Retention Bonuses?

Anyone familiar these? Recently we had a mix up "transition". Rumor has it there will be some retention bonuses in the works......

I recently put my two weeks in and received a counter with the prospect of a additional retention bonus. The bump is actually bigger than the job I accepted a few weeks now.

I'm thinking about powering through to get my bonus, the huge pay bump and the extra bonus (potentially).

Anyway, just curious if anyone experienced these?

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Ertaz

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Anyone familiar these? Recently we had a mix up "transition". Rumor has it there will be some retention bonuses in the works......

I recently put my two weeks in and received a counter with the prospect of a additional retention bonus. The bump is actually bigger than the job I accepted a few weeks now.

I'm thinking about to power through to get my bonus, the huge pay bump and the extra bonus (potentially).

Anyway, just curious if anyone experienced these?

I've seen those only when the company was going through a downsizing and trying to keep key employees. Good luck!

DatabaseHead

I was doing some research, sounds like they are mainly used for aquisitions or mergers, at least the article I read stated that? Ertaz, thoughts?

They assured we were golden for at least 10 years so that is something to consider. Still a little leery......

Ertaz

DatabaseHead wrote: »

I was doing some research, sounds like they are mainly used for aquisitions or mergers, at least the article I read stated that? Ertaz, thoughts?

They assured we were golden for at least 10 years so that is something to consider. Still a little leery......

Think of the environment. Was $ the only reason you were leaving? The new environment is a relative unknown, but if your other environment was caustic that probably won't change.

All that being said, money isn't everything, but nothing says "I love you" like cash.

iBrokeIT

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Rumor has it......

..received a counter with the prospect...

Look very carefully at the language you are using and put some more thought in your situation. Was it purely the money that caused you to start looking for a new job? Why didn't they give you take raise when they dumped a ton of extra work on your lap? Like a break with an ex, they are throwing anything they can at you to get you stay and I suspect it isn't all about the money.

IF you stay will the moral improve? Will your workload improve? Will there be any quality of life changes? Will you have remorse over not taking the new job when things get bad(again)?

DatabaseHead

Wow some total food for thought. Thanks gang for the thoughtful insight.

I'm going to have to really think about it tonight, I am back and forth. It's like my mind is divided at the moment.

The money they are tossing back at me is 35% more than I was getting and even more than the other offer. It's a hard call....

p@r0tuXus

That's oddly suspicious. 1. It's a business, they'll drop you if someone that does what you do will bail them out or take less money. 2. If they can afford to pay you that much, was it planned to give you a raise that you didn't know about or only after you twisted their nuts in a vice? Leaving when they cut all the other weight loose was a good jab at them that may not work again in the future if you stay with them. Also, I'd consider the other points iBrokeIT made... Anything else improve or just your wallet? Being stressed out with even more duties, projects, documentation, things going on that you don't know about will eventually eat at you in time/energy/quality of life aspects. Do they have plans to have someone help you out or are you just getting a small raise to do the work of multiple people?

LaSeeno

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Wow some total food for thought. Thanks gang for the thoughtful insight.

I'm going to have to really think about it tonight, I am back and forth. It's like my mind is divided at the moment.

The money they are tossing back at me is 35% more than I was getting and even more than the other offer. It's a hard call....

Ask the new digs about matching. The worst they can say is no.

DatabaseHead

Good call!

volfkhat

Dude,
You gotta go!!!

volfkhat wrote: »

You should tell them you're gonna need more $$$ :]
If they don't fire you... then they must REALLY need you :]

i posted that back on 2/2; I had a feeling back THEN that you had leverage :]

p@r0tuXus wrote: »

Do they have plans to have someone help you out or are you just getting a small raise to do the work of multiple people?

Exactly.
They already started Dumping on you.If you stay... the Dumpings will only increase.
If you are cool with that (because of the compensation), then i guess you should stay.

But if you care about other things (less stress, more fulfilling work, etc)... then maybe you should bid adieu.

Edit:

I'm thinking about powering through to get my bonus, the huge pay bump and the extra bonus (potentially).

Okay... it seems you just can't bring yourself to walk away from that 15k bonus.
lol

As my abuela would say.
Penny wise.... Pound Foolish!

;]

TechGromit

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Anyway, just curious if anyone experienced these?

Yea I got one last year, it was incentive to stay at the power plant until it closes. Got one last year and will get another if I stay until the day it closes. If I leave for a job at another company before that date, I have to pay the bonus back, but don't if I stay within the company under certain conditions. It really wasn't all that much money, roughly equal to 10 weeks salary, but I'll take it. We had the option of turning down the bonus and have the freedom to leave when ever we wanted.

They had a similar retention bonus years ago when the plant was suppose to be closed before they got there license extension, pretty much everyone who passed on that bonus was still working there when I started. They left money on the table, foolish, when you consider so long as you repay the money, you free to do as you please.

Ertaz wrote: »

I've seen those only when the company was going through a downsizing and trying to keep key employees. Good luck!

That what the intention of this one was, they need a certain number of knowledgeable employees to keep a nuclear power plant running smoothly, it's a very specific skill set not easily replaced with outside contractors.

bigdogz

YMMV. It depends on how they treat the employees that are laid off.

