So listen to the CPO Agenda when it says that Procurement Professionals should get bonuses, even though it might make this recommendation for the wrong reasons.

If Sales gets bonuses for making a sale, which brings the organization X cents to the bottom line for every dollar sold, then Procurement, which brings the organization 5X to 20X cents to the bottom line for every X dollars saved should definitely be in line for a bonus.

Plus, as the CPO Agenda suggests, if fixed costs are still a problem from a (short-sighted) organizational viewpoint, performance-based bonuses should be much less of a problem, especially if they are based on cost avoidance or savings, as a CFO can’t argue with numbers that improve the bottom-line 10X as much as the same numbers from Sales improve the bottom line.

Plus, if you want to retain talent, this is the best way to do it. Just like a hedge fund manager jumps to the investment house that will give him the biggest reward, your stars are going to jump to the organizations which give them the biggest rewards. And as much as you’d like to think that work-life balance, empowerment, and sustainability are important to your team, in general, nothing compares to a bigger paycheck which gives your star the ability to control their own work-life balance, a feeling of empowerment, and the ability to financially support their own sustainability goals.

So give your stars performance-based bonuses. They’re worth it.