THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1912. THE BONUS SYSTEM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10587, 19 March 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 1912. THE BONUS SYSTEM.

In these days of Arbitration Court awards, it would lie rank heresy to suggest a means whereby the efficient labourer would receive something more than the dullard and the "waster." The tread of recent legislation in New Zealand, and in other parts of the world, lias been to discourage efficiency and to make it almost ail offence for a 'worker to give his best services to his employer. The idea has gained ground that an exertion wage is contrary to the ethics of trades unionism. The result has been paralysis in trade, ami an increase in the cost of living commensurate with the diminished output, in America, the bonus system is -being introduced with a view to increasing the efficiency of the labourer, and it is not surprising that the official organ of the Labour Department- in New Zealand, ■which recognises tthat if this Dominion is to hold its own with other countries it -must get the very best from its workers, is giving prominence to this subject. Tn the "Labour .Journal" of this month, (which, by the way, is issued under the direction of the Hon. .1. A. Millar) appears an article from the pen of William Hamilton Burquest, which was published in the "Bu,vlno-sg Mnga-

ziuo'' in Detroit, U.S.A., and with the .sentiments in which a great many j people will be found to agree. This shows that bonus-giving has been laid down almost as a rule in modern organisation, and that it has been reduced almost to a science. T lie writer says that bonus-giving does not always need to be scientific to be effective. Ala 11 y have had remarkable success in the giving of bonuses, although they have-not'had a definite conception of scientific management. They have given .bonuses, as it were, from the heart, and it has put money in their pockets. The most essential thing about a 'bonus, humanly speaking, is that it be given in the right spirit. Lot it be a gift from the house,_ a reward for service, or a recognition of extra effort, it makes little difference in the final results, if the man who gets the bonus has a warm glow of good feeling pass over him when he gets the extra compensation. That is why any kind of a bonus given in the right spirit brings results. Also, it can be given in any kind of a business, nor is it necessary to figure down to a hair's breadth just where it no loliger pays. You cannot tickle an employer more than by praising the : skill or ability of his employees. You cannot anger him more than by speaking of them slightingly. The average man in business is doing all he can to help those below him up the ladder. Every ambitious step on their part gives him satisfaction. So he provides a stimulant for better work in a bonus, and the men go about it with a good feeling. There you have the fundamental reason for the bonus, aside from the economic fact --that when applied scientifically it serves to set the ambitious, competent workman apart from his slower fellow.