The relationship between bonuses and firm performance
Balázs Reizer
Finance Research Letters – Volume 86, Part C, December 2025

Highlights
- Uses large-sample, firm-reported data with worker-level information on wages to estimate the relationship between bonuses and firm performance.
- Bonus-paying firms have 3.9%–4.6% higher value added per worker and 3% higher total factor productivity.
- Bonuses are more effective when more workers receive them.
- This relationship is independent of labour share and firm size, though it is stronger in the service sector.
Abstract
I investigate the relationship between bonus payments and firm performance using a large-scale Hungarian linked employer-employee database. I found that firms with a 10% higher share of workers with bonuses have a 3.9%–4.6% higher value added per worker and 3 percent higher total factor productivity. This relationship is linear in the share of workers receiving bonuses, suggesting that bonuses are more effective when more workers receive them within a firm. At the same time, the relationship between firm performance and bonus payments is independent of labour share and firm size, although it is stronger in the service sector.
JEL classification: G32, M5, J31, J23
Keywords: Risk management, Wage structure, Personnel economics