Quitting my job before bonuses are paid

[Cupcakes_everyday]

Hi everyone,

My bonuses will be paid towards end of May this year and I am thinking of quitting my job right now. If I am rational about it, I should wait till May since bonuses are quite substantial relative to my base pay and I haven't had a new job lined up yet. However, I feel absolutely miserable on the job and I am dragging myself to work everyday, and there's a lot of tension between my boss and I. The feeling sucks big time and workdays seem to last forever. It's affecting my mental well being and I am getting irritable easily. I am past the point of trying to make things work on this job and my only question is whether it's dumb for me to quit now rather than wait for bonuses.

I am a PR (so have no problems with EP cancellation). I am debt free and have always been a saver so I have enough cash to tide me over for a long period of time. To save on rent while I am in between jobs, I have a very close family member here who I am stay with rent-free for as long as I want although that obviously isn't a long term solution.

What would you do if you were in my situation?

[offshoreoildude]

Hi everyone,

My bonuses will be paid towards end of May this year and I am thinking of quitting my job right now. If I am rational about it, I should wait till May since bonuses are quite substantial relative to my base pay and I haven't had a new job lined up yet. However, I feel absolutely miserable on the job and I am dragging myself to work everyday, and there's a lot of tension between my boss and I. The feeling sucks big time and workdays seem to last forever. It's affecting my mental well being and I am getting irritable easily. I am past the point of trying to make things work on this job and my only question is whether it's dumb for me to quit now rather than wait for bonuses.

I am a PR (so have no problems with EP cancellation). I am debt free and have always been a saver so I have enough cash to tide me over for a long period of time. To save on rent while I am in between jobs, I have a very close family member here who I am stay with rent-free for as long as I want although that obviously isn't a long term solution.

What would you do if you were in my situation?

I'd re-read my post on this forum about LinkedIn and follow the advice. Also there is a good chance your boss will fire you before May to avoid paying you the bonus.

Take leave if you can at least.

[Wd40]

Have you done a pulse check of the market, for your skillet/role? If you have already posted your résumé in the major job sites and linked in and you are getting calls then it is pretty positive. You can then gauge how long it might take to get your next job.

I have been doing a pulse check for the last 1 month and its not encouraging for my skill set role and salary level, luckily for me there are no issues with boss or work as such, it is just that the department strategy is to move all jobs to India so I am just going to stay on until I am not forced to leave and when that day comes I will happily move to India, if I don't get a suitable job here by then.

Your case is obviously different, you are your own best judge of your ability in the job market here. So go with your instinct. Good luck!

[proxymoron]

Answer to your 'only' question is... YES it IS dumb for you to quit now rather than wait for bonuses.

Drag yourself few more months for the substantial pay you can get. Stop working on the fixing this things, but work on your skills instead. One additional line in your resume might help you get one more step closer to your dreamjob. Other things you can do is, if it is a big company, trying reading the bonus policies or try moving to another team within the company. I am assuming that the bonus is for year Jan-Dec2012, and there are many companies who still give bonus if the employee is quitting between Jan-May period (company I work is one of them). So reading up the policies might help you.

Finally... "Known devil is usually better than unknown angel".. the new job can still be worse than this, the bonus money might help to make you feel bit better that time.

[beppi]

Ask yourself: For how much more money than your current salary would you stay on under the current circumstances? Is it double your current pay, or more?
Then figure out how high the bonus will be. It is three more months until May - if the bonus is three months pay, you will effectively receive double your current salary in return for your endurance. Is the actual percentage more or less than what you think you need to stay on?
If it is more, stay until May - if it is less, leave now!

[offshoreoildude]

IT's only money and you only get one go on the merry go round of life. Leave.

[sundaymorningstaple]

While I'd agree with OSOD. I'd add a codicil first. May sure you have a bird in the hand and not 2 or more in the bush. Those in the bush may not materialize and while you may well have funds to carry you for a while, you have no idea what the country is up to so you may well find it's not easy to find that replacement. Been there, done that and it ended up taking me 15 months to find something suitable. No sense burning the candle at both ends in uncertain economic times.

[Cupcakes_everyday]

Thanks. guess I will just take each day as it comes. I will try to stick with it till May but if it gets really too hard to bear, I will throw in the towel...life is too short

[nutnut]

So you've got another Quarter to go? IMO, it's not worth staying if you are really so unhappy, however, I would never advocate leaving unless you have another job, why live off your savings!?

Not getting bonus + living off savings = double whammy

[alittlerisky]

I hadthis when I worked for JPMorgan in London, bonuses paid in May, I needed to leave end Jan, gave my notice (1 month) and was told I would not be getting my bonus.

I thought this was very unfair, as my bonus was based on last years work, and I was leaving end Feb. So I stopped working. Got to work at 10.30, did nothing until midday, went to pub with mate until 3-4pm, came back to work and was first to leave at 5pm. I mean, what were going to do? Sack me?

**** 'em.

[BoroBoy]

If you work in finance its usually possible to negotiate a decent signing on bonus from the new firm company if you leave your old firm close to bonus time. I doubt this would match your expected bonus in your current job but it will take the sting out of it. You just need to be smart with your negotiations..

[zzm9980]

What would you do if you were in my situation?

Suck it up and have some drinks in the mean time.

[zzm9980]

If you work in finance its usually possible to negotiate a decent signing on bonus from the new firm company if you leave your old firm close to bonus time. I doubt this would match your expected bonus in your current job but it will take the sting out of it. You just need to be smart with your negotiations..

Yeah, I've done this to make up for unvested RSUs. I was walking away from X over the next 3.5 years (in 6 month increments), so negotiated to get something like a cash bonus of 100% for those vesting in 6 months, and 50% for those in the next 12 months. So better advice than my post above, look for a new job, and try to squeeze as much out of a sign on as possible. Of course, depends on your skill and value..

[Mi Amigo]

I hadthis when I worked for JPMorgan in London, bonuses paid in May, I needed to leave end Jan, gave my notice (1 month) and was told I would not be getting my bonus.

I thought this was very unfair, as my bonus was based on last years work, and I was leaving end Feb. So I stopped working. Got to work at 10.30, did nothing until midday, went to pub with mate until 3-4pm, came back to work and was first to leave at 5pm. I mean, what were going to do? Sack me?

**** 'em.

I can understand the rationale for this and I'm sure such an approach is tempting for many people in similar situations. However, the flip-side is the the image you leave behind when doing something like that. I've always taken the view that you should try to leave under amicable circumstances - if that's not possible with your immediate boss, then at least as far as most of the other colleagues are concerned. The strategy outlined above can lead to people later on remembering you as 'that guy who did nothing for the last month he was with us.'

Thing is, you never know what's coming down the road later and you might need all the goodwill you can get from your former colleagues. However much of a superstar you may have been for the rest of the time, people tend to remember the beginning and end of things (as in, when playing in a band, try and make sure the opening and closing numbers are outstanding, even if the bit in the middle can only be mediocre).

Far better (IMO) to have people saying afterwards what a good guy you were and how you will be missed. Having said all the above, people will always be a bit 'demob happy' and tend to ratchet down the work level a little of course.

[ecureilx]

Far better (IMO) to have people saying afterwards what a good guy you were and how you will be missed. Having said all the above, people will always be a bit 'demob happy' and tend to ratchet down the work level a little of course.

And if the HR was on the ball with your supervisor, you may be seeing an early termination with a termination penalty paid by the employer, which may work out much lesser than the Bonus you missed ..

And .. I am sure every contract has a little note on dereliction of duties