What Would You Do?
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I took a job with a company with what at the time they called a "Lucrative compensation package". This "package" included $14k in restricted stock and a 10% bonus. At the time the stock was 12.50 a share and rising, and they expected to pay the full bonus. A 10% bonus would have been more than $15K. Here it is a year later and the stock has tanked and is now at 3% and falling, and employees are now only getting a fraction of their bonus. The company's last quarter revenue isn't what they projected due poor sales. They expect employees to get 60% of their bonus, so that would be about 6%. While I know you can't predict the future, they made the offer in good faith and I accepted with the understanding that the stock had real value and that I would get a 10% bonus. I took a cut in pay coming here because the "package" seemed to have value, and the company does have very good benefits. For the last 10-15 years I've been a contractor. I haven't been a FT employee and therefore haven't had stock options and bonuses, so this is all new to me. I've been here a year now and I like the job and the people I work with. My compensation is now 15-20% less than what I signed on for, or about 25K less. Should I stay and hope it turns around or leave now before it gets worse?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
My greatest shortcoming is my inability to see when a position is going to end. 4 or 5 times I have been left without a job when the company I worked for tanked or was acquired and that was BEFORE I became a contractor, 20 years ago! No advice forth coming, be thankful.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH
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Pulled up the OP's company data. Company has not been profitable and relies on outside investment to fund daily operations and R&D. Revenues have declined the last 3 quarters straight. Prospects for a breakout are small and several Wall Street firms downgraded the stock to Market Perform. Additionally, several prominent law firms are launching investigations as of Nov 03. Informed OP that, IMHO, that it might be wise to find employment elsewhere.
if (Object.DividedByZero == true) { Universe.Implode(); } Meus ratio ex fortis machina. Simplicitatis de formae ac munus. -Foothill, 2016
Ouch, clearly the 97% drop was justified then. Thanks for the update.
Jeremy Falcon
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I took a job with a company with what at the time they called a "Lucrative compensation package". This "package" included $14k in restricted stock and a 10% bonus. At the time the stock was 12.50 a share and rising, and they expected to pay the full bonus. A 10% bonus would have been more than $15K. Here it is a year later and the stock has tanked and is now at 3% and falling, and employees are now only getting a fraction of their bonus. The company's last quarter revenue isn't what they projected due poor sales. They expect employees to get 60% of their bonus, so that would be about 6%. While I know you can't predict the future, they made the offer in good faith and I accepted with the understanding that the stock had real value and that I would get a 10% bonus. I took a cut in pay coming here because the "package" seemed to have value, and the company does have very good benefits. For the last 10-15 years I've been a contractor. I haven't been a FT employee and therefore haven't had stock options and bonuses, so this is all new to me. I've been here a year now and I like the job and the people I work with. My compensation is now 15-20% less than what I signed on for, or about 25K less. Should I stay and hope it turns around or leave now before it gets worse?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
I had something similar at my previous job. So, that bonus you mention might read "indicative at 100% payout" or similar. So that number is not really set in stone. As far as stocks are concerned, it is a gamble. Since I don't know anything about your workplace I am not in position to suggest anything. But, few things to think about: 1. Is this temporary or permanent? 2. Is my job position in danger? 3. If company stocks are still going down, is there any chance that there can be a merger or acquisition? 4. If someone buys out the current company, what happens to my stocks?
