My banking bonus and discussing it

hoffmeister

I work in a call centre for a bank and received my bonus today, I wont disclose it just yet but I am disgraced by my bonus.

The biggest disgrace of my bonus and other people's bonus' are the fact that we are told not to discuss each others' bonus' because its an obvious way to cover up their distribution of bonus' to people who are favourites.

Is there a law in which I have to keep my bonus secret? Because I feel like pinning my bonus up on the wall at work!

(I must also stress I work in one of the very very few bank departments where we are not targeted for sales )

Barbie18

Be glad you have a bonus at all. Where I work we have a pay freeze and no bonuses...

But no, there is no "law" that says you are not allowed to discuss bonuses. You might annoy management though, and if they think you instigated the unrest amongst staff, you might not be flavour of the month.

RedSoleShoes

hoffmeister wrote: »

Is there a law in which I have to keep my bonus secret? Because I feel like pinning my bonus up on the wall at work!

You might want to check your contract as there is probably something about not discussing bonuses and possible disciplinary if you do!

Not 'law' as such, but also not worth the hassle. You may have got more than colleagues, which will make you rather unfavourable at work!

Annisele

I've previously had a contract that said that any discussion of pay and/or bonuses with anyone other than my direct line managers and HR would be considered gross misconduct.

I've no idea what an employment tribunal would have made of my employer sacking me because I'd stuck my bonus notice up on the wall, but I wouldn't have risked it!

hoffmeister

Thanks to you guys for the info.

First and foremost I am grateful to be in a job still, infact I dont really care for a bonus too much, its the total back handed corruption which occurs from management when giving out bonus's.

My department is fairly small (about 40 people) within a contact centre, we have no real sales targets, meaning that apart from timekeeping, attendance etc we dont have too much to aim for, meaning that we all do a very similar amount of work. However some people have got £800 bonus's and then some people have got £3k bonus's. Fair enough some people may help out a little bit more behind the scenes, but CERTAINLY NOT worthy of an extra £2k bonus than another person.

Its so crooked! They hand a letter out stating not to discuss your bonus with other people because they know they cant justify how some people are getting obscene amounts of money more than others.

The bonus's should be all put up on the wall for everybody to see! There is the odd person which deserves a much higher bonus because they do loads of work which not even team leaders can do on the computer, but some people are getting an extra £2k bonus because they are better friends with managers. :mad:

concerned43

When I worked for a management consultancy firm our bonus was not revealed and we understood why - it would only lead to resentment and bickering. Whats the point of knowing other peoples bonus - its not something you could change.

Russe11

I don't think the general public have any sort of grip with bonuses of a few thousand, you do your job and so long as you keep up the good work you get rewarded.

MrRedundant

To be fair.

Say a call centre worker on 20k

Bonus upto 15%

Made up of 5% Departmental Targets
5% Attendence
5% meeting personal 1:2:1

Based on call centres I worked in its completely feasible that the majority wouldnt get anything other than the departmental targets.

As for the bonus being secret; by accepting the payment I would suggest you've agreed to do so.

danothy

hoffmeister wrote: »

Thanks to you guys for the info.

First and foremost I am grateful to be in a job still, infact I dont really care for a bonus too much, its the total back handed corruption which occurs from management when giving out bonus's.

My department is fairly small (about 40 people) within a contact centre, we have no real sales targets, meaning that apart from timekeeping, attendance etc we dont have too much to aim for, meaning that we all do a very similar amount of work. However some people have got £800 bonus's and then some people have got £3k bonus's. Fair enough some people may help out a little bit more behind the scenes, but CERTAINLY NOT worthy of an extra £2k bonus than another person.

Its so crooked! They hand a letter out stating not to discuss your bonus with other people because they know they cant justify how some people are getting obscene amounts of money more than others.

The bonus's should be all put up on the wall for everybody to see! There is the odd person which deserves a much higher bonus because they do loads of work which not even team leaders can do on the computer, but some people are getting an extra £2k bonus because they are better friends with managers. :mad:

There's no law that says two people have to be paid the same for the same job. The difference could be a result of negotiation, performance or a combination of the two.

How sure can you really be that those you say are getting higher bonuses because of being friends with the managers are not more deserving of the higher bonuses without being the one they are reporting to?

hoffmeister

danothy wrote: »

There's no law that says two people have to be paid the same for the same job. The difference could be a result of negotiation, performance or a combination of the two.

How sure can you really be that those you say are getting higher bonuses because of being friends with the managers are not more deserving of the higher bonuses without being the one they are reporting to?

I work extremely closely with these people, I spend 40 hours a week with these people. I am not saying that one or two people are being pedantic, they are just covering all possibilities etc, but my department is within a cluster of 4 desks of people, we all sit next to each other and do exactly the same jobs, we have no meaningful targets other than timekeeping, attendance and adhering to not misadvising customers. We do have access to everyone's information regarding those figures, and there is very little difference between people. The simple difference is that some people have a good laugh with management and others tend to just be polite etc.

Only I can tell you from experience of this, but trust me, people are getting higher bonus's for being ''friendlier'' with management than others.

corbyboy

There is way too much hearsay going on that you are angry about.

When it comes to money people will often lie. Perhaps they are simply lying about how much bonus they got. Perhaps they negotiated something in their contract that you didn't and they want to keep that secret.

If you got a bonus of £800 and somebody else got £3000, don't think of it as £2200 lost, think of it as £800 gained. Moaning about this is only going to get you into a lot of trouble. You don't even have any targets to meet and you are still getting a bonus - just be happy about it.

If I were you I would keep quiet and do as you are told - do not discuss your bonuses.