My firm will be holding yearly reviews (and giving out bonuses) in January of 2021. This is the second straight year reviews have been in January. Curious to hear whether anyone else works at firms that follow a similar timeline for reviews and bonuses.

Question

Attorney 1 · Accepted Answer

Yep. Its a little annoying but doesnt really matter.

Associate 1 · Answer

My firm always does reviews & bonuses in January.

Associate 2 · Answer

I have already had my performance review but my firm routinely doesn’t announce bonuses until the end of January 🙄

Associate Attorney 1 · Answer

Yes. We have two reviews in December. One is a job performance review and the other is a compensation review. I work at a small (<10 lawyer) firm.

Senior Associate 1 · Answer

Reviews and bonuses in January over here too.

Associate 3 · Answer

I have my review in December (and at firms where there was no formal review, bonuses were always in December). That said, I’d prefer to have reviews/bonuses in January because I usually get a lot done during December. When courts slow down and shove hearings into the new year, I can get a lot of drafting done. So I hate how my “year end” review is based on January to November. I feel like all my work in December never gets factored in to bonuses and raises.

Associate Attorney 2 · Answer

Same here. Bonuses in January. Anyone have any idea why this timeline may be adopted in small firms?

Associate 4 · Answer

My firm does it in March, maybe that is even stranger?

Attorney · Answer

Thank you. All of the comments help with my prospective and expectations.

Associate 5 · Answer

Ours are usually in March, but we didn’t get them until April this year because of COVID. I’m hoping we have them in March again this upcoming year.

Associate 6 · Answer

My firm also does their reviews and bonuses in January.

Associate 7 · Answer

We do reviews and bonuses in February for the year that ended the previous December.

Partner 1 · Answer

We decide bonuses in December. Salary review is in January.

Counsel 1 · Answer

We had been making a slow transition from mid-year reviews to early-year reviews (pushing back by one month for several years - when I started reviews were in July, last year was August), and we were scheduled to begin the review cycle in September this year. Thanks to COVID, the board made the decision to push the annual review process to January. Assuming 13 months between reviews was hard enough, but now it’s been pushed by an entire quarter, putting 15-16 months between review cycles. Oh, and it has historically taken 2-3 months beyond the scheduled cycle to be completed, meaning this year I’ll be close to 18 months between annual increase opportunities. Fortunately I’ll be retroactively paid to the beginning of the review cycle, but it still puts doubt into employees’ heads when the cycle lasts nearly as long as the sudden delay. I suppose I should feel fortunate to have employment and that annual reviews are still happening along with increases, but the feeling is certainly not that my well-being and peace of mind are considered with these decisions. Ok, whining complete, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

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My firm will be holding yearly reviews (and giving out bonuses) in January of 2021. This is the second straight year reviews have been in January. Curious to hear whether anyone else works at firms that follow a similar timeline for reviews and bonuses.

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