Christmas Bonus

Doop

Im not sure if this is 'work problem' issue but anyway here goes....

Late summer I achieved a well recognized (in my profession) professional qualification, (great).

Couple of months later I was asking my boss for a salary cert, and the question for bonus arose... he said, oh yes well we do xmas bonuses and I want to get you something for the proff qual you got too... are you happy with €4k? I said yes delighted thanks very much. It was left there on the understanding it would be sorted at xmas.

Roll around a few months later here we are at xmas. No discussions or meetings or reviews took place but bonuses landed into out accounts, I was surprised to see a bonus of €1500.

Now I dont know how to feel about it... yes its a bonus which is discretionary, and I got what I got, thanks very much, say nothing. I feel the previous convo. was simply forgotten, but it would be very cringe to say thanks for the bonus but do remember telling me you'd give me €4k? Its a small company where the boss is the owner and we all see alot of each other.

Just wondering what peoples opinions are, I'm leaning towards leaving it be and when reviews roll around next year ill hit them harder for a salary increase. After all salary increase is better than a bonus.

Overall its just a bit disappointing but also a little expected! :rolleyes:

OMM 0000

Have a chat with him.

Be really nice.

"I enjoy working here and it's great I get a Christmas bonus, and this is a little awkward, but do you remember we agreed it would be 4k?"

Better to deal with it now instead of doing nothing.

Maybe they don't have the funds. But have the conversation and find you.

If one of my staff came to me with this issue, I wouldn't think they're a dick.

nim1bdeh38l2cw

Was it 1500 into your account? That'd be ~ 3000 of a bonus, not quite the 4000 mind...

godtabh

Has anything happened between then and now? Maybe they can’t afford it now.

Maybe say thanks but in the context of your last review

Doop

Reign Calm Musket wrote: »

Was it 1500 into your account? That'd be ~ 3000 of a bonus, not quite the 4000 mind...

Yeah was 1500 into the account I was wondering about that as it wasn't on the payslip so didnt see what tax was paid on it.

Has anything happened between then and now? Maybe they can’t afford it now.

Maybe say thanks but in the context of your last review

I wouldnt say anything has happened, company seems to be pro-forming as good as always...

skallywag

I would definitely mention it. If I made a commitment to one of my team to pay them a certain bonus, I would most definitely sit down with them for a chat beforehand if it turned out that I then had to renege on it for whatever reason. I consider it bad form that this was not done.

You say that the bonus was paid directly into your account and was not mentioned on the payslip? This would set alarm bells ringing! If they are trying to do something under the radar then I would be wary. I can only assume that you yourself will be liable to pay tax on this money in the case that it was a direct payment without tax deducted at source.

Diziet

A 4K bonus, once you take out PRSI, USC and tax, is sadly not very far from 1500 (although it should be more than 1500 even so). if you have been paid it it should appear in your payslip, so maybe have a chat with payroll and check how much the gross amount was before having a conversation.

Batgurl

Start with asking for a breakdown of the payment. Find out how much was paid and what was taken off you in tax.

If €4K was paid and you are being overly taxed, check it with payroll to make sure it’s right.

If €4K wasn’t paid, then absolutely check it with manger. Your conversation could have slipped his mind or he might have communicated it to payroll but they missed it and gave you the standard bonus payment. There could be any number of reasons you didn’t get what was promised but you are 100% mad if you don’t bother checking why.

Doop

I understand what people are saying but I'm not sure the size of the company is coming across, there no real 'manager' or payroll or HR. just the boss who owns the company (and is a very pleasant person to work with). But ive seen time and again with clients, things get promised and forgotten and I believe this to be another example.

Our payroll is outsourced through some accountants so I doubt anything 'underhanded' is happening re tax etc. but we did get our payslips a week previous with no mention. Our expenses are also never on our payslips we just get an individual payment for them and this bonus seems similar... just a single line item on the bank account. Is this unusual? previously I've worked for larger companies where expenses always come through on salary day.

My impression is everyone got a bonus of €1500, but I cant confirm or deny that as people dont discuss these things! But I did hear the guys say 'whens that bonus going to come' in the lead up to it! so they were expecting it.

andekwarhola

If you're in the higher tax band, you actually would lose around half of 4k after all deductions so while not what you were promised, the gross bonus was probably not far off it.

Diziet

Expenses are generally different to payroll, and in all the places I worked in they come directly into the bank account. But a bonus has to go through payroll.

Just have a chat with him, nothing to lose.

fishy_fishy

Actually, what people are saying here about tax may not be accurate.

Bonuses relating to passing exams and thus obtaining qualifications relevant to your profession and line of work can be exempt from tax if they're seen as a reasonable repayment of expenses you were likely to have incurred in the course of obtaining your qualification. So I wouldn't be leaping down the route of it having been taxed or that it should be subjected to tax. The standard in the Big 4 accountancy profession is around a €2.5k bonus upon passing final exams. It's not taxed - it's paid gross into bank accounts, and they're extremely unlikely to have the tax law on it wrong. So €1.5k would more than likely fall into the remit of reasonable reimbursement.

It does just sound like he's forgotten how much he agreed to. Did he include the 4k in the salary cert? If so just go back and say it nicely to him. It's possible though that he's pro-rating some of it for this year and some for last year. Might be an easy tack to take for how to broach it?

Small business owners can be lovely to deal with but won't be afraid to watch their own costs - otherwise they'd go out of business. So why not just say it? If you agreed to pay him for something and you paid less than agreed, you can bet he'd be on to you about it.