Mr. John Barry:

If the Deputy will allow me to finish my point I will come back to that. In a high-performing utility the enterprise sets its objectives every year at a very high level and this cascades down the organisation to the business units, to the functional areas within the business units, and down to the individual level. Every year, each individual subject to a performance management regime gets a set of individual targets and objectives for what he or she is meant to achieve and how he or she is meant to go about achieving them, which is a behavioural set.

We have done a great deal of work on this in the past two or three years. It is still evolving, but I am happy with the progress made. The idea is that members of staff will know on a daily basis when they come to work how they fit into the organisation and that their contribution is relevant to how the overall enterprise is performing.

There should, in my view, be a monetary payment where a member of staff outperforms the performance level that was set. Members should bear in mind that while we are talking about people getting bonuses, there are also members of staff who will underperform in the performance management cycle. When one puts in a performance management system, part of the target is to bring underperformers up and put performance improvement plans in place so that they get to a level at which they can adequately perform in the job they are doing without receiving any bonus payments. There is a great deal of talk about bonuses attached to performance management, but the tool of a high-performing utility, irrespective of whether staff receive bonuses, is the performance management regime and the honest conversations managers have with their staff to ensure they are motivated coming to work, know how to fit into the overall strategy of the organisation and can contribute positively on a daily basis. That is what drives an organisation, because the fundamental value of an organisation is its people. If they are motivated and going in the right direction, one will have a high-performing utility.