The end of 2019 is approaching. Your employer has just announced a bonus! Possibly even a “we don’t usually do this” bonus! You should feel great!

But have you stopped to consider if the bonus is such that it indicates actual appreciation, or a condescending pat on the head that they think you’ll mis-interpret as appreciation while it diverts you from critical thinking?

Don’t get me wrong, if it’s been a hard year profits-wise, it may make sense for an employer to give no or minimal bonus. That’s actually what a bonus is about, flexibility for the employer without the ongoing commitment to a permanent pay raise (permanent should be in quotes, because what the employer giveth, the employer may taketh).

But if your employer has been making money hand over fist, like 3x the projected profit. They haven’t given a raise that’s more than “cost of living” since the sky started falling in 2007 (and I put cost of living in quotes, because just the premiums or maybe premium+deductible increases on the health insurance every year have gone up more than the raise, let alone food, housing, etc). There are no promotion opportunities after 6 years in, but you’re in a career where you’re more valuable every day.

Why has your employer been making money hand over fist? For the same reason the burnout scores keep getting worse every year. Because the employees are getting squeezed, working longer hours, “doing more with less”, not being able to get office supplies provided by the employer because their area only meets their $50 order minimum every couple of months and aren’t allowed to order ahead. Maybe you had a huge system change/implementation.

So how do you know if your bonus is truly a thank you, or an insult?

First, was it cloak-and-daggered with some other news? Like mixing the announcement with new benefits cuts (lower PTO caps, anyone?). Or an early announcement of next year’s raise! A raise that once again may at most cover inflation. Or news of another major operations update coming soon.

Second, was the bonus scaled with effort? This could be effort of the “did you individually stay late and come in early” variety. Or it could be scaled towards the departments that undertook the system implementation. Or scaled towards the departments who are most burned out. Or scaled with pay grade.

Third, how large is the bonus? If you’re a custodian, a $500 bonus on a $25k/year income is pretty sweet. That’s probably only taxed at ~10% federal, and 5.35% Minnesota (depending on marital status, spousal income, etc), plus SS and Medicare taxes, call it 23% total, so an extra $385, or 1.5% income for the year. If you’re a highly compensated employee, who likely took a huge brunt of the burnout load, a $500 bonus on a $135k income, at a 36.7% tax rate, is an extra $316, or 0.2%. Ouch.

Did you just go “ouch”?

You’re worth more. You’re worth not being mis-lead and re-directed. You’re worth being entrusted with the truth, and having that truth be something everyone is comfortable saying, in plain English, in public. I hope you find a way to get it.

Now if you are getting an 8% raise in 2020, and you are getting a 17% / non-trivial 5 digit bonus yet in 2019 – no doubt, that sounds like an employer who appreciates you! And you probably worked very hard to get it. Enjoy your employer’s thank you, it is the season of thankfulness after all 🙂