Screwed on Bonus
I’m on the process of lateraling and told my firm I had taken another offer at a different PE firm. They came back to me and it’s looking like I’m gonna get completely screwed on my bonus this year (receive 0%). Is it even worth negotiating or would it burn bridges?
My brother in christ, why on earth did you tell your current employer that you took another offer? Rule of thumb is that there's almost zero upside in being transparent when you're about to leave your current job (hence why people stay quiet until their bonus hits and dip after...).
Could you provide more context on what you mean by "they came back to me"? Did they tell you it's your final two weeks before you're booted out? I don't really see how negotiating comp is going to burn any bridges that haven't already been damaged/burnt. So I'd suggest you try to get some $s out of it before you leave, probably in the form of severance.
One of the partners backchannel reference checked me which led to it coming out so I got the two week boot unfortunately
That sucks man, sorry to hear. Would try to get some severance out of it. Even at the associate level, I've often seen some amount ($10-20k)
Wow am I off base here or is that not insanely unprofessional for a partner to backchannel reference check which would result in exposing you?
Is your future employer aware they screwed you over so hard?
Now I’m a bit worried as I’m looking to lateral as well.
Tell your new firm and see if they’re sympathetic enough to make it up to you
Ask nicely, don’t demand
Your new firm needs to make this right and compensate you. I would be careful in how you approach the situation and word your ask as you don’t want to be out of a job but if they are worth working for long term, then they will make things right.
If they don’t compensate you, I would look for another job immediately and collect some income from them in the meantime if you can’t find another role before starting.
I mean….we need to at least use this as a learning experience. There’s a reason one of the first things HHs ask is when your bonus hits. Best case scenario for a firm is this exact situation where you choose to leave so they can withhold your bonus. It sucks but if I’m ever fortunate enough to reach the senior level, there’s no way in hell I’m paying out a bonus to a replaceable junior cog in the machine after they just told me they’re leaving, whether their role was ever “partner track” or not.
God I hope I never work with you. A junior person's bonus is insignificant in the expenses of a fund.
At that point, I’m withholding your bonus for you not being smart enough to just wait. When not legally obligated to, has any PE firm ever paid out the full value of employee options at exit when they willingly quit before that? Exactly. Let’s just think a little harder next time that’s all
Yes? We have a 2 year program and most associates know ~6 months prior that they aren’t staying. Firm still pays their full bonuses even if they’re going to other shops. If they didn’t, it would be a huge dick move. Attitudes like yours would only trash the reputation of the fund.
OP you're the idiot here. There is no honor among thieves. Loyalty stopped being rewarded decades ago. You telling them you accepted another offer before your desk is packed up and you're out the door was genuinely the dumbest decision you could've made in your situation. An employer will never be transparent with you. You should never extend them the courtesy they will not give you.
If you had spend 10% of the time writing this comment instead to skim OP's reply to the first commenter, you would have saved 90% of your time spent. Then another extra few seconds in opening my reply and facepalming yourself realizing how haste and stupid you are.
I won't begrudge you the simple pleasure writing this out probably was for you because my point still stands and you can kick rocks bud. I'm not obligated to skim over all the other anonymous comments. He wrote in his op "I’m on the process of lateraling and told my firm I had taken another offer" - implying he's the one that alerted them. Him saying to someone else it was a backchannel reference check that alerted his current firm completely changes the premise. If he failed to be clear to the lateral firm that this is something he was trying to keep on the DL then that was his mistake not taking precautions and there's nothing to do about it.
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