structured in such a way that he did not have
sufficient control of the outcome
Yeah, I worked at a job once that tried an incentive program that failed miserably for this reason.
We were supposed to hit X number of billable hours per month. For the first few months I worked my ass off and achieved this.
However I wound up with almost zero bonus. It turned out that the actual bonus was based on what the clients actually paid, and when they paid it.
We had clients fail to pay, or they paid late, or had been given discounts. So most of my hours didn't count, or were shifted to subsequent months... which also happened to be months were sales wasn't able to provide enough billable hours to us for us to reach our bonus.
Total BS.
As you say... and similar to the linked article... I worked my butt off for the bonuses, and fulfilled my part of the bargain. But was then denied, for reasons 100% out of my control.
I quit. Even as a 23 year old that was obviously crap.
We were supposed to hit X number of billable hours per month. For the first few months I worked my ass off and achieved this.
However I wound up with almost zero bonus. It turned out that the actual bonus was based on what the clients actually paid, and when they paid it.
We had clients fail to pay, or they paid late, or had been given discounts. So most of my hours didn't count, or were shifted to subsequent months... which also happened to be months were sales wasn't able to provide enough billable hours to us for us to reach our bonus.
Total BS.
As you say... and similar to the linked article... I worked my butt off for the bonuses, and fulfilled my part of the bargain. But was then denied, for reasons 100% out of my control.
I quit. Even as a 23 year old that was obviously crap.