Completion Bonuses

[Junior]

Well, I was talking yesterday with another CLUS about completion bonuses. Somehow MY retarded ass was the voice of experience, having dealt with the B.S. associated with them on the Angola job (as just about anyone who was there can attest to...), so I wanted to see what the more seasoned Rats out there had to share. Sucks when you put in a big chunk of your life working for a company, then suddenly they've got you by the balls. Let's face it, 20 or even 10 percent turns into a sizable chunk of dough after some time, and now you're the jackass trying to catch the carrot dangled in front of you. My thoughts are, a company should be more than willing to pay out bonuses every year (coinciding with a one year R&R), and let the employees come back on a new contract. But if it's not in the original contract, it probably won't happen that way. Anyways, I'm sure there's a plethora (on a triple word score, that's.... 42 points. Your turn) of knowledge on the site, what the legalities are, how these things typically pan out, how to get specifics put in the original contract, etc. Any thoughts?

[TheJester]

...Anyways, I'm sure there's a plethora (on a triple word score, that's.... 42 points. Your turn)...First off, :lol:

Secondly, well, it is kind of a catch 22. On one side, it does need to be in the contract when signing it. On the other side, staying there long enough, does get you wondering if dragging up is worth it.

However, it is only hard if the bonus is sizable enough. It is hard to say. I would like to see the bonus trend come back into play more though. That seems to be one thing that is lacking from recent contracts I've seen.

[drifter]

It is nice, though, to see a 15% completion bonus for each project(They give you 15% of the last 3 months worked, MAX) when you work on 3 or 4 in a year for the same company. That is about 20K per year. NICE!!!!!!!

[TheJester]

15% over the last three months of work, isn't going to keep me anywhere, as you may have seen. :D

[Junior]

Well, to those of us newer to the game, 15 or even 10 percent is a HUGE chunk of money. I'm on a 20 percent contract now, salaried properly, and we just poured the first concrete a few weeks ago... So, yeah, after a year or so I'd be really freaked out if I thought I'd held up to my end of the deal, but the company had other ideas.

[TheJester]

Well, to those of us newer to the game, 15 or even 10 percent is a HUGE chunk of money...Yeah, but the one we got was 15% of the LAST THREE MONTHS OF WORK = one extra pay check, not 15% of the years contract.

[shanebo]

Junior,
I have learned that contracts are meant to be changed. I was in Angola also for 8-9 months....what a Goat Fuck that was!!!! They sent me a contract with no completion date and I just added my own completion date and signed it, of course they questioned why I scatched out "that small print" and I told told them i had other work to go to after that date. After all was said and done....I did get my bonus about 3 weeks after leaving...no problems. I am much like The Jester...I have left much more money on the table than a few paychecks....when it is time to go...it is time.
"Pay me now...or Pay me later"
Just My Thoughts,
Shanebo :cheers

[HeadRat]

My :2cents
It isn't really go or stay, it is making your own deal. Getting on jobs is not really a matter of getting there and then finding out this guy or that guy gets a better perk or even more pay than you.
When you are presented an OFFER LETTER, it is just that, an offer. You can go with it, decline it, or even negotiate it. That is all up to you. Then once you have done that, you are set.
In set I mean, you made the deal, that is YOUR DEAL. Any outside info beyond that is beside the point. Kind of like buying a car then finding the same car at another dealer for less. You can bitch and complain about it all you want, but you bought it, so what that you found it cheaper somewhere else.
All that being said, it isn't that there are NOT occassions where one might want to 'drag up'. That is actually WHY a bonus is added to the contract in the first place. To try and prevent that from happening. Most companies that either care about getting a job done or keep hands around, will offer some sort of bonus plan. The "break point" on a one year contract with a significant completion bonus is 6 months, of course.
At that point, you have to really wonder what is up with what you are doing. Calculating what you are willing to loose or the amount of crap you are willing to put up with, does come into play.
I would think this would be more about why completion bonuses are becoming more rare than anything. Right now, if you haven't noticed, finding just people in GENERAL is extremely hard for companies to do. I don't know if it was 9/11, the war, the OTHER war, or what, but the amount of cleared Americans has dramatically dropped. I take that back, the amount of GOOD CRAFTSMAN with CLEARANCES has dropped.
What needs to happen, just as one current job, people need to stand up and say "hey hey hey, whoa whoa whoa, (FIRST)you are offering to pay WHAT? (SECOND) what are the living conditions? IE: I don't work with a ROOMMATE, (THIRD) and what is the completion bonus." Or something along those lines. I would think a particular job, in which I'm speaking, would have more of ONE OF THE THREE ABOVE before they would get any kind of good help there.
BUT :butt at the end of the day, your contract is what you make of it.