Donuts and bonus

We start today our list of the strangest aircrafts in history and we do it with de Dornier DO 335 “Pfeil” which is our number 10. This aircraft whose prototype flew for the first time in September, 1943 and was never produced in series, was a tricky approach of Dornier to the design of a two-engine aircraft with the characteristics of a single engine. With the tandem engine configuration, the aerodynamic drag was considerably reduced and the asymmetry problem in case of a single engine failure could be avoided, as it happens in the multiengine aircrafts that have their engines under the wings.

The crux tail was designed to protect the lower rear propeller from touching the ground during takeoff. With a maximum speed of 763 km/h at 6500 m it was significantly over the allied fighters of the time and it was a very promising craft. Even with a single engine it was able to reach 563 km/h, which is exceptional for an aircraft with an empty weight of 5210 Kg.

This is a link to a Youtube video that shows some images of the time.

Our position number10 of the strangest aircrafts of the history is for the DO335.

In this new entry of our blog we want to start a sweet talk speaking about Donuts, a genuine American product like Coca Cola and in the same way as this soft-drink, Donuts have spread over the years across the world becoming a part our daily life.

A vivid memory of my childhood are the Donuts although, to be honest, my mother did not allow me to eat as many as I would have liked. Obviously, with the typical psychology of all mothers, mine exploded my passion for this sweet to prize me when I did well, had a good mark in an exam and similar things. This was the counterpart of the slap I received when I did something inappropriate or wrong.

You don’t need to use your imagination to realize that, she was naturally applying the basic rule of any relationship between parties that are not at the same level. Namely, the carrot and stick policy.

This universal rule is applied everyday in the relationship between company and employee although sometimes we do not stop to think about it. The only difference is that now, the Donut is called incentive and at higher levels, bonus.

The incentives should be something reasonable that allowed the company to reward the good results obtained by an employee. In a small company these incentives are discretionary by the direction board, which could lead to comparative grievance among the employees. This is the reason why, big companies regulate their incentives, the same as their wages or vacations.

But this strict regulation also has its downside, because in some cases it is not easy to define the accomplishment of the objectives, the individual or the group ones, so that over the years the mentioned incentives turn into a complement of your payment, what makes them loose their reward character. To speak frankly, it means that some workers assume that they receive their salary only for attending the factory and if the company wants them to produce, it must pay them their incentive. In this sense, if we think that the incentives are a stimulus to improve their productivity, the quality of work or even the commitment with the company, we will be mistaken.

It is possible that many of you are shocked by what I am saying, but if you want to check it, you only have to go to a big company twenty minutes before the end of the working day and you will see a row of individuals, perfectly clean, with outdoor clothes, waiting at the stamp clock until the bell rings and they can leave as fast as possible. And this is ok, the company allows it, the union allows it and everybody is happy. I am not saying that everybody does, this not even that this is  common, but it happens and nobody seems to care.

The more you look up into the corporates pyramid, the easier it is to verify the accomplishment of the objectives as these are merely economic and therefore very easy to find. At these levels someone could think that bonuses do their job and are the way to prize the manager’s hard work, in order to improve the company’s results. And, again, we would be wrong.

The reason is simple. It is not necessary to be an economy expert to realize that the financial results of a company can only be improved by one of the following things (or both):

1. The income rises
2. Outlays are reduced

If we stick to a sector, such as complex as the aeronautics, rising the income is something, that cannot be done in a short term as it implies long and difficult negotiations with customers, that can last very long and this does not solve the problem, as the director checks the results at the end of the year.

So, there is only the second option left, and here is where they rumble in. They squeeze their suppliers in order to get their bonus; they cancel any product improvement removing any research and development budget, etc. In the long term, this leads with any doubt, to impoverishment of the company, from a technical point of view. But this does not worry the director because he will already have collected his bonus and, probably, when the effects of his actions are obvious, he will not be there anymore.

If you climb up the pyramid even more, up to the top management, the results are not better because there you can outline the reorganization of the company separating loss-making areas (but with a high strategic value) from those that give profit in order to improve the short term results. Needless to say that publically this will be explained as a restructuring oriented to market adaptation or to increase the synergy model among the companies in the business group and the like. But the sad reality is that the current CEO thinks that he has two years to ensure his succulent bonus.

So, wherever we look, up or down, the panorama is devastating. This is why  I can assure you that if you are not trapped in such work habits, or if you do something not because someone told so, but because you believe that it is the right thing, then you will never get that bonus

At least, to comfort you, nobody will ever take the donuts away.

A thought:

The Truth is a bird with bright colors. So that’s why, usually, it is the first to be fired.

See you.

Be brave!

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