bonus less than expected (employee, job, companies, salary)

[cis_love]

when my dh took on his new job about 5 months ago he was told bonuses are up to X percent. he just found out what his bonus is that he's receiving for the last 5 months of work and it's a third of that. is this normal since he's somewhat new? or would most companies give the full X percent during the first performance review?

[BoredRestless]

It's only been 5 months he's probably not worth very much yet... I would expect this is the lowest bonus he would receive unless he messes up. They said "up to..." Meaning that's the max. I wouldn't expect the max bonus after 5 months.

[StPaulGal]

I second the above.
-It's pretty common for bonus eligibility to only kick in after a full year of service. It's very, very normal for someone who has only been there a few months to receive less money.
-"Bonuses are capped at 10% of salary" does not mean "You will receive a bonus equal to 10% of your salary." It simply means it will never be more than that amount.

Is your husband friendly with any of his coworkers? If he's concerned he could discretely ask a friend how the bonuses are typically calculated and whether this year was any different than usual.

[MLSFan]

Was he being trained for a month? Just asking because 4 months would be a third of the year and the bonus is a third of expected too.

[move4ward]

So if he got hired one more before bonus time, would you expect him to get a full bonus?

You can see why he got prorated for 4 month, if his employee review was 4 months later and bonus announcement was 5 months later. Or if he went through a month of training.

[unixfed]

Usually if you're hired near bonus time, you shouldn't expect a bonus at all. If you started midway through the year, expect an adjusted bonus because of that.

We have it written in company policy that an employee must have started on X date to be eligible for the bonus program. I didn't qualify last year based on start date, but it wasn't a big deal for me... Our bonuses are <2% :/

[Bo]

5 months is "about a third" of a year, so it is logical that someone employed that long would receive "about a third" of the annual bonus amount.

[Mr_Geek]

At my job I my bonus based on a % of what I the previous year, how my department performed, and how I individually performed.

[MPowering1]

Whenever a company says a bonus is "up to X", people tend to think they're getting the maximum amount. Up to means there is a wide range between zero and X that you could also be getting.

Between that, and just working a bit under half a year, I wouldn't have been looking to get anywhere near X.

[43north87west]

Originally Posted by cis_love

when my dh took on his new job about 5 months ago he was told bonuses are up to X percent. he just found out what his bonus is that he's receiving for the last 5 months of work and it's a third of that. is this normal since he's somewhat new? or would most companies give the full X percent during the first performance review?

Depends on a lot of factors. Not enough information here. Don't even have information about what KIND of bonuses.