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Tell them it cost you more to buy the Tesla than you had expected. They'll get it.
Didn’t you pay less taxes under the Trump corporate welfare tax giveaway? Isn’t the economy doing amazing as all the repubs proclaim? Or is that just fake news? Shouldn’t it be triple bonus this year?
Glad you don’t work for me.
For what it’s worth, I completely agree with you and I’m grateful for any bonus I receive. My main question is, how did you phrase it last year? If you said to them “we’ve had a great financial year and so this is an exceptional bonus”, it’s less understandable for them to be upset than if they just assumed that bonuses had gone up and would stay that way. At the end of the day an employee shouldn’t ever assume they’ll get a bonus because it’s out of their control
I got a lower bonus this year. My numbers were down, but I was still upset because in previous years I was not given bonuses that fully reflected my contribution
I agree. I think there is an expectation for a bonus but the amount is (and expectation of) tied to performance (individual and firm wide)
Agreed. I should have handled it better. But truthfully, I run out of time. We are handling so many matters all at once.
This is a good suggestion and I think it would help.
It depends Whether it was a performance based bonus or a discretionary bonus. If I meet my targets, then I expect to receive my performance based bonus as part of my income. If it’s a discretionary bonus, then I don’t count on it. However, don’t expect to keep great people if you don’t pay them fairly.
It’s a bonus. Shouldn’t be expected. I just lateraled to a new firm. Started after Labor Day and my bonus was more than my previous firm in my 2 years combined. I’m very grateful. I wasn’t expecting anything given that my time there could be measured in days. So to get what everyone else got was nice.
One junior associate confronted (shouldn’t have done that) one of the executive commitee partners on how associates shouldn’t be sharing the risk of the business with partners and thus the bonus shouldn’t be so variable (much less on a subject like that). Said partner’s response that indeed associates do not share this risk since we’re working for a salary that’s there regardless of firm performance, and a bonus is exactly that - a bonus.
Maybe clear rules for the bonus at your firm could make people less bitter.
I feel you. Last year we gave very little bonuses but this year was a little better and we were able to give more sizable bonuses. Many employees think so much money is rolling in but what they don’t see is all the money going out to keep the business running. Employers pay taxes, IT, rent, supplies, accounting, payroll, etc... i can go on and on. I try to be transparent as I can with my staff but they do get discouraged when they see social media posts from other ex employees who are making more money. You cant win them all. Just do the best you can to keep them happy and be transparent with them. That’s all you can do.