AIBU to be upset that my end of year bonus is significantly less than last year?

[laylababe5]

I've worked for my company for 7 years. My bonus last year was 4% of my salary. This year I got 3%, even though we've had a particularly hectic year and I feel like I've worked just as hard, if not much harder, than last year. I'm behind on my workload and my requests for help have fallen on deaf ears. I'm being asked why xyz is not done, but when I say I don't have enough hours in the day, I'm told I just have to get on with it like everyone else. I've loved working for this company and have been happy, albeit a bit overwhelmed of late. I'm wondering if I should say something about the reduction in my bonus.

YABU - say nothing and work harder
YANBU - ask why my bonus was so much less this year

Yes.

I'm seeing a lot of posts assuming I'm in the UK, so for clarification I want to add that I'm in the Republic of Ireland.

If you are behind with your work that might explain why your bonus is lower. If you feel underpaid then perhaps it's time to look for a new job.

Yes, OP should appreciate that the company pays a bonus. Many companies don’t.

The counterpoint may be that OP has taken a lower base salary with the aim of topping up with the bonus, but that’s a calculated risk.

But OP has clarified that it’s a discretionary bonus and not specified in the contract, so fuck me, they’re bloody lucky and should appreciate it.

Of course it is, where is relevant to the discussion.

It's like all the threads asking for advice/info re furlough during lockdown. They got cluttered up with folk saying "I'm a [insert occupation], no furlough for me". So what? It adds nothing.

One place I worked at would usually give the staff a decent bonus each Chrismas but one year it was much lower and everyone was really cheesed off. The financial director and I both knew the disastrous truth that the company was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, but we couldn't exactly tell them that.

Perhaps the company hasn't done as well as a whole this year, so bonuses are being trimmed. If you're behind in your work are you less efficient or short staffed?

I've worked for both tight fisted and more generous with bonuses companies. All were based on how much cash is in the kitty, or how much shareholders have allowed to distribute between everyone.
Have you asked your colleagues if their bonus is same as last year or less?
It might well be that you didn't brown nose enough in the past year.

Oh no, what a heavy secret to carry. Did the company pull through?

It could be because of the increased NI costs for employers from April next year and the increase in the minimum wage. Companies tend to have a "pot"for bonus payments and that is split among employees. Where I work the bonus while being discretionary is seen as part of the overall renumeration package, we are told the total value of our package in terms of pension, bonus, salary, other benefits all added together.

Did everybody in your company get a 3% bonus? A bonus is just that, a ‘bonus’ so I’m not sure you can really complain unless a specific amount was mentioned in your contract/ salary.

I mean, if you have no idea on how the bonus is actually calculated, you can't really complain on why it's lower than last years, that should have been your first port of call, to find out from someone how it is determined.

If it means your overall renumeration is lower than normal and it's an expected part of the package then yanbu. Though it's probably everyone and not just you

It also sounds as if your working conditions are getting worse - too much work with insufficient time to do it.

A bonus is not about how hard you work, OP, it's about how well the company is doing. Most of us work for organisations that never pay a bonus (certainly if we are in the public or voluntary sectors). Even in the private sector, there are no guarantees and a bonus is not a "given", so I think you should consider yourself extremely fortunate.

I work in financial services where bonuses are the norm. A couple of pieces of advice:

• It’s fine to ask what the bonus is based on but get a sense of the culture before pushing any further. In my sector pushing for a higher bonus is expected but in yours it might not be.
• Never run your budget based on getting a bonus. If you get one great then you can enjoy it (I usually save half and spend half) but if you don’t get one you won’t be in a mess.
• Salary increases are more valuable than small bonuses because it’s harder to cut salaries than bonuses. So if you have to pick your battles go for the salary not the bonus. If the bonus was much higher or performance related it might be different but based on what you say it’s just a small % of your salary.

I'm in Ireland so no increased NI costs. I'm hoping the decrease is due to less cashflow rather than a perceived drop in my performance.

I don't know what others got and I can't ask. It would be awkward given my position.

That's what I'm afraid of.im not sure what else I can do to get all my work done. I used to work late into the night and weekends to get on top of things if I was behind, but I had a baby a few years ago and that's just not possible anymore. I do some work in the evening and at weekends still, whenever possible, but the time I have available to do that now is drastically reduced.

Thank you.

How was your bonus communicated to you? Places I’ve worked in the past had a one/on/one conversation with the good news and the bad news, and areas for improvement. Is it a US company with an Irish office?

I would be disappointed because who doesn’t want more money, right? But at the end of the day bonuses are typically based on several things but not necessarily all of them:

1. financial target
2. individual targets
3. corporate non financial targets (safety, training, eco, etc.)
4. Department targets

Being in IT it makes sense if you aren’t plugged into your company’s financials, so no judgement from me for not knowing.

This year I expect a really crappy bonus, sadly I do know more than my fair share about the financials. I’ve already warned my DH to expect nothing and be grateful for anything, because it really is a shitshow at the moment (our global CEO was fired, we’re hemorrhaging executives, and the sale of our EMEA region is firmly on the table).

On the flip side, the last several years have been great bonuses…

you have to mentally categorize a bonus as what it is… extra and unreliable. The worst thing you can do is to start counting it as income. For example my bonus each year usually pays for our vacation but most of the year it sits contently in a savings account as an extra emergency fund… if no emergencies then it’s converted to travel. . So if it is crappy that just means we have to save more out of salary if we want to travel.

Hope some of this helps… it really does suck not to get as much as you were expecting.

You’re not entitled to a bonus. Stop complaining.

It’s not free money.

It kind of is. It’s not guaranteed as a salary is.

I work P/T in HE. Two years ago our departmental bosses proudly announced that they had decided to give us all bonuses as they'd had management consultants in who pointed out how many unpaid hours we all do week in week out. I got £22.07.

It's tough if you rely on the bonus to cover essentials, but most people don't ever get one. Even when I worked for a big company, the Christmas 'bonus' was a bottle of prosecco - not even real champagne.