MUCH has been said and written about the so-called bonus culture.

After the various nefarious machinations of some at the top end of the banking sector, it has become a pejorative term. In fact, however, incentivising often makes sound business sense - especially if the most important people in any company, the workforce, are allocated a fair portion of the rewards.

This is certainly the case with schuh, the Livingston-based footwear firm, where 3,500 employees - more than 500 of whom are based in Scotland - are to share in a £25m profit-related bonus.

The seeds of this harvest were sown in 2004, when chief executive Colin Temple and finance director Mark Crutchley led a management buyout. They performed so well, the company was bought by US giant Genesco in 2011, with performance-related targets put in place which led to this new payout.

Admirably, Mr Temple and Mr Crutchley at that time gave away one-third of their £95m windfall to be shared among staff, so we can be sure of his sincerity when Mr Temple said yesterday: "The secret of our business is based on the hard work and dedication of our people" (an axiom all too often ignored by the fat cats and tax-evading tycoons of the modern world).

It is little wonder the staff of schuh have a spring in their step this morning.