Summary

• Does your organisation pay employees bonuses?
• What is the process for calculating and awarding bonus payments?
• How often are bonuses paid?
• Does your organisation operate more than one bonus scheme (i.e. different criteria for each scheme)?
• What determines eligibility for each bonus scheme (i.e. employee’s position, hierarchical level, length of service, individual performance, company performance, combination, etc.)?
• Do bonus schemes relate to specific periods of time, for example, the current calendar year?
• Can an employee’s bonus payment relate to a different period from the one specified in the scheme type that the employee is associated with?
• Are bonuses paid as a lump sum or are they paid in some other way?
• Does your organisation need to formally record the date on which the bonus payment was approved?
• Who is responsible for approving bonus payments (Line Managers, HR Manager, Financial Controller, Chief Executive)?
• Is the bonus component of a remuneration package considered to be ‘at risk’, and if so, doe this rule apply to all employees eligible for a bonus?
• Can an employee have more than one bonus payment during the scheme type period, and if so, what impact does this have on the employee’s remuneration package and its configuration? For example, if a specified percentage of an employee’s package is normally attributed to ‘at risk’ – say 30%, which represents the bonus payment, what impact would another payment have on this ratio?
• If another bonus payment is possible, is the same calculation method usually applied or is some other method used?  If so, what is this secondary method?
• If a secondary payment is awarded, what is the procedure for authorising it, (is it the same as the primary award or is there another process)?