In 1968, before he became a multi-Grammy award winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Van Morrison spent an afternoon recording 31 intentionally horrible songs. Van wanted to leave Bang Records, where he had recorded his signature hit, Brown Eyed Girl, and sign a new deal with Warner Brothers. Before he could, he had to fulfill his contractual obligation with Bang, which only stipulated a quantity of songs he needed to complete with no mention of quality. The so-called “Revenge Album” was the result. Technically, he did the job, but no one was happy about it.  

The moral of this story is: don’t let employees reach the point of seeing their work as nothing more than a contractual obligation. 

At Keep, we’re committed to revolutionizing compensation. Our vesting bonuses help employers offer intentional compensation packages to employees with immediate access to a lump sum of cash that vests over a period of time. We know this can make a huge difference in employee’s lives while improving retention and productivity for employers. But we can do even more. 

We offer a performance feature within the vesting bonus, designed to take engagement and productivity to new heights. Through Keep’s platform, users can add a performance challenge to each vesting bonus – incenting employees to hit customized performance goals based on the unique gaps each employer is facing. 

Example: Using Keep, a hospital has secured nurses for all the shifts needed over the next several months.  The only issue is that many of the nurses prefer not to work evening and weekend shifts.  To address this issue, the hospital adds a performance challenge to existing Keep bonuses enabling accelerated vesting if the nurses fill these evening and weekend shifts.  By accepting these shifts, nurses can get to their next Keep bonus faster. 

When the employee hits their goal they earn a performance reward, which equates to an accelerated vesting schedule (their loan is paid off faster) – a true win-win for all. 

About half of the US workforce changes jobs every one to five years. What happens if an employee isn’t engaged in their job, wants to leave, but still has years to go on their vesting bonus schedule? It may become a Van Morrison situation.

Including personalized, attainable goals tied to a bonus or incentive significantly improves performance and increases engagement. 

No one wants to accumulate a bunch of “Revenge Album” Van Morrisons on their team, pumping out subpar results. Instead, employers can work with their team members to create personal, attainable goals through Keep that employees are proud to work towards. Learn more here.