© Supplied by BP 
BP is changing its incentive programme for employees, as part of its “fundamental reset” announced in February.
Bosses have said the changes, which narrows the top incentive bracket, is not about reducing costs but designed to drive a high-performance culture as it delivers its new strategy.
The proposed changes include bringing in individual performance ratings where employees judged exceptional will be paid a higher discretionary annual bonus, but bonuses for weaker performers will be cut, according to an internal memo seen by Energy Voice.
Depending on their own performance, workers rated in the top 25% could now achieve 1.5 times bonus while workers in the bottom 10% will see bonuses halved or cut entirely. For most employees, around 65%, bonus levels will remain around the same or slightly less.
Evaluation will also be done in part against new “scorecards” that reflect the priorities of different areas of the business. This means that discretionary annual bonuses will be linked more closely to performance by employees’ own business division.
For example, if BP’s upstream oil and gas business, which includes the North Sea, had a stellar year, but another part didn’t, the upstream team would still be rewarded for the oil and gas delivery. BP’s previous discretional annual bonus structure rewarded staff more uniformly, based on performance of the company as a whole; with a simpler – if blunter – system for awarding higher bonuses to top performers.
The new programme is being brought in to encourage a “high performance culture” across every BP businesses. It will also come with “more frequent, more structured, higher quality feedback conversations with line managers every quarter.”
When asked, a spokesperson said: “These changes in performance management are designed to create greater clarity and ownership of accountabilities and a more direct connection between delivery and reward. Every part of BP is in action to deliver the strategy and these changes will help ensure everyone in the company is aligned in the creation of long-term shareholder value.”
BP will see thousands of people leave the company this year, as part of a drive to cut $4-5 billion in structural costs by 2027.
In the wake of its strategy reset, the company has started up four new projects in Trinidad, Mauritania and Senegal and Egypt. Its Murlach field development project in the central North Sea is also expected to start-up later this year.
