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Ask HN: What do you do when your offer letter got rid of the bonus promised?

21 points by compacct27 ↗ HN
Has this happened to anyone? I was too excited when reading the letter, it didn't occur to me that a unicorn-valued San Francisco startup would put the starting bonus in the offer deck they presented, but omit it from the offer letter. I didn't even notice until the bonus never came and I re-checked the actual letter.

25 comments

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bpiche
How long have you been there?
compacct27
~2 months
bpiche
Don't know much else about your situation but I would ask who that slide deck was intended for. It's possible that it was only meant for sales/client facing people. In my experience bonuses tend to be a lot more common on that side of the house. If not, you could always walk and just leave it off your resume, but it's obviously a hard decision
magneticnorth
Sign on bonuses are very common in software engineering and other hard-to-hire roles in tech right now.
keikobadthebad
You can complain, but it sounds like you already agreed to whatever you agreed to.
compacct27
Yeah, the legal-side of things is, you know, not on my side.
bpiche
At least it's an option. Not at my current org! Been there for two years.
HWR_14
I mean, you can always decide to leave. So, you cannot force them to leave give you the bonus, but you could insist on it or quit. I wouldn't go 0-quitting, but you have options.
alex504
It seems like if they intended to offer the bonus to you that this is a mistake, or a company that you don't want to work for, so it should be pretty easy to ask them about it and see what happens. Any sane company wouldn't intentionally lie about this.
jjgreen
Don't assume malice (possibly an oversight), ask nicely, then if they are trying to screw you, move on.
compacct27
It does seems like an oversight. I'm hopeful it'll turn out fine, but I'm also pretty angry about it
bsder
You can't always control your feelings, but you can control your actions.

Let yourself settle down, and then ask politely. If it's an oversight, they'll work to correct it. Nobody with brain cells wants to piss off someone they just hired in this market.

If they don't work to correct it, well, then that's also information. Go back to job searching.

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DIVx0
This has happened to me, it was omitted due to a miscommunication between HR and recruiter.

I just had to mention it and it was fixed right away. Always read everything before signing!

sloaken
You should have a discussion with boss or HR. Also talk with others to see their experience.

I have worked at one company that gave annual bonuses, depending on company performance.

Your bonus might be automatic after X months, because they do not want you to take a bonus and bounce immediately. It may be a company annual event. Need to discuss this with people.

Place I work now had a very strict rule of, if it is not in the offer letter, you will not get it. Are you willing to leave over it? Because if they did this to you, how much can you trust them?

I wish you the best. Was the bonus a key reason you took the job?

solarmist
It’s a massive red flag to me. And company willing to nickel and dime their own employees is one I’d hesitate to work for.

So I might be willing to leave because if something like that.

batmaniam
You already signed the letter, so technically the company doesn't have to pay you your verbal bonus. Definitely ask about it to HR because you don't lose anything by doing so, but don't expect them to correct the mistake. In their eyes, they just got an engineer on the cheap, which benefits them immensely.

If they don't correct it, look at your compensation and decide if it's still worth working there. If not, polish up that resume! Remember, business is business. If you're not being paid fairly, you have every right to leave for something better, and don't feel bad about it.

SR2Z
> In their eyes, they just got an engineer on the cheap, which benefits them immensely.

There's something to be said for the idea of "I want someone to do an important job well, so I need to pay them enough."

You wouldn't expect an American senior software engineer to make $30k a year, and Google or Meta or whoever the fuck wouldn't even _consider_ hiring something for a role that important for that little.

Getting engineers for _slightly_ cheaper is great! Getting engineers for actually cheap is dangerous.

solarmist
Decent companies will correct this, mediocre companies will exploit this.

Decent companies don’t want to turn a new employee bitter and so will resolve this; not always by paying it, but definitely by taking it seriously. Compromises are always possible.

If it wasn’t a huge hiring bonus or something like that, the better companies will just pay it to keep the new employee happy.

Andys
Take time off for "stress leave" commensurate with the bonus amount missing
oumua_don17
And in that stress leave find a better job and don’t forget to read the offer documents thoroughly.
polski-g
Yes, I asked for X after-tax, they gave me pre-tax signing bonus.

Told my manager and he fixed it immediately.

cosmodisk
I had something similar recently: a few years ago got promoted into a new position and during the discussion it was mentioned that the expectation was for this role to receive x% of annual bonus. Didn't get it first year,then covid hit and I was happy to keep the job and then next year it didn't happen again. I mentioned it and it got fixed next month. If the company refuses to recognise it, I'd seek alternative employment.
chrisp_how
If the advertisement was to accept a bonus, you were fairly under the impression of a stated-promise, called a “commission”. No need to panic, as the money is owed. A simple tally of a different sort doesn’t mean you were rescinded, and the offer letter would need to literally rescind the offer — or strongly compare the exact terms of your employment, such as “We understand other details may have been presented, but these——, are the new facts.” The last resort is to counter-sue, with an attorney, since you have been compelled to avoid the bonus you were promised—a lawyer would be who should navigate a court theory-they can get complicated, and your rights are paramount.

Try to chat with your supervisor, and one other place. If, after two attempts-as stated, you can’t solve it, then approach a higher authority: a compellate judge, as example.