Beyond the Bonus

Written By Jo Rogers

In this episode of Beyond the Bonus, I’m joined by the brilliant Gemma Hood, someone I only met recently but quickly realised we’ve been orbiting the same world for years!

We dive into a hot topic in agency land: bonuses for client services teams. Are they really the best way to drive motivation, or do they unintentionally damage collaboration and long-term success?

Together, we explore:

  • Whether bonuses truly motivate in the long term or just push short-term wins

  • The risks of tying bonuses too tightly to revenue targets

  • The danger of encouraging transactional behaviour over quality service

  • How to fairly reward individual contributions without overlooking team players

  • Non-financial recognition strategies that actually work

  • What agencies need to consider before implementing a bonus structure

Whether you’re a founder, client services lead, or HR partner in an agency, this episode is packed with insights on building fair, sustainable and values-led motivation systems.

Jo Rogers