How do you convey bonus dissatisfaction?

I am working at a place where my original hiring manager was fired a few years ago and I've had a much more tenuous relationship with his replacement. Even in my first year, my variable comp had been mediocre due to company circumstances, but I was considered a strong performer and told to be patient.

With the management change, it only got worse from there but I considered myself lucky to have a job given the COVID situation and my nearly non-existent relationship with the new boss. Over the past year, I have taken on extra responsibility and proven myself somewhat - but alas word is that comp will be poor, so I'm expecting to be down from last year's unsatisfactory level. The company has also frozen base pay for a number of years so i've basically experienced a big pay cut in real terms. 

What is the appropriate reponse when this gets communicated? How important is it to express dissatisfaction when you're dissatisfied (I can accept year-to-year fluctations, but I feel I am fluctuating around a base that has been too low) vs. revealing that you're an unhappy camper in a business that is always looking to trim headcount? 

5 Comments
 

If you feel you deserve higher base but don't want to move jobs there is certainly a way to ask that. Look at other postings in the field, set a meeting with your manager to say you like the company but need to do better on base

Really though it sounds like you hate the manager and job so I wouldn't bother. You only ask for a raise if you're happy somewhere and don't want to leave. Just start looking for a new job and leave.

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