As a designer, how is your yearly bonus calculated + determined? I’m up for review and want to go in swinging. They’ve given me about 4 jobs in one… Understandably so, given it’s a smaller company …
Curious for those of you who get bonuses, how did you get them?
It is part of our compensation package when we start… Probably would have been easiest to get one when you were hired. They could have put it into the contract/offer letter.
Ours are based on a percentage of our salary, and the percentage goes up as your title goes up…ID, Staff ID, Senior ID, etc.
If it were me, I would respectfully request that, in light of your excellent performance and substantial contributions to the success of the company, you be put on a bonus plan tied to the companies annual objectives. Therefore, if the company performs well, you get a bonus. It will drive more of the behavior they’re after as well.
Best of luck!
part was based on the number of good, realistic new product concepts I could write up as ideas, that they would later execute and add into their line, part was based on other “goals” that each person had to attain. Everyone had these goals (I think it’s called management by objective), anyway the total amount was never more than 3K or about 5% of salary if you want to look at it that way.
Same as designer nerd. IT is part of the compensation package and is calculated as a base percentage of our salary (determined by rank) * our personal performance value (via yearly performance reviews) * company performance (determined by financial metrics).
Ultimately the company performance has more impact than anything, unless I’m doing so poorly that I’m about to get fired.
I think a bonus can really vary between companies and especially between in-house corporate jobs and ID firms. The bonus structure between my current job and last one are very different. They are both based on overall company performance and your salary but in my last job you could only reach a certain % based on your experience. Bonus is something that should be brought up before you take a job as it can make a big swing in your overall salary.
My bonuses are based on my team’s sales, with set dollar amounts for different tiers. The bonus structure changes annually to align with organizational goals (focus on dev fees, focus on production sales, etc). The important thing is for your bonus to be tied to a measurement you directly impact, that you can have real ownership of. In the past I worked for a company where the bonus was tied to measures I didn’t have control over, and that was not an effective motivator, nor did it feel as satisfying to get money as it does now, when I directly earned it. Try to see your bosses POV on the bonus - they genuinely want to motivate you to perform at your peak! also, is there anything besides money that motivates you? You may be able to get additional concessions like bonus vacation days if you pass a certain milestone. You can often negotiate more in perks than in cash. 401K , HSA dollars, company vehicle… What do you want? Get creative with your negotiation, and good luck!