Breakdown of salary and bonus

Jambonjunior

Hello,

I was disappointed with my end of year bonus I didn't feel it reflect my work.

And I've never been given KPIs or any real metric of my work. And I have nothing for this year.

I was talking to someone that works in HR (not from my company) and they were saying that companies have to explain the breakdown of your bonus, and what metrics it is on. That there should be a min/max and an explanation of how they came to the decision.

Is that true? DO companies usually provide some information?

cronos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058236744/breakdown-of-salary-and-bonus

Generally you would get some form of performance review that says where you placed on a rating scale, usually 1 to 5. 3 being average performance, 1 being terrible and 5 being exceptional performance. It's generally based on opinion of your performance from feedback from your manager and your peers. Sometimes companies have a group discussion where your performance is bench marked against your peers. I don't believe there are legal requirements around it, just generally how it's done. Legally your company can give you a zero bonus if they want as long as you can't prove it's not an attempt to force you out.

Short answer is if you aren't happy with it and you told them you think you deserved more and they say you didn't then start looking for a new job.

bullpost

Large companies will usually have a performance programme for employees with metrics and clear guidelines on what goes into bonuses. However when it comes down to your share its not always easy to figure it out e.g. it can depend on your grade etc.

ari101

If your bonus was not agreed/contractually defined there is not much you can do. You might have had a great year but if the company overall hasn't, or management has only allocated a small budget to performance pay, or are there is just a no bonus culture, you may be lucky to get anything.

Larger organisations with more active HR may be more likely to have proper performance review processes. There will be agreed maximum bonuses and targets/tasks set linked to payment of same, in some companies a portion of bonus may be linked to broader organisational targets.

It might be in your interest to discuss the possibility of agreeing a personal bonus and targets for 2022 with management. I worked in a company where I was lucky to have a manager who favoured bonuses and pushed for staff to have set amounts and agreed targets, but I know even in other departments bonuses either didn't exist or were completely at the discretion of management so we're not necessarily fair.

BailMeOut

As a percentage how does your overall comp for the year including bonuses and any salary increases compare to last year?

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058236744/breakdown-of-salary-and-bonus

Never heard of a breakdown of the payment. To echo previous posts, my bonus is based on my performance for the year, which is evaluated in a review between me and my manager. The review is based on the criteria we agree on at the start of the year.

I think you need to have a chat with your manager and say that your goals are poorly defined and you want a review at least every 6 months to ensure you're on track to meet your goals and mazimise your bonus.

What percent did you get? I've never heard of any requirement to give details of bonus. My understanding of my annual bonus is it's just that, they can decide to give me nothing if my performance doesn't warrant it. As another poster said there's a scale on which you get rated and the bottom two rungs multiply your bonus by 0 to end up with 0.

Mrs OBumble

What your HR friend described is good practice, but there's no requirement.

So long as the company isn't discriminating on the big nine (age, race, gender, etc), they can work out bonuses any way they want.

And many companies don't do bonuses at all.

blindsider

What does your contract say? It should have salary + bonus details - I would start here.

Why are you unhappy? Did anyone set expectations? Have a conversation, but base it on facts and reasoanble expectations, not emotion.

In an employees market (for many sectors), I would think that employers want to hang on to good employees.