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Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

madned.substack.com

251–260 of 684 posts

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#251
I guess I have no problems with the bonus structure where I work. The base salary is so strong, that equity and bonus is exactly that - ownership and reward for strong quarters.

With that said, I have been under valued and depended on bonuses before, but i guess i don't let that shape my current positive experience. I make sure I only budget for my salary and nothing else.

As others have said, the extras are funny money until they're cash and never forget, taxes on bonuses SUCK

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#252
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it because the target was set unrealistically high or because the company underperformed?

If the target had been hit every quarter for a few years, if anything it was set too low.

Depends how scalable it is. For some products you need to accurately predict how much you can produce and sell. So targets are a matter of everyone executing their part on schedule.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#253
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's literally a biblical parable about this (though sort of in reverse). I'll paraphrase it (it's from Matthew Ch 20): A man goes out in the morning to find workers for his vineyard, promising them each denarius for the day. Around lunch he goes to find more workers. During the afternoon, he goes to find even more workers. At the end of the day the man pays everyone, starting with those who arrived during the aft…

the parable leverages our feelings of injustice tickled by the very relatable narrative to carry one point home, the Heavens part. the other, secular reading, has a heavy taste of prosperity gospel, putting employers into God's boots to justify blatant injustice and better margins, fka profits. it is and remains unfair to offer different employees different wages for the same work. please don't use the gospel to just…

> remind myself that Huawei is fully employee owned with no majority shareholders

You know it’s a Chinese company right? That employees have as much control over it as they do companies that are formally state owned enterprises, none? That it’s run by the internal CCP committee?

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#254

This reminds me of my first job as a developer, age 21. I haven’t shared it before, so here goes... There was a ‘crunch’ coming up at work (i.e. IMHO, bad planning) and so the boss offered everyone a bonus if they performed well. However, the older employees warned me that the criteria for such bonuses were often ill-defined. I therefore pushed for clear achievable objectives. These pre-agreed objectives were promise…

> my boss asks: what is to stop me threatening to resign every time I don’t get my way? Nothing. That's how negotiating an employment relationship works. Holy shit.

It's not. That is an independent contractor relationship. Employment means you play ball for the stability of the paycheck. If you want to throw a tantrum every time you feel slighted, you shouldn't commit to a full-time permanent job.

Employees are not the top of the totem pole, there are always other factors that people making these decisions have to consider. They don't always have to share that with you. It's a nice idealistic view to think otherwise, and I truly hope you always find work in places like that. But this is not the lived reality for the majority of people, and it's actually not a bad thing.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#255
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If i recall the same happened when google replaced their holiday gift phone with donation to some charities they picked.

Wait what? Who gets the tax break there?

If I recall correctly, the employees just picked a charity and Google gave the donation. The "gift" was being able to pick the charity. I don't think there was any employee tax break.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#256
post #88
post #26

This is literally a plot point in Christmas Vacation. Is also why I think it is silly for startups to provide too many perks. It sets obvious precedent and will upset more folks when you stop. Find ways to invest in the company so that success is it's own perk. If the company truly has more, work that into raises where you clearly tie the income to the success of the company.

> Is also why I think it is silly for startups to provide too many perks Should the opposite be true as well? Startup employees going home at 5 and fighting unreasonable schedules?

employees should negotiate whatever compensation they think is fair for the work they provide. bonuses and perks can be part of that, but it's probably better to just ask for a base salary that is fair

salaried employees are generally not paid by the hour, and it's rare that 40 hours a week (or any maximum) is specified in a high compensation contract. if I know that a job won't be "9-5", I'll factor that into whatever base salary I ask for

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#257

This past year we received our usual bonus (despite the fallout from COVID), but we did not get our annual 3% cost of living adjustment. Instead that money was used to keep people like janitors, fitness facility people, food people, etc. still receiving paychecks even though campus was (and still is) closed down for quarantine. Some people complained, but I thought it was a good way to take care of our fellow coworke…

My bonus this year was reduced, and also didn’t receive any increase. While it sucks, all I can think about is how lucky I am to get a bonus and still have a job. Many others weren’t so lucky.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#258
post #88
post #26

This is literally a plot point in Christmas Vacation. Is also why I think it is silly for startups to provide too many perks. It sets obvious precedent and will upset more folks when you stop. Find ways to invest in the company so that success is it's own perk. If the company truly has more, work that into raises where you clearly tie the income to the success of the company.

> Is also why I think it is silly for startups to provide too many perks Should the opposite be true as well? Startup employees going home at 5 and fighting unreasonable schedules?

I don't see why a startup would even offer a bonus or perhaps why employees would expect one if they aren't already showing a profit..., but I've experienced the latter first hand.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#259
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Startup employees going home at 5 and fighting unreasonable schedules? Absolutely. First, overwork doesn't lead to more productivity for knowledge workers. You get to pay that piper one way or another in the end. Second, back in the day, if your company was acquired for multiple billions, you had a pretty good shot at a life-changing infusion of cash. Nowadays, stock options given to employees often end up being wo…

> First, overwork doesn't lead to more productivity for knowledge workers. You get to pay that piper one way or another in the end. I have never seen any research showing net negative productivity for any job for under 60 hours a week of work. Overwork sucks but if you have evidence that it’s bad for productivity please cite it.

> Overwork sucks but if you have evidence that it’s bad for productivity please cite it.

Seriously? Of all things, something so obvious like this needs needs citation?

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#260

Bonuses should be: infrequent, irregular, unannounced, and large. Otherwise you end up in this trap where people expect the bonus and worse yet, count on it to pay their bills. It’s stupid to make it a part of your overall compensation package because if you do, then the bonus is always weighted based on overall company performance. So if the company has a bad year no one gets bonuses even if individual teams crushed…

At Google there are bonuses known as peer bonuses and spot bonuses. They are indeed infrequent, irregular, and unannounced, though not large at all. People feel way happier receiving these sub-$1000 (or slightly above $1000) bonuses than the rather more predictable but large annual bonuses.
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