"It is easy to decipher extraterrestrial signals after deciphering Javascript and VB6 themselves.", ISanti[^]
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I took a job with a company with what at the time they called a "Lucrative compensation package". This "package" included $14k in restricted stock and a 10% bonus. At the time the stock was 12.50 a share and rising, and they expected to pay the full bonus. A 10% bonus would have been more than $15K. Here it is a year later and the stock has tanked and is now at 3% and falling, and employees are now only getting a fraction of their bonus. The company's last quarter revenue isn't what they projected due poor sales. They expect employees to get 60% of their bonus, so that would be about 6%. While I know you can't predict the future, they made the offer in good faith and I accepted with the understanding that the stock had real value and that I would get a 10% bonus. I took a cut in pay coming here because the "package" seemed to have value, and the company does have very good benefits. For the last 10-15 years I've been a contractor. I haven't been a FT employee and therefore haven't had stock options and bonuses, so this is all new to me. I've been here a year now and I like the job and the people I work with. My compensation is now 15-20% less than what I signed on for, or about 25K less. Should I stay and hope it turns around or leave now before it gets worse?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
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I took a job with a company with what at the time they called a "Lucrative compensation package". This "package" included $14k in restricted stock and a 10% bonus. At the time the stock was 12.50 a share and rising, and they expected to pay the full bonus. A 10% bonus would have been more than $15K. Here it is a year later and the stock has tanked and is now at 3% and falling, and employees are now only getting a fraction of their bonus. The company's last quarter revenue isn't what they projected due poor sales. They expect employees to get 60% of their bonus, so that would be about 6%. While I know you can't predict the future, they made the offer in good faith and I accepted with the understanding that the stock had real value and that I would get a 10% bonus. I took a cut in pay coming here because the "package" seemed to have value, and the company does have very good benefits. For the last 10-15 years I've been a contractor. I haven't been a FT employee and therefore haven't had stock options and bonuses, so this is all new to me. I've been here a year now and I like the job and the people I work with. My compensation is now 15-20% less than what I signed on for, or about 25K less. Should I stay and hope it turns around or leave now before it gets worse?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
Been there. Actually have been there. Bonus was zero though. Company was tanking hard. Boss was an ass. I left. Things are better for me now. Company still sucks though. Had buddy that went there with almost the same offer I had. 1 year later he is looking. So I would leave.
To err is human to really mess up you need a computer
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I took a job with a company with what at the time they called a "Lucrative compensation package". This "package" included $14k in restricted stock and a 10% bonus. At the time the stock was 12.50 a share and rising, and they expected to pay the full bonus. A 10% bonus would have been more than $15K. Here it is a year later and the stock has tanked and is now at 3% and falling, and employees are now only getting a fraction of their bonus. The company's last quarter revenue isn't what they projected due poor sales. They expect employees to get 60% of their bonus, so that would be about 6%. While I know you can't predict the future, they made the offer in good faith and I accepted with the understanding that the stock had real value and that I would get a 10% bonus. I took a cut in pay coming here because the "package" seemed to have value, and the company does have very good benefits. For the last 10-15 years I've been a contractor. I haven't been a FT employee and therefore haven't had stock options and bonuses, so this is all new to me. I've been here a year now and I like the job and the people I work with. My compensation is now 15-20% less than what I signed on for, or about 25K less. Should I stay and hope it turns around or leave now before it gets worse?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
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I've never had the option of bonuses... ...but I have received a pay cut due to the company not making profits. It was 5%, but even then it was frustrating. Not enough to make me 'have to leave', and so I didn't. I stuck it out, and was loyal. Then many months later, after surviving about 4 rounds of layoffs... the business closed, and I had no job. My personal recommendation: start discretely looking now. They have until you get a better offer to turn things around. If they do indeed turn around, you can always choose to stay. If they don't turn it around, there is no need to be satisfied with a hope that cannot be fulfilled.
Pualee wrote:
My personal recommendation: start discretely looking now. They have until you get a better offer to turn things around. If they do indeed turn around, you can always choose to stay. If they don't turn it around, there is no need to be satisfied with a hope that cannot be fulfilled.
This thread has a lot of good advice, but this one is the best. I know far too many people who stayed with a tanking company and lost -- those that bailed early got their final paycheck plus any payments for accumulated vacation. Those that didn't ... didn't. Something I heard my dad say fairly often: "It's easier to find a job while you already have one."
