Bonus pro-rated cos of maternity leave

[Busymom]

ChiefKiasu:

Seunggi:

Hi everyone


I'm not sure where to post this but I hope someone can share some experience or even provide some suggestion on how best to take this forward.

I delivered mid last year to my first child and went on 4 months maternity leave - fully paid by company.

We got our performance bonus letters and during my discussion I was told that my bonus has been \"pro-rated\" because i was away for 4 months. I questioned if there was such a policy and i was told there is. I didn't think further until I stepped out and realised I was being penalised for going on maternity leave.

I feel extremely dissapointed but that's the truth of the matter. If they told me bonus pool was cut, fine but to say it's being pro-rated cos I went on maternity was like a slap to my face that I'm being penalised for being a mother.

If any moms out there have gone on ML, can you please share if your performance bonus was also pro-rated? Any HR specialist in this forum - advice is appreciated.

Many thanks

That is the hard truth of the matter. The bonus is not pro-rated, if it is performance-based. If a staff goes on maternity leave, it is unlikely the contributions of the employee to the company would be significant, compared to other employees who spent all year working. If the bonus is based on \"performance\", during the rating process, it is likely the staff that took the maternity leave would be ranked lower compared to her peers. I have seen this happen even in civil service.

Is this fair? If performance is measured by contribution to the company's output, then it is hard to fault the system. Of course you can argue that you should be measured based on the time you spent working for the company, but would that be fair to the rest of the employees who did work the whole year for the company?

So it is a very touchy subject when it comes to performance appraisals of staff who goes on maternity leave.

If one takes no-pay leave for a whole year, there should be no performance bonus for this staff.

On the other hand, if the staff took 4 months off, it does not mean that she did less work in the 8 months when she was in the office as compared to another staff who worked 12 months.

[Nebbermind]

Busymom:

If one takes no-pay leave for a whole year, there should be no performance bonus for this staff.


On the other hand, if the staff took 4 months off, it does not mean that she did less work in the 8 months when she was in the office as compared to another staff who worked 12 months.

My boss used to have this very complex 'program' to compute the performance bonus, or that was what I was told. So the 4-month absence is probably just one of the contributing factors for the cut in the bonus.

[Imami]

We need to know the components in the bonus computation matrix in order to make a fair judgement.


In my ex-company, there were cases where performance bonuses were still given even though a staff was on sabbatical leave. This is because there is a % of revenue credit in the bonus computation matrix. This is to reward those who bring in the business opportunities (or sales lead). The person need not be there to deliver the work to earn this bit.

[Seunggi]

our bonus is all performance based, we don’t have contractual or the 13th month bonus. I don’t deny the fact that i was out for 4 months and therefore someone needed to cover for me (in fact that person even resigned!) so therefore i would receive or be appraised less. In fact I was expecting little because we haven’t been doing well as an organisation on the whole.


But the reasoning given to me is quite out of line - it’s right out telling me I’m being penalised for being pregnant and what more saying there is ‘such a policy’ when there isn’t one. Anyway i’ve raised this to HR who was also shocked by the line of reasoning. So we’ll see how it goes.

I’m not asking for more share of the money/pie. I’m asking to be appraised fairly and that is to appraise me for the job done, not because I had to give birth and care for my child. If I didn’t do a good job for the remaining 8 months I wouldn’t have received a good grading.

Being in Asia, i do not expect much outcome on this.

[Nebbermind]

you certainly sounded like you wanted more of the bonus in the 1st post!


I am rather confused now. :scratchhead:

[Imami]

Seunggi:

our bonus is all performance based, we don't have contractual or the 13th month bonus. I don't deny the fact that i was out for 4 months and therefore someone needed to cover for me (in fact that person even resigned!) so therefore i would receive or be appraised less. In fact I was expecting little because we haven't been doing well as an organisation on the whole.


But the reasoning given to me is quite out of line - it's right out telling me I'm being penalised for being pregnant and what more saying there is 'such a policy' when there isn't one. Anyway i've raised this to HR who was also shocked by the line of reasoning. So we'll see how it goes.

I'm not asking for more share of the money/pie. I'm asking to be appraised fairly and that is to appraise me for the job done, not because I had to give birth and care for my child. If I didn't do a good job for the remaining 8 months I wouldn't have received a good grading.

Being in Asia, i do not expect much outcome on this.

Seunggi,

Can you share with us your occupation? How “”performance based” is this job?

I have a short stint (2 Years) helming the full spectrum of HR function for a US MNC, albeit not a true blue HR person (I am an accountant by profession). While I can share from a HR perspective, there is a limit to my view since I have only 2 years of experience contained in that company.

I don’t see why/how by having someone to cover you can be taken as a reason to penalise you. The company should look at the reason behind having to need someone to cover you. The physical location of where we are at in the world is not as important as the people who design and execute the policies.

The person who said it to you, can what he said be taken as to represent the company and/or HR policies? In any case, I find the reason as posted a lame one and can’t help but feeling what is said is what he thinks (not what it actually is). When come to this kind of situation, the superior should rope the HR in and have a closed door discussion with the staff involved. If need be and possible, the computation matrix should be shared (only the matrix, not the final score).

By the way, I thought you had leave that company? How to raise the issue to HR?

[Imami]

Nebbermind:

you certainly sounded like you wanted more of the bonus in the 1st post!


I am rather confused now. :scratchhead:

She wanted a fair judgement. The reason given to her doesn’t sound fair to her. The quantum is probably less important.

[pirate]

Which of this sounds fairer? You are ranked lower for performance bonus because you weren’t around for 4 months; or despite not being around for 4 months, we still rank you the same based on the work you did while you were here, but we have to prorate the performance bonus?


Seems like a glass half full or glass half empty semantic problem to me.

[Imami]

No right or wrong here. Either change one’s mindset or change the reason given by the company. Same soup different bowl.

[nms1]

In my case, my bonus payment is dependent on company performance not personal performance but it was still pro-rated when I was on maternity leave. I wasn’t informed until the bonus was being paid out so I wasn’t happy but it seems that was the rule!