At the time I had worked for a Telecom company that gave 2 weeks pay for every year they had with the company with a max of 12 years.

Kinet1c

If it were me, I'd ask for more. On the flip side, you need to ask why you were leaving.

powerfool

You are more likely than not in for a world of hurt if you stay. All things are temporary... no matter how "permanent" a job is. Just looking at the risk, I would count on this raise and retention bonus being around for long. The retention bonus usually has a lot of legalese that even if you they let you go, they can claw it back. Take the new job and forget about this one. They are likely offering you a carrot on a nice long stick and planning to replace you already. You turn down the new job, they keep you on for a couple of months, then they let you go... you are standing there without any salary and suddenly will be desperate for any job. Take the offer you have now, if you thought it was worth accepting in the first place.

LaSeeno

I know this, once you have it in your head you don't like your current employment situation--it's very hard if not impossible to get back to liking it.

DatabaseHead

I decided to stay

Money won out, had a heart to heart things feel good.

Thanks all I appreciate all your advice, I read it all.

volfkhat

DatabaseHead wrote: »

I decided to stay

Money won out, had a heart to heart things feel good.

BOOOO

lol

DatabaseHead

You are funny!

volfkhat

DatabaseHead wrote: »

You are funny!

i kid, i kid :]

Well.... How far away are you from your (1st) bonus?

That probably plays a factor :]

DatabaseHead

Mid March is around the time I should receive it.

volfkhat

Oh Wow.

yep..... that's kind of tough to walk away from.

15k turns into about $9,000 after taxes.....
which is probably... 2 months salary?

I'm not gonna lie....... i would probably stick around too.
lol

(but all bets are off After i cash that check)

paul78

@DatabaseHead - just my 2 cents fwiw since you already made the decision. But from what I've read from your other posts - it sounded like you had accepted another position already. Personally, I have never accepted a counter-offer and I would never retract a good-faith acceptance of an offer. There's been a few threads on this topic on TE over the years. I'm a bit surprised no one else mentioned it. You could be burning a bridge with whoever you accepted the offer with. And conversely - given that you have signaled to your current employer that you will jump ship when the going gets rough - trust issues could develop in the future.

cyberguypr

I agree with paul78. If this works out Ok for the op it will be the first time in my 16 year IT career where I see this working in favor of the candidate.

powerfool

I had it work "okay" for me once. And I'll tell you what, I would NEVER do it again. It is a like playing roulette. I'd go ahead and start looking for another gig, at this point... always keep something cooking because you will likely need it.

DatabaseHead

It was a bad decision........

Just a terrible decision

My boss at the time, one of the reasons for staying 3 weeks later bounced for a MAJOR tech player on Seattle and I got stuck with 4 peoples job. It's been horrible, the counter offer was 100% the wrong move. While the pay is nice the heart palpitations and depression and anxiety aren't all that fun.

Mark enough sucker who should of dumped the counter offer. With that said I have an interview tomorrow, first of two. We shall see.

Eating crow, not doubt about it.

Should of listened, soooooo bad just sooooooo soooooo bad.

jcundiff

cyberguypr wrote: »

I agree with paul78. If this works out Ok for the op it will be the first time in my 16 year IT career where I see this working in favor of the candidate.

I'm loving life after accepting the counter-offer... but in my case it was just money and being 100% remote, which my current company made good. been here 7 years on the 3rd role/position, love my position, team, and leadership. VC was extremely nice this year. I would have lost about 23 grand taking the other company's offer. Not counting training $$ and education assistance ( more like 35 grand with these factored in).

p@r0tuXus

p@r0tuXus wrote: »

Being stressed out with even more duties, projects, documentation, things going on that you don't know about will eventually eat at you in time/energy/quality of life aspects.

That didn't take long. Sorry to hear things went south, though. As trump would say:

"Terrible. Employees jumping ship like refugees leaving a crumbling empire. Sad."

Or something equally ridiculous. :P

DatabaseHead

2 jobs in the hopper final interview weds or friday

Another set for this week as well, both pay ~15% more. WFH for some of the days etc for both.

Praying this works out, at least one of them.

Both SR BI roles

blargoe

I sincerely hope one of these works out for you.

I think I may be facing the same dilemma soon, as well. I am looking at a job that is similar to what I am doing now, except likely better pay, slightly more modern vision relative to IT architecture, and fewer of the obstacles that I currently face (which ARE being dealt with at the current employer, but at a drunk snail's pace).

I'm 99.99% sure any counter offer I would get would be in good faith and from genuine desire to keep me long term and not to toss me aside. However, I doubt I would consider it unless it were significantly better, though. 5 years is a long time to work anywhere in IT and generally I would move on without much of a second thought, but I have been hesitant to jump laterally into a position with probably no more room for development than the current one.

Ertaz

DatabaseHead wrote: »

2 jobs in the hopper final interview weds or friday

Another set for this week as well, both pay ~15% more. WFH for some of the days etc for both.

Praying this works out, at least one of them.

Both SR BI roles

Pouring some of my Earl Gray tea on the ground to wish my homie luck...

DatabaseHead

Thanks guys, good group.

2 on Friday and still unsure about the second. The one on Friday is a final, so that's good.