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I took a job with a company with what at the time they called a "Lucrative compensation package". This "package" included $14k in restricted stock and a 10% bonus. At the time the stock was 12.50 a share and rising, and they expected to pay the full bonus. A 10% bonus would have been more than $15K. Here it is a year later and the stock has tanked and is now at 3% and falling, and employees are now only getting a fraction of their bonus. The company's last quarter revenue isn't what they projected due poor sales. They expect employees to get 60% of their bonus, so that would be about 6%. While I know you can't predict the future, they made the offer in good faith and I accepted with the understanding that the stock had real value and that I would get a 10% bonus. I took a cut in pay coming here because the "package" seemed to have value, and the company does have very good benefits. For the last 10-15 years I've been a contractor. I haven't been a FT employee and therefore haven't had stock options and bonuses, so this is all new to me. I've been here a year now and I like the job and the people I work with. My compensation is now 15-20% less than what I signed on for, or about 25K less. Should I stay and hope it turns around or leave now before it gets worse?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
Well, you're in a strong position to understand what's going on inside your company. If sales are bad, and it's the software's fault, that's why they give performance bonuses and stock-based compensation. If the company's stock is down and it's due to stupid management decisions, then bail, dude. It's not the market, not this year. Somebody thinks your company sucks. Might even be insiders dumping their stake. I once worked at a place where the accountants and division management front-ran the quarterly reports. Very illegal, but lots of people do it. In a more general sense, I have always been disappointed with variable compensation. Stock, options, bonuses; they're never worth as much as advertised. Options particularly, tend to expire worthless, unless you are very lucky. I only pay attention to the cash compensation and treat the variable compensation as a $1 lottery ticket that might pay $1 million but is probably just a scrap of paper. I've become resistant to founder stories of buyouts and infinite growth potential. [Sigh]
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I took a job with a company with what at the time they called a "Lucrative compensation package". This "package" included $14k in restricted stock and a 10% bonus. At the time the stock was 12.50 a share and rising, and they expected to pay the full bonus. A 10% bonus would have been more than $15K. Here it is a year later and the stock has tanked and is now at 3% and falling, and employees are now only getting a fraction of their bonus. The company's last quarter revenue isn't what they projected due poor sales. They expect employees to get 60% of their bonus, so that would be about 6%. While I know you can't predict the future, they made the offer in good faith and I accepted with the understanding that the stock had real value and that I would get a 10% bonus. I took a cut in pay coming here because the "package" seemed to have value, and the company does have very good benefits. For the last 10-15 years I've been a contractor. I haven't been a FT employee and therefore haven't had stock options and bonuses, so this is all new to me. I've been here a year now and I like the job and the people I work with. My compensation is now 15-20% less than what I signed on for, or about 25K less. Should I stay and hope it turns around or leave now before it gets worse?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
The clue is in the name - "bonus". If you get it, that's a bonus. But it's NOT "part of your compensation", regardless of "expectation". Plus - (hopefully) tongue in cheek - is the company's performance your fault? More usefully, is it maybe because of employees like you? (As an extreme - let's say you're a mainframe COBOL developer. They've taken you - and other Cobol people - on when they should be looking at mobile devices etc.) You should by now know their business - are they barking up the wrong tree? Are their business strategies all wrong? Is the product rubbish? If so, do they recognise that and have a realistic plan to fix it? As an insider, you are probably in the best position to be able to predict future performance. If you can't do it directly, ask yourself whether senior staff are leaving...
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I took a job with a company with what at the time they called a "Lucrative compensation package". This "package" included $14k in restricted stock and a 10% bonus. At the time the stock was 12.50 a share and rising, and they expected to pay the full bonus. A 10% bonus would have been more than $15K. Here it is a year later and the stock has tanked and is now at 3% and falling, and employees are now only getting a fraction of their bonus. The company's last quarter revenue isn't what they projected due poor sales. They expect employees to get 60% of their bonus, so that would be about 6%. While I know you can't predict the future, they made the offer in good faith and I accepted with the understanding that the stock had real value and that I would get a 10% bonus. I took a cut in pay coming here because the "package" seemed to have value, and the company does have very good benefits. For the last 10-15 years I've been a contractor. I haven't been a FT employee and therefore haven't had stock options and bonuses, so this is all new to me. I've been here a year now and I like the job and the people I work with. My compensation is now 15-20% less than what I signed on for, or about 25K less. Should I stay and hope it turns around or leave now before it gets worse?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.