City of Durham employees haven’t had a raise in two fiscal years so the city manager is recommending $1,000 bonuses. Tom Bonfield says the city has the funds to cover the $2.9 million cash outlay. According to the Herald-Sun, while not all employees will receive the bonus, both full-timers and part-timers are eligible — even those whose performance has been rated as average/meets expectations. I can see awarding a merit bonus to those who have exceeded job expectations, but providing a bonus for merely showing up and doing what’s expected is rewarding the status quo — very old-style thinking. In the private sector, simply meeting expectations garners an employee a list of areas/activities on which you are expected to improve — not a bonus.