and the work the employee chose not to do. I then asked if my client felt they were funding underperformance. I was surprised when the response was, *’We are not just funding underperformance; we are ‘bonusing’ underperformance*.”  That critical moment in our conversation resonated with both of us. And the response should resonate with you, too. 

  
**Managing Human Capital Risk – Macro Issues**

***You are only as strong as your weakest link.***

Is your organization actively and rigorously working to mitigate your people's risk? Here are strategic organizational issues to consider:

- *Strategic Human Capital Alignment*
- *Ability to Capitalize on Competitive Opportunities*
- *Human Capital Cost / Productivity Analysis*
- *Human Capital and Value Creation *
- *Human Capital Forecasting *
- *Accountability – Performance Loop to Ensure Strategic Alignment *

 

***If these are issues that you would like to explore with your organization, we invite you to download our latest ["Managing Human Capital Risk" checklist](https://www.phoenixstrategicperformance.com/managing-human-capital-risk-checklist), or you can also [schedule a complimentary assessment](https://www.phoenixstrategicperformance.com/contact-human-capital-advisory) with a member of our team.***  
  
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 Topics: [Human Capital](https://www.phoenixstrategicperformance.com/blog/topic/human-capital)

Posted by [Joanne Flynn](https://www.phoenixstrategicperformance.com/blog/author/joanne-flynn)

![Joanne Flynn](https://www.phoenixstrategicperformance.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Joanne_Flynn.jpg?width=100&height=100&name=Joanne_Flynn.jpg)

Joanne T. Flynn heads up the human capital advisory group, Phoenix Strategic Performance, Inc. Previously, she was a Managing Director with Phoenix Group International and was Vice President / Director of Global Learning and Development at Goldman, Sachs for nine years. Joanne works with organizations as they face global growth and competitive challenges. She works with her clients to be both externally focused and internally responsive. With her unique background, she aligns competitive strategic efforts with related internal organizational leadership challenges. With the benefit of her career-long focus, Joanne contributes the unique insight of aligning strategy to internal organizational structure and process. She focuses on human capital relative to strategic initiatives, accelerated business growth, value creation, and business development. Joanne holds a Master of Arts degree in Business Management from the University of Oklahoma. In addition, she holds a double degree major in History and German from St. Elizabeth University, as well as certificates from a variety of leading universities and professional training and development organizations. Joanne has recently published her latest book, [Accelerating Business Success, The Human Asset Management Strategy](https://www.phoenixstrategicperformance.com/accelerating-business-success).

Find me on:

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