Work Bonus

eezipc

Hi all,
Our company are paying out annual bonuses at the end of this month.
I have been offered a new job and I'm going to accept.
I have to give 1 months notice so I will be here when the bonuses are paid.
Does anyone know if I am still entitled to the bonus or should I just move on and forget about it?
Thanks.

screamer

If you're there on payday then it should be paid out. However unless you've been told the figure before you give your notice be prepared to be screwed over to a small amount to give to others who are staying. I've seen it happen umpteen times.

Why not ask your employer? They will know for sure

Mrs OBumble

What does your contract say?

eezipc

I have not told my employer yet that I am leaving. I just got the offer today. I am waiting on written confirmation first.

My contract does not mention anything about bonuses at all so I guess they don't have to give me any.

seamus

Bonusses are typically not paid to employees who give notice before the payment date. This is fairly standard, and while you might get lucky and get it paid, there's a good chance you won't.

If the bonus is particularly large, explain the situation to the new company and see if they'll be happy waiting till the end of February.

eezipc

seamus wrote: »

Bonusses are typically not paid to employees who give notice before the payment date. This is fairly standard, and while you might get lucky and get it paid, there's a good chance you won't.

If the bonus is particularly large, explain the situation to the new company and see if they'll be happy waiting till the end of February.

Thanks for that. We have not been told yet how much it is. I can't imagine it will be too high so I think the best thing is to forget about it. If they do decide to pay it to me then I can just think of it as an extra bonus....

nikkibikki

Can you tell the new job you need to give 6 or 8 weeks notice? I had to give 8 weeks notice in my last job.

magicmushroom

If it's big or just a couple of hundred, it's still money you'll be losing out on!

I would definitely try and extend the start date with the new company by a couple of weeks and then hand your notice in after you get paid the bonus

messrs

If the bonus is for work carried out over the last year then I would imagine you would be entitle to it, as you have done the work already - however, they may feel seeing as you are leaving they don't want to give it to you
what is the latest you can hand in your notice? & what date are your payrolls processed?

Captain Flaps

seamus wrote: »

Bonusses are typically not paid to employees who give notice before the payment date. This is fairly standard, and while you might get lucky and get it paid, there's a good chance you won't.

If the bonus is particularly large, explain the situation to the new company and see if they'll be happy waiting till the end of February.

I think this is a dick move on the employer's part. You're getting a bonus for the work you put in, how your effort benefited the company and to thank you for your input over the previous year. Your leaving a month from now doesn't undo all of that.

seamus

Captain Flaps wrote: »

I think this is a dick move on the employer's part. You're getting a bonus for the work you put in, how your effort benefited the company and to thank you for your input over the previous year. Your leaving a month from now doesn't undo all of that.

A bonus isn't really a "thank you for your hard work" it's more, "work hard for us and we will reward you". If an employee has already handed in their notice to leave, there's no incentive on the employer to reward them.

Bonuses are incentives to encourage employees to work hard and stay with the company. They're not "thank you"s

eezipc

Captain Flaps wrote: »

I think this is a dick move on the employer's part. You're getting a bonus for the work you put in, how your effort benefited the company and to thank you for your input over the previous year. Your leaving a month from now doesn't undo all of that.

That's what I was thinking. I did work alot over the past 12 months and I know the company has done quite well (not just from me but from the whole team). Payday is the end of next week. However, I still don't know how much we are supposed to get. I think I'll hold off telling them until Monday. Perhaps if I am told first how much I am getting then they may not renege on it.
They are a decent bunch so I would be bit surprised if they did not give me the bonus.
I was generally wondering what (if any) my rights were if they decided not to give me anything because I am leaving.

Gerry T

You have no rights. The company can say the bonus is their discretion unless your contract stipulates terms. Why not wait until your paid and then hand in your notice. You would have to ask your new employer if they were ok to push your start date out for a couple of weeks. Most likely they will be ok.

Captain Flaps

seamus wrote: »

A bonus isn't really a "thank you for your hard work" it's more, "work hard for us and we will reward you". If an employee has already handed in their notice to leave, there's no incentive on the employer to reward them.

Bonuses are incentives to encourage employees to work hard and stay with the company. They're not "thank you"s

Must depend on the employer, but I've never worked anywhere where your year-end bonus wasn't contingent on hitting certain targets or milestones as a business/department.

By your logic the new employee who's just started is more entitled to a bonus than the guy who's busted his hump driving revenue/growth/performance or whatever the past year.

seamus

Captain Flaps wrote: »

Must depend on the employer, but I've never worked anywhere where your year-end bonus wasn't contingent on hitting certain targets or milestones as a business/department.

Correct. But that's an incentive. A reason to work hard. Companies make promises and then deliver on those promises because otherwise employees will leave. The purpose of bonuses is to encourage hard work and retain employees.
What's the point in giving an outgoing employee an incentive?

By your logic the new employee who's just started is more entitled to a bonus than the guy who's busted his hump driving revenue/growth/performance or whatever the past year.

Depends on the company. In most cases, neither will be entitled to a bonus.
But yes, it makes more sense to incentivise a new employee than one who has already handed in his notice.

Specific performance-driven bonuses, like those you'd get in sales, are usually built into someone's contract and will be paid, even pro-rated, when the employee leaves.

Most people have much softer targets based on a rating given to the employee, and payment of the bonus is entirely discretionary.

Don't for a single second think that employers hand over bonuses because they're grateful. They do it to stop you from walking out the door. If you've already walked, why would they pay it?

TG1

Unless a company is contractually obliged to hand out a bonus it is used as a tool. Not to reward hard work or loyalty in the previous year, but a tool to motivate and keep employees from leaving. If you have given notice then they don't need the tool so there's no point in them using it.

They may give a token amount so you don't go giving out about it to other employees but don't be expecting a huge amount.

trishasaffron

Had this issue with a colleague in previous job......he was leaving but wanted bonus paid. MD was only going to pay it "over my (his) dead body". Legal action threatened by ex employee........small settlement made.......all future contracts amended.......ex employee's industry rep not good!!!

LiamoSail

I don't know what is standard, but I worked for a company in which the bonus was part of the contract, but dependent upon both company and own performance.

I left the company in the January with the bonus due in April. Come the end of April, the company paid me my bonus, less the portion of the year I hadn't been there, still amounted to a few k though

Always thought it was very decent of the company to do so as although I was entitled to it, I'd be fairly certain they could have neglected to pay it.

jimmycrackcorm

trishasaffron wrote:

Had this issue with a colleague in previous job......he was leaving but wanted bonus paid. MD was only going to pay it "over my (his) dead body". Legal action threatened by ex employee........small settlement made.......all future contracts amended.......ex employee's industry rep not good!!!

I'd say your photos employers industry rep isn't good either now.

I left a company where a bonus was due. They paid it because it was stated that it was effective for the annual period even though it actually want paid until a couple of months after when the financial year passed.

Put it another way, many companies realise that not paying because someone may leave in the interim is actually a negative because they can leave the day after it's paid and people won't stay longer with the realization that they would get short changed anyway. I think your old M.D. might realize after a number of years that his policy is backfiring.

It reminds me of an M.D. who got fed up with one person taking sick days and so decreed that the company wouldn't pay any longer. A couple of key people left over it after getting docked a payday or two. He soon changed his mind.