Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

The story also made me wonder about bonuses in European countries where private employee salary numbers are publicly available (or so I've heard). Is the same true for bonuses, if they are offered?

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#5

Post by spullara » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 11:45 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #2

This is really making me want to buy an Alpha on ebay. Is there an OS that has ever had a better name than "Digital Unix"?

We got early access to them at WPI back in '91 or so. They were amazing for the time.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#6

Post by Negitivefrags » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 11:51 PM UTC

I actually think bonuses and equity grants are terrible for comapany morale. I've seen it many times, and heard many more stories.

On top of the issue in this story, there are others too.

For example, if someone wants to leave, but the bonus or vesting is coming up, they will stay, and you don't want people on a project who don't want to be there.

As another example I know people who work at companies that are going to IPO, and nobody at the company is working at all. They just spend all day thinking about the IPO, and afterwards, checking the stock price.

I don't expect this to be a popular opinion here, but anything outside of a salary for compensation is just a bad idea.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#7

Post by dewitt » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 11:52 PM UTC

> "$25,000 was not enough money to retire on for sure, even in 1996."

$25,000 in 1996 is $42,000 in 2021.

Seems like a modest incentive for top tech talent, even back then.

* To respond to the comment below, the author had been working as a hardware systems engineer at headquarters for 10 years by 1996.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#8

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 11:56 PM UTC

Negitivefrags wrote: post #6

I actually think bonuses and equity grants are terrible for comapany morale. I've seen it many times, and heard many more stories. On top of the issue in this story, there are others too. For example, if someone wants to leave, but the bonus or vesting is coming up, they will stay, and you don't want people on a project who don't want to be there. As another example I know people who work at companies that are going…

[deleted]

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#9

Post by dleslie » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 11:56 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #2

This is really making me want to buy an Alpha on ebay. Is there an OS that has ever had a better name than "Digital Unix"?

OS/2 Warp

Amiga Workbench

NeXTStep

Plan9

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#10

Post by sokoloff » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 11:56 PM UTC

Negitivefrags wrote: post #6

I actually think bonuses and equity grants are terrible for comapany morale. I've seen it many times, and heard many more stories. On top of the issue in this story, there are others too. For example, if someone wants to leave, but the bonus or vesting is coming up, they will stay, and you don't want people on a project who don't want to be there. As another example I know people who work at companies that are going…

If you pay a high salary, you create an incentive to just mark time and maximize the number of paychecks collected as well.

If you pay in part in equity (or performance-based bonuses), you can balance that somewhat.

No pay structure is a substitute for strong leadership, but each system provides pulls in certain directions.