If you have worked for a company that normally pays year end bonuses, how much would you expect your bonus to be if you have worked there for 6 months, based on your monthly salary?
I think it varies widely. At my last job, I’d been there 4 months at year end, and my bonus was over $400. My current job, last year I’d been there 8 months, and it was $35. Some companies go by profits, so it can also vary from year to year.
Last year at bonus time I’d been with the company since June (though the “party” was held in February), and we’d just finished the busiest and most profitable year on record.
I busted my butt to fit into the rush and adapted really well and became an important and respected contributor quickly. That along with the sales records may have something to do with the fact that I received the same full bonus as every other employee.
I only expected half of what everyone else was getting, as I’d only been there for half the year. In either case it wasn’t related to salary at all, but, being a small company, rather company profit and the whim of the owner.
I once started work for a company on Nov. 15. In the mid-Dec. check they passed out year end bonuses, which were very good (they had a great year)–about 10% of the employees’ annual income. I didn’t expect anything as I’d started after the last quarter, but I got 10% of not only what I’d earned since Nov. 15 but what I would have earned if I’d been there for the whole last quarter (in other words, 10% of a quarter of my annual salary). It was a nice surprise.
At other places I’ve gotten the bonus prorated based exactly on how long I’d been there. My husband worked for a place where to get the bonus employees had to have been there for a full year.
But if you expect it, it’s not really a bonus.
Our year-end bonuses are basically profit-sharing (corporate taxes here are pretty high, and our boss figures we know what to do with the money better than the government does), and since the last few years have been very good, the bonuses have as well. My first bonus was after just 6 months, and I received about 1.5 months’ salary. I haven’t ask other new employees exactly how much they got, but they were all happily surprised. Everyone else’s was based on a combination of senority (mostly) and how much they were considered to have contributed to the company’s profits (lesser, but significant for a couple of the AE’s), with some going well over a full year’s pay.
In my position, bonuses can range between 0 and 25% of your annual salary. So they’re kind of a big deal. If you start during the year, they’re generally adjusted for the fact that you haven’t been there the entire year (e.g. someone with a $50k salary who worked 6 months and got a 20% bonus would get $5k, not $10k)–unless you negotiate it in advance. Many people do. Large potential bonuses are common in the industry, so someone leaving another company and joining us mid year may leave a lot on the table if they don’t ask that their bonus be paid as if they had worked the entire year.
I’m not in a real high profile position, I received about 3% of my yearly salary after being there six months. I’m somewhat satisfied with that bonus because I don’t feel I have made much of a contribution to the bottom line of the company so far. I guess it really depends what others have received, but I really doubt I will ever know what they received, and that’s probably a good thing.
You may not be able to find out what others received (and you shouldn’t), but you may be able to find out the bonus range for your position. Many companies state that annual bonuses for a position have a range of X% to Y% with Z% being the average (whether you get more or less than that average depends on how your works compares with your coworkers’ and what kind of year the company had).
Our bonuses are based on the calendar year and don’t come out until February–too bad for obvious reasons. They’re based not on direct profits, but on growth of the customer base, which is fortunate for us. Over my seven years here, the bonus level has hovered around 8 - 12% of my gross salary.