“I can see how that would be a huge advantage,” said the plant
manager.
“OK then,” I concluded. “We have nothing to lose. The best way to
make your bonus plan work is to go back to the drawing board and try to
figure out a new model for compensation, with two or three—no more
than four—areas to measure and grade upon.”
The chief engineer and the plant manager accepted the mission I laid
out for them and headed back to their office to get to work.
The next day, I walked into the office. They had the plan written up
on their dry-erase board. It had only two parts: (1) weighted units; (2)
quality.
“That’s it?” I inquired, this time without sarcasm.
“That’s it,” the plant manager replied. “Very simple. You produce as
many units as you can. We will still adjust the weights of the units based
on demand, but we will set the weights on Monday and let them stay
there until Friday. That still gives us time the next week to make
adjustments and change weights if demand spikes on a certain unit. And
we are going to post the weights of each unit out there on the bulletin
board so that every employee on the line sees it, knows it, and is thinking
about it. The quality piece we will measure each month. Anyone with a
quality score of ninety-five percent or higher will receive a fifteen
percent increase in their bonus.”
“I like it,” I replied. This plan was much easier to communicate and
much easier to understand. “When you need to adjust it, you will be able
to do so with ease.”
That afternoon, I watched as the chief engineer and the plant manager
discussed the plan with the team leads and the afternoon shift. The
response was great.
jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1