Calculate your bonus Bonuses are at the forefront of most senior executives' minds at this time of year - although not in a good way in 2008. When you see the figures from Watson Wyatt's latest annual Global 50 Remuneration Planning Report, you can understand why. On average 45 per cent of UK senior executives' pay is made up of bonuses or profit share. For middle managers, this falls to 16 per cent and for those at a junior level, 10 per cent. Senior executives in Greece have the highest proportion of what is termed “at risk” pay, with

55 per cent of their earnings given as bonuses or profit share. The lowest is in Denmark, where 28 per cent of senior pay is deemed to be “at risk”.

Get the boss to log on Yet more evidence of clashing attitudes to internet use at work from the Chartered Management Institute: nearly two thirds of employers monitor employees' internet use, with the same proportion blocking “inappropriate” websites. However, the survey of 1,000 managers aged under 35 suggested that they were misguided: the majority of employees (72 per cent) want to use the internet for professional development.

Think about IT Two reports published this week suggest that companies are not making the most of technology. A study by Cranfield School of Management and Deloitte says that too few companies have a chief information officer (CIO) and those in postion need better-defined roles and a higher profile. Most CIOs and chief financial officers also admit that their companies are lacking IT skills, according to a study by INSEAD business school and Micro Focus, the technology company.

Forget money Most entrepreneurs set up in business because they want to be their own boss (42 per cent), not because they think it is the road to fame and fortune, according to a survey by Barclays Wealth and the Economist Intelligence Unit. Only 29 per cent saw it as a way to make lots of money.

Leave the office Office workers can be a bit sniffy about manual workers, but they are having the last laugh, according to a survey by the website greatplacestowork. co.uk. About 80per cent of plumbers and electricians said that they were stimulated by their work compared with 67per cent of HR professionals. If you are office-bound, consider a role in the media: 73 per cent said they were happy at work, compared with 23 per cent of those working in retail. In all sectors women were motivated by a sense of achievement, followed by money, and men vice versa.