Year End Bonus

[ChicagoGal]

We're another one of those "Pay for Performance" megacorps. Part of our total compensation is the year end incentive. Based on job grade, the starting factor is between 4-25% of base salary (I'm at the 20% target). That is then modified by an individual performance factor (ranging from .75x - 2.0x, with a 0 multiplier for the bottom) and a company performance factor (usually close to 1, but has ranged from 0.87 - 1.39 over the 20 years I've been here). Used to be paid out at the end of January, now it's done in the last paycheck of December.

Better than the really early days when managers were given a small budget and told they could subjectively decide how to distribute it among the team.

 

[Readyforachange]

Target bonus is 30% of annual base pay for me. But with good corporate and personal performance it can be somewhat higher. For 2014 it was nearly 34%. After sharing with Uncle Sam, the money went directly to Vanguard.


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[HFWR]

0%.



Wait - no - 0% and a thank you for exceeding expectations.

Attaboy!


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[Huston55]

I'm in Engineering/Construction my year end cash bonus was about 33%. Add in another 10% of company stock on top of that.

My company is an anomaly and I'm pretty sure no-one else pays out this well in our industry. Unfortunately our base pay is about 15% lower than the rest of the industry and we struggle attracting good talent. Nobody believes that their year end bonuses will be that high. At first I was skeptical as well.

I retired from the EPC industry, and most of the very large EPC firms pay substantial bonuses as part of their total comp package. I'm sure it's not on par with companies on wall street, law firms, silicon valley and the like but, our bonus structure was more generous than most of those described thus far in this thread. So, maybe my industry/company was more generous than I thought.

 

[jime444]

varies

it's all over the place; though, in almost every instance, its smaller than it used to be. more than half the companies I worked for had nothing, no options, no bonus........no turkey......glad to have a job, aren't you buster?

In the ones that did:

one company it was 8%, 4% cash, 4% into your 401k. nice. several years later cut in half, two more years......what bonus? you don't need no stink'n bonus; except, as we found out later, ours was given up for the big wigs, theirs doubled. I left.

one company was 6%, never paid more than 4%, even with record profits/margins for 5+ years.....the math was more than a little bit fuzzy, btw.

last company was 10%.....again, never paid more than 7-8%. fairly consistent and better than a sharp stick. seemed to be above board. Management was making 40-60% extra of their base. pretty standard today, I'd guess.

 

[Chuckanut]

Bonus?

I never got a bonus. Not once.

 

[er33]

This year my bonus was 28%. My wife's was 60% but she was severely underpaid compared to her male colleagues and they really want to keep her. We are both in finance.

Having worked for many years without any salary increases or bonuses in other industries, I do love the year end bonus but would take a bigger and guaranteed base over a variable and uncertain bonus anytime.

 

[jags86]

I received a 15% bonus.

 

[bingybear]

Big 0 for me.... Actually got laid off in November as the company went into bankruptcy. But bonuses did not typically happen in my career... other than getting to work again the next year.

an other job found me... but I'll be leaving at the end of February.. ER

 

[RISP]

The formula was based on your pay grade. For most engineers that was nominal 10% of base salary.
That percentage was then adjusted for
- personal performance
- division performance
- corporate performance.

Depending on your pay grade - the division/corporate ratio was shifted.

My megacorp employer has a similar system. Every position is assigned a max bonus amount (starting from 10% for entry level positions), with the target amount being half that. The biggest portion depends on company- and division performance, usually some combination of 3-4 EBITDA/Cashflow/Safety performance/Working Capital/Fixed Costs etc. targets.

The minor part is linked to individual goals agreed between manager and employee.

It is a system that allows employees to participate when the company had a good year, as well as reward good individual performance. I think it is fair, rewarding and motivating. As long as your manager gives you achievable targets, of course, but so far I have always been lucky in that respect.

In addition to that, I once unexpectedly got two weeks' pay as an extra reward for outstanding performance (and for working abroad on several weekends). That was nice, also because those awards must be approved by a VP, which means someone upstairs noticed I did a fine job.

2014 bonuses have not been paid out yet, but I hope to exceed my target level. The company made a decent profit last year, and I worked my ass off. I also hope to get a merit increase of my base pay.

 

[stepford]

At my Aerospace Megacorp the annual bonus is typically 3-4%. Last year was unusually good and we all got a 6.5% bonus check in March. I expect it will go back down to about half that in this my (thankfully) final year.

Well, it seems I was unduly pessimistic. It was just announced that all 100000 of us working for Megacorp "B" will get a whopping 5% bonus next month. Yay.

 

[calmloki]

You poor b*stards. I get bonuss (bonus'? bonus's? bonsai?) on a frequent basis throughout the year from my tenants. They are alla time leaving me free fold out sofa beds, pre-tested mattresses, appliances that only need some cleaning and repair, exotic mystery foods in the refrigerator...