Re:Scammers siphoned $36B in fraudulent unemployment payment...
by the-pigeon on Wednesday December 30, 2020 @04:46PM
(#25586546)
This is a very common myth in business.
Bonuses in most situations lead to a decrease in productivity.
https://hbr.org/1993/09/why-incentive-plans-cannot-work https://smallbusiness.chron.com/bonuses-affect-employees-wor... https://hbr.org/2017/03/research-how-incentive-pay-affects-e...
There's a ton of research out there on this. To simplify it basically if someone is doing mindless work like putting a cap on a bottle on an assembly line, then bonuses increase performance in the long term. But if they are doing complex work like writing software they decrease performance in the long term.
The consultants have even worse incentives. The better they do the less they get paid. Meaning, it's better for them if the project drags on than delivering something on time.