Salary Bonuses in Revenue Departments : Do They Work?

Compensation provides a major incentive for workers to perform well. Accordingly, bonus payments are often used to enhance staff effectiveness and efficiency-and have become increasingly common in revenue departments around the world. A recent Worl...

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Main Author: De Wulf, Luc
Format: Brief
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/01/5177510/salary-bonuses-revenue-departments-work
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11282
id okr-10986-11282
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-112822021-04-23T14:02:54Z Salary Bonuses in Revenue Departments : Do They Work? De Wulf, Luc AUDITORS AUDITS BONUS SYSTEM BONUSES BUREAUCRACIES CIVIL SERVICE ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT MANAGEMENT REVIEWS MANAGERS PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS PERFORMANCE CRITERIA PERFORMANCE INDICATORS PERFORMANCE MEASURES PERSONNEL PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT PUBLIC SERVICES REFORMS REVENUE COLLECTION SUPERVISORS TAX TAX ADMINISTRATION TAXATION TEAMS WORKERS Compensation provides a major incentive for workers to perform well. Accordingly, bonus payments are often used to enhance staff effectiveness and efficiency-and have become increasingly common in revenue departments around the world. A recent World Bank study analyzed the bonus systems applied by revenue authorities in seven countries, and was complemented by questionnaires completed by tax and customs administrations in seven others. Though the sample was small, the study generated interesting findings and points to areas requiring further analysis. The countries analyzed indicate that bonus systems are fraught with danger and so must be designed with the utmost care. There is no evidence that bonuses automatically increase the effectiveness of revenue departments. And because staff performance is influenced by factors other than salaries and bonuses, it is not easy to determine the effects of such systems. This note reviews reasons for introducing bonus systems and discusses a number of crucial design features, particularly the importance of effective and transparent performance appraisal systems based on clear performance measures. 2012-08-13T14:38:51Z 2012-08-13T14:38:51Z 2004-01 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/01/5177510/salary-bonuses-revenue-departments-work http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11282 English PREM Notes; No. 83 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Brief Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic AUDITORS
AUDITS
BONUS SYSTEM
BONUSES
BUREAUCRACIES
CIVIL SERVICE
ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT REVIEWS
MANAGERS
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
PERSONNEL
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC SERVICES
REFORMS
REVENUE COLLECTION
SUPERVISORS
TAX
TAX ADMINISTRATION
TAXATION
TEAMS
WORKERS
spellingShingle AUDITORS
AUDITS
BONUS SYSTEM
BONUSES
BUREAUCRACIES
CIVIL SERVICE
ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT REVIEWS
MANAGERS
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
PERFORMANCE CONTRACTS
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
PERFORMANCE MEASURES
PERSONNEL
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC SERVICES
REFORMS
REVENUE COLLECTION
SUPERVISORS
TAX
TAX ADMINISTRATION
TAXATION
TEAMS
WORKERS
De Wulf, Luc
Salary Bonuses in Revenue Departments : Do They Work?
relation PREM Notes; No. 83
description Compensation provides a major incentive for workers to perform well. Accordingly, bonus payments are often used to enhance staff effectiveness and efficiency-and have become increasingly common in revenue departments around the world. A recent World Bank study analyzed the bonus systems applied by revenue authorities in seven countries, and was complemented by questionnaires completed by tax and customs administrations in seven others. Though the sample was small, the study generated interesting findings and points to areas requiring further analysis. The countries analyzed indicate that bonus systems are fraught with danger and so must be designed with the utmost care. There is no evidence that bonuses automatically increase the effectiveness of revenue departments. And because staff performance is influenced by factors other than salaries and bonuses, it is not easy to determine the effects of such systems. This note reviews reasons for introducing bonus systems and discusses a number of crucial design features, particularly the importance of effective and transparent performance appraisal systems based on clear performance measures.
format Publications & Research :: Brief
author De Wulf, Luc
author_facet De Wulf, Luc
author_sort De Wulf, Luc
title Salary Bonuses in Revenue Departments : Do They Work?
title_short Salary Bonuses in Revenue Departments : Do They Work?
title_full Salary Bonuses in Revenue Departments : Do They Work?
title_fullStr Salary Bonuses in Revenue Departments : Do They Work?
title_full_unstemmed Salary Bonuses in Revenue Departments : Do They Work?
title_sort salary bonuses in revenue departments : do they work?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/01/5177510/salary-bonuses-revenue-departments-work
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11282
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