Bonus Pay For State Workers In North Dakota Cut In Half.

Remarkable how cronyism disappears when you shine a light on it.

I'm certainly not against paying workers a bonus. If business is good it should be good for everyone. The key word there is everyone. The state of North Dakota received some significant heat for its increased bonus allocations for the last fiscal year. AP News reports that North Dakota's top budget person admits as much.

The near 56% drop was due in part to increased publicity and criticism about the bonuses, said state Office of Management and Budget Director Joe Morrissette, North Dakota’s top budget writer.

Through an open records request, the Associated Press gathered that about one-fifth of the close to 7,800 state employees received a bonus of some sort in the last fiscal year. North Dakota's fiscal year goes through the end of June.

The workplace can get kinda toxic for the 4 out of 5 employees not getting a bonus.

Sure didn't work for Clark Griswold and his family in the movie Christmas Vacation. But that doesn't mean that in many cases a bonus is not justified. Employee retention is a big part of the bonus structuring. Governor Doug Burgum came under scrutiny in the past for giving bonuses to many of his closest staffers.

North Dakota still spent $3.7 million on bonuses in the last fiscal year.

Getting a merit raise for increasing business or productivity makes sense. I'm sure most state jobs are not commissioned based so there should be some reward for benefitting your employer. Gone are the days of an automatic cost-of-living raise for workers. Most of us a pretty stuck at the pay rate we're at now.

Even Doug Burgum put the brakes on giving out bonuses.

His office said in a statement that no bonuses were given “due to budget constraints with extra costs related to the departure of long-time team members.”