Anyone ask for retention bonus to stay longer?

[albireo13]

I plan on retiring next June, in the middle of an active project.
I am considered a valuable employee and I am thinking there is the possibility they may ask me to stay on longer.
I talked with an FA and he suggested that, if they do, I should ask for a retention bonus.

I hadn't heard of this before. Has anyone else run into this? Is it common?
If so, what type of bonuses are common?

Would love to hear some stories on this.

Thx

 

[upupandaway]

I'm under a retention agreement right now for 6 months they have offered me 3 months additional pay. This is due to the sale of the company and they need me to insure a successful transition. A bit different scenario but the same idea. My understanding it the types of offers that are available vary so much by employer and value that you add that you may struggle to find a baseline when comparing others experiences. I wish you well and let us know how it works out.

 

[travelover]

Usually when management runs a company into the ground, they give themselves retention bonuses to pick the carcass clean faster. I have not seen this as a common retirement sendoff.

 

[caninelover]

Yes. My j*b was moved to another state and I did not want to relocate. I stayed on for 9 months with a retention bonus of 1 month for each 3 months I stayed to assist with transition. After the 9 months I was given a generous severance, and was able to find another j*b I liked right away, so I made out like a bandit

Good luck!

 

[cathy63]

In my experience, retention bonuses are offered by the employer and not requested by the employee. I have not heard of offering one to delay a retirement, but if your employer asks how they can keep you longer, it wouldn't hurt to mention that you'd be open to staying until the project is complete if there were a bonus at the end of it.

When I got retention bonuses, the first one was about 5-months' salary for staying 6 months and helping to shut down the office and team that I managed when the company that had aquired us moved the work to their HQ location.

The second was 20% of my annual salary for completing a government contract rebid where I was named as a key person. The amount of time I'd have to stay was indeterminate because the government kept changing their dates, but it ended up being about 3 months longer than originally planned.

If they do promise you money, get it in writing!

 

[kcowan]

When I retired as CEO, they paid my an extra 6 months to be available for consultation with my replacement. No job duties except to respond to his requests.

 

[Aerides]

When DH announced his retirement, he knew it was a surprise and bad timing, and gave 6 weeks.

Initially his boss was pissed. Asking for anything would have backfired. I'm surprised he didn't tell him to just leave then (always be prepared for that). I agree with others retention bonuses are better offered, vs. requested.

Then, over the next few weeks, the boss came around and offered him a part time gig to stay on for transition - it worked out great, and it really was 20 hours a week, for half pay (vs. full pay at 55-60 hours) and they moved all his staff to other leaders.

 

[upupandaway]

To expand on one of the points that was made you should get everything in writing. A common clause is if your engagement ends before the allotted time you still get the compensation. Often they will exclude if you were fired for a legitimate cause so that you can't intentionally get terminated to recieve the payout. This is more common for situations where the company has been sold and people will try these shenanigans to get a pay out and also accept another job before the retention period is completed.

 

[marko]

When my company was acquired a lot of folks got retention bonuses to stay during the transition rather than run for the doors and leave the new owners high and dry. Some asked to stay for a bonus and some were offered a retention bonus outright.

There was actually a miscommunication and some people who were paid to stay were accidentally terminated a few days later but got their bonus anyway.

I had a contract and got multi-multi-year's salary and full benefits to leave; actually 14 years ago last Friday.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm under a retention agreement right now for 6 months they have offered me 3 months additional pay.

I did a short version of the above when I departed the company. Asked to delay retirement three months, I agreed to delay four weeks in return for six weeks pay.

To expand on one of the points that was made you should get everything in writing.

Excellent advise.

A couple of weeks after I agreed to delay as I described above, the CEO and CFO (my boss) were escorted to the parking lot. I had to provide HR a written copy of my agreement to be paid that additional two weeks. No doubt I would have been SOL without it.

 

[Unpaintedhuffhines]

It is quite common, at least in my business. Normally the employer is the one offering, but no issues with the employee asking. It's not like we're going to say "because you asked for a retention bonus we are going to fire you."

Doesn't hurt to ask at all

 

[LRDave]

I thought about it, but was afraid they'd say yes!