Oh the joys of the bonus season, when you are rewarded for your success and for meeting your KPI's.
Well that's the theory.
However, in reality there are some organisations that are more than happy to reward failure.
Aside from our "respected" financial institutions that mis-sell insurance, endowments, pensions, loans, sub prime debt etc there is another organ that is happy to reward failure.
Can you guess which one that is?
Yes, that's right, our old chums at HMRC.
Those running the organ of the state that lost 25 million data records, leaves months of post unopened and has screwed up the tax credit system have still been given bonuses.
The Treasury has paid out £3.1M to top civil servants and £19M to staff at HMRC.
The rewards have been agreed by the Cabinet Office, as part of a package to encourage the most senior civil servants to meet government targets set by the Treasury.
Well done lads!
Well deserved!
Tax does have to be taxing.
HMRC Is Shite (www.hmrcisshite.com), also available via the domain www.hmrconline.com, is brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
Dear Ken, your "tabloidal" headline about "rewarding failure... " certainly grabs one's attention. I would just like to point out that the just-published HMRC Departmental Report 2008 does in fact confirm: "We can record some notable successes this year... Revenues are up £20 billion on last year...". What I would like to know is this... if a £20 billion increase in revenues amounts to "failure", then what value of increase, in your opinion, amounts to success?
ReplyDeleteFurther to the above post (by the *other" Mr/Ms Anonymous), I would just like to add that I think he/she has made a good point. In addition, as a lowly serving employee of HMRC, I have to say that your article parallels the negative mindset of the typical HMRC manager, ie every year when my manager advises me of my overall performance marking following my annual performance appraisal, where I invariably have vastly exceeded virtually all performance targets, I am told that I am being rewarded with an "average" performance mark. I wonder, are you perhaps moonlighting as an HMRC manager? Seriously though, to be told year in and year out that I am just "plain average" whilst quietly exceeding targets is like getting royally kicked in the bollocks!!! This sort of management abuse is widespread within the department. Small wonder that as a department staff morale is through the floor and goodwill out the window!!!
ReplyDeleteThe increase in revenues is because Brown put the taxes up, nothing to do with HMRC.
ReplyDeleteThe exceeding KPI's every year might be down to the fact that the KPIs are not very demanding and have not been properly set; ie HR and staff management is low quality.
The KPIs are nigh impossible to meet because the inept management are continually moving the goal posts. Also, on the occasions where the penny drops and management realise their half-baked plans are about to fail, they use that other tried and tested management technique of covering their tracks with a hasty restructure/reorganisation. Other excuses spouted are "we need to allow the new processes and structures to bed-in"; "teething troubles" and "we are monitoring the situation and will fine-tune as we go"... etc, etc, etc... all bullshit of course... witness the Tax Credits fiasco. As for HR and staff management... they're about as skilled as the Keystone Cops.
ReplyDeleteIf the goal posts keep moving, then the KPIs are indeed useless.
ReplyDeleteA pretty poor state of affairs, nno ownder staff morale is so low!
I have recently resigned as an employee of HMRC because I was sick of "average performance" from my 5 managers in 2 1/2 yrs.
ReplyDeleteI lost my confidence in my work because work mates got a bonus yet I received nothing for doing more Tech stuff.
Do not know what the bonus is for, to me if you do not get a bonus, you are obviously not doing your best so something should be done, well I saved them the bother.
Now I have left, my ex workmates have been made permanent, got flexi, email and now changing office. They must of been waiting for me to leave haha.
Glad I am out of it.
Bonus is not for success, its for those who do not do enough and managers want to push forward, if you do too much you look like you are taking their job, so you get nothing.