You have a captive audience for about five minutes where they have to listen to whatever you say.  Why would you squander that opportunity?  This window provides you an opportunity in which you can educate, communicate and inspire your employees.  Seize those few minutes and make them work for you.
 
Commonly called talking points, the goal is to communicate a few simple but important messages you want your employees to walk away with as they think about the number you communicated.   The leader or leaders of the firm or the senior managers typically deliver these talking points to employees. Here are some tips to consider if you do want to construct talking points:

1. Your points can reflect your firm’s performance versus peers; your performance year over year; the performance of the markets in general which impacted the firm; the individual’s compensation growth year over year (usually not more than 2-3 years); and finally what you’re looking forward to in 2016, either expectations you have of the employee or the firm. You need to identify what is relevant.  
2. On some of these suggestions you can either be obscure or specific.  Most leaders have a tendency to be obscure because they don’t want to be “pinned down”, which is fine.  Just don’t fall into the trap of being so obscure you lose the point and undermine your credibility as a leader.
3. Limit the talking points to a reasonable number.  In that conversation you'll be lucky if most managers can remember more than four (and your employees the same).  You can tell them they can take in notes to refer to but not the talking points sheet.
4. Go over the talking points with your managers prior to them delivering the points to employees.  Do not leave it in their hands to interpret it the way you want them to.
5. Make sure to tell your managers not to read the points verbatim to their employee.  As obvious as this sounds, the first time I provided talking points I didn't say don't read the points off the sheet and sure enough I had a manager that did.  It was a catastrophe.  The employee was pissed, the manager ended up embarrassed and weakened as a manager.
6. I'm a believer in being as open as you can.  I have typically made sure to include points that were relevant to the function or group the manager is talking to. To have a generic message that is stated to all is better stated to all in an email or town meeting prior.  I've also tried to educate employees about the compensation process in the talking points.  Nothing too complicated just the fact that we participated in market surveys, that we place ourselves at a certain average point in the market and there are obviously other factors that also influence the final number.  It reinforces the fact that they're pay is not arbitrary.

 
While I know some of you have already communicated many have not.  Hopefully, these tips will help you craft something that puts context to the bonus number besides the employee’s individual performance.  By the way, if you’re doing the employee’s performance review in the same meeting you’re delivering their bonus number don’t expect them to remember anything you say about their performance.  If you would like assistance with talking points give us a call.