Employer Paying Bonus Using The Word "up to"

Anth0ny on 04/03/2018 - 17:09
Last edited 04/03/2018 - 17:26 by 1 other user

Hi Everyone,
I just want to ask everyone opinion about my situation.

I started to work with my company 1 year ago. and in my contract its mention that Im entitle for up to $4000 bonus yearly paid quarterly and pro rata depending whether i met KPI or not.
Now when I received my first bonus, I only get $211 per quarter.
I ask my finance dept about this and they said in the work contract it is written "up to" not exactly $4000 yearly.

I feel like i have con by my employer about this.
Do you think i should bring this to my manager?

Financial

Comments

  • airal3rt on 04/03/2018 - 17:15
    +15

    pro rata depending whether i met KPI or not.

    Well this answers your own question. How was your performance relative to the KPIs?

    • ronnknee on 04/03/2018 - 18:05
      +1

      Not sure why OP left out this important piece of information.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/03/2018 - 17:16
    +3

    Do you think i should bring this to my manager?

    probably before you ask OzBargain.
    What happens if your manager uses OzB?

  • tsunamisurfer on 04/03/2018 - 17:18
    +10

    Up to means the maximum limit.

    $211 is below $4000 so your employer has acted with the terms of the contract.

    When a car can go up to 200km/h do you drive at 200k/h everywhere?

    • Kangal on 04/03/2018 - 18:11
      +6

      Yes

  • smuggler on 04/03/2018 - 17:24
    +2

    Were you expecting to be paid $4000?

    The company is not doing anything wrong.

  • whooah1979 on 04/03/2018 - 17:28
    +3

    depending whether i met KPI or not.
    Now when I received my first bonus, I only get $211 per quarter.

    It sounds like your performance is below the company’s expectations.

    • John Kimble on 04/03/2018 - 17:48

      Wouldn't "no bonus" be below expectations?

      • whooah1979 on 04/03/2018 - 17:52

        No bonus probably means getting fired.

  • Steptoe on 04/03/2018 - 18:29

    Do you know what your KPI’s are?

  • chumlee on 04/03/2018 - 18:34

    Just go postal worker on them

  • R-Man on 04/03/2018 - 18:50
    +3

    It's weird that you didn't mention your actual performance and KPI achievements here.

    But to answer your question, assuming you got 100% KPI achievement, the company can still not pay out $4000 bonus if your company/division/team didn't perform well enough to the satisfaction of the board.

    Yes this is a con but you can understand why a business has to do it this way.

  • djkelly69 on 04/03/2018 - 19:39
    +5

    Rather than complaining to the manager, I would be asking what they expect of you in order to get the full bonus.

    • Quantumcat on 04/03/2018 - 20:11

      And have it in writing or record the conversation

      • Anth0ny on 04/03/2018 - 20:42
        -1

        thank you very much for the idea

  • Findo on 04/03/2018 - 20:51

    Could it be a subtle way for your company to recommend you move on?

  • original15 on 04/03/2018 - 21:30

    If your bonus is locked in (“I know every year I get $4k bonus”) then is it really a bonus…?
    How else will the company drive you to perform better, if they don’t have the bonus $$ carrot to dangle? We all know this is the best way to drive performance
    Now don’t get me started on the validity of manager performance ratings 🙊

  • Rifraf on 04/03/2018 - 21:35

    You should really only complain if they pay you over $4k as per your contract that one assumes you signed.

  • bobbified on 04/03/2018 - 21:59
    +3

    I only get $211 per quarter

    If your target is $4000 and you only got $211, you'll probaby be sacked soon for lack of performance.

    • Baghern on 05/03/2018 - 00:21
      +1

      50% bonus is basically you suck bonus

  • realfancyman on 04/03/2018 - 22:29

    Based on your KPI, you get an amount of money. If the payout on your KPI works out to above $4000, your employer will only pay you $4000, ignoring the actual payout figure.

    If your KPI does not equate to a payout over $4000, you can ignore this clause.

  • dust on 05/03/2018 - 13:16

    I don't know about your company but it's pretty rare in my company for someone to get 100% of their bonus.

  • TheBilly on 05/03/2018 - 22:41
    +1

    Shouldn’t you get $0 bonus for meeting your KPIs and then your bonus starts once you exceed and better your KPIs? Like, why should you get a bonus for doing a job that your salary is already compensating you for?

    • Baghern on 06/03/2018 - 12:48

      In the white collar world bonuses are just quasi salary… in the majority of cases anyone getting 50% means they would sack you if they could, otherwise 60-80% for the majority of people.

      100% if you're doing stupidly good, if you get 100% you should be looking for a new job as you're probably doing 100-200% more work for a 10-20% bonus

  • SirFlibbled on 06/03/2018 - 13:45

    Does your company have a policy on bonuses? It'd find it a little strange that they would be paying bonuses in this manner and just picking and choosing how much they can be bothered paying you.

    Usually they'd have a formula based on your KPIs how much your bonus should be. But as you don't mentioned how you did against your KPIs, who knows.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join