You know from your business not to leave things to hope, but rather to make sure. The same applies to your bonus.
The mistake is not to act early and decisively.
From September to December
By now you should have confirmation that you are on track to meet your business results. The number one reason to get paid down is having missed your targets.
The number two reason to get paid down is the goalpost moving on you late in the year. Hence by now you should have had a conversation that confirms you are on track, and what was set out in January is still what matters today.
From September to December, you want to have meaningful management conversations, reiterating your achievements and setting out your bonus expectations.
Your ranking within your peer group
The key is to manage expectations your end before you get managed down. Communicate your achievements and your ranking within your peer group.
Remind management of assurances made throughout the year and hold them to account on those. Create a moral hazard that prevents management having an easy ride managing you down.
Timing and hard data points are essential. Don’t wing it, it will backfire.
If you have used the year to lay the grounds for the final conversation in Q4, your credibility is very different than if you are just another person asking for a better bonus in December.
Timing matters immensely. Look at it from the manager’s perspective. Once they had the tenth person asking for a good bonus in December, they are just going to ignore it.
They are only human and they get overwhelmed.
A perceived rising pool
A perceived rising pool makes people complacent. In a strong year, the bifurcation within teams gets wider, not narrower. Management feels emboldened to risk people resign as they have funds to rehire and upgrade.
Don’t listen to the noise.
Count on facts and manage the process to the max of your abilities.
Until the numbers are set in stone
No, it’s not too late until the numbers are set in stone. Typically for American institutions mid-December and Europeans end of January. Any late conversation is better than none.
A big part of what we tell our clients is repetition.
The more chances you have to make your case, the more likely it is for that to be heard.
Better to know now than to find out in January. If you have a conversation now and you expect to get disappointed, you should force that conversation now.
Your visible disappointment might change management’s mind and they might be receptive to good arguments. Once they present you the letter, there’s nothing that can be done.
Dress it up as a business update
Management naturally will be reluctant to talk to you.
This is particularly true in the late stage bonus cycle, especially if the pool is down or you have been earmarked for disappointment.
That’s why it’s key to be early. Don’t wait until last minute. This increases the chances of getting a meaningful meeting. Dress it up as a business update or with another touch point.
Be creative and observe how others do it. If your manager is difficult to talk to, others will have the same problem.
The new bonus year
You do nothing in the first 48 hours. Complaining won’t change a thing. Emotions will damage your credibility.
Management just finished two to three months of intense bonus negotiations and delivery. They need a break. Nothing you will say will matter right now.
Use the next few days to gather information from your peers. How did they get paid?
Three to four weeks post-bonus is when you have a thought-through planned and structured post-mortem of the last year and its compensation with your boss.
This is the groundwork and step one of the new bonus year. To prepare for this meeting is where Career Capital typically starts working with clients.
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