Show me the money..........

Money is a poor motivator, but a good demotivator.

Golden handcuffs are a very effective method of retaining staff, but it is a fallacy to assume that you have bought their loyalty.

What you have bought is their patience. The patience to sit out whatever time is remaining until they are given the golden key and can remove their manacles.

When a company is still in its youth, it is the technical animal that will drive forward and progress to higher office. However, this is not so as the company reaches maturity.

Once Golden Handcuffs have been fitted, it is now the arena of the Political Animal, and this person will thrive, after all, who wants to bite the hand that feeds it.

The previously successful Technical Animal will not progress far in this environment as the rules that once governed the exuberance of youth have now changed.

The Golden Handcuffs, rather than offering encouragement, restrict this person's hands behind their back.

This has the effect of stifling the very creativity that was the major driving force behind getting the company where it is today.

Golden Handcuffs come in many differet guises. They are offered as Guaranteed bonuses and share options. However, these are rarely offered to those who spend their lives outside of the Ivory Tower.

For the majority who work on the ground, their hard work is rewarded with a Company Savings Scheme. Such schemes are sometimes linked in some way to the performance of the company, such as share price. Such Share Save Schemes allow even the lowliest employee to benefit from their own performance, usually allowing them to buy shares (using their own money) at a preset price.

The catch is, that unless they see out the whole of the term of the scheme, they only get back the money that they have invested, not the shares. Now, if the company is performing badly then there is no incentice to stay. However, if the company is doing well, then the potential monetary loss in leaving the company could be substantial.

For successful companies with such schemes, there are considerably more patient employees than loyal ones.