How To Get a Big Year-End Bonus…In Case You Haven’t Prepared in Advance
Contributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine
In the ideal world, you would use January to reflect on goals accomplished and to set the stage for next year’s performance review and bonus discussion. However, if it’s January and you haven’t prepared for this year’s bonus talk yet, then you need to focus on last-minute moves:
- Find out exactly what bonus decisions have already been made
Are the final bonus figures still being calculated or are the checks already in payroll? If your company’s culture is open to this type of inquiry, ask your manager when the bonuses are determined and where your group is within the process. Aside from your manager, experienced colleagues or your mentor may know this information. Where you are in the bonus decision cycle impacts what you can negotiate for. If your department has just received the allotment for its group, then lobby away. If the checks are already cut, then you have to accept that the die is already case and start setting the stage for next year. - Find out how the company is doing overall
Is the company having a banner year or have targets been missed? Read those company status memos that you may have tossed aside. Read the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, press releases and industry news analyses. Even if you are a star individually, the total company pool impacts your share and more importantly impacts how you should ask for your share. Being aggressive during a down year may rub people the wrong way. Definitely ask for what you deserve but temper your style based on the company mood. If it’s a big profit year, then you should feel more confident to ask away. - Collect testimonials
Think about which people or departments have benefited from the work that you did. Maybe you did a revenue analysis for marketing or a pricing study for sales. Ask them to email their feedback to your manager or even your department head. Most people are happy to help in this way; some may ask you to draft what you’d like them to say so know specifically what you’d like comments for. While you’re collecting testimonials for yourself, think about those to whom you would want to give testimonials. Don’t wait for them to ask – email their manager and blind copy them. It will brighten their day, strengthen your relationship with them, and win you some points with the manager. - Quantify your results
Go month-by-month and quarter-by-quarter and list every project that you worked on. List what happened as a result of your efforts, and quantify the results. It could be revenues added or costs saved. Perhaps you made a process improvement – calculate the time saved and translate into labor costs saved. Look at your calendar to jog your memory of special projects. You want go into your bonus meeting with a specific list of accomplishments. This list is also helpful for you to plan next year. Maybe you see that you’ve done a lot with one group. You might decide to deepen that relationship or make a conscious effort to work with other groups and add more breadth. - Use proven negotiating techniques during your bonus meeting
By now, you should know how the bonus decision-making works, know the pool available, have quantified your worth and have backed it up with testimonials and an achievement list. Advance preparation is a key negotiation technique. Now you are ready to meet with your manager and LISTEN. The information you hear reveals what she values. If she commends you for things that didn’t make your achievement list, then you know that you two are focusing on different objectives. This doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your time making your list but you will want to re-frame your accomplishments. Being able to frame what you are saying in terms that the other person understands is another key negotiation technique. During this meeting, your manager may also reveal constraints that she is under when making her decisions. Now that you know variables in her decision-making, these might be points to negotiate. - Stay positive and forward-looking
If your bonus is exactly what you wanted, congrats and don’t forget to thank your manager. Your lack of preparation didn’t hurt you this year, but be more proactive next time. Schedule a meeting with your manager to discuss next year’s goals (if you hadn’t discussed this at the bonus meeting). Create reminders in your calendar to schedule the mid-year and end-of-year review with your manager. Contact your mentors and schedule meetings for the first quarter. Block off a half-day each quarter to review your goals and put together your testimonials and achievement summaries. Create a testimonials folder in your email account right now to remind yourself to collect feedback as you go along.
If your bonus falls short, thank your manager anyway for her candid feedback. These conversations are hard for any manager, and she should be acknowledged for making the effort. Reiterate any agreed upon next steps; these form the basis for next year’s planning. If your manager agreed to reconsider your bonus before the next cycle (say, next quarter rather than next year), email her to confirm this so you create a written record of what was discussed. Your achievement list and testimonials did not go to waste; use these to update your resume and marketing materials. You always want an updated resume. Even if you decide not to leave, you know you have options.
All information is copyright © SixFigureStart 2007. Caroline Ceniza-Levine and Connie Thanasoulis are two founding coaches of SixFigureStart, a career coaching firm for people in six-figure careers (www.sixfigurestart.com). Ask a question or give us your feedback at 212-501-2234 or at info@sixfigurestart.com.
