Leaving PE early | Bonus Considerations
Hey guys, Associate here headed off to B School in the fall, but am shooting to take a few months off over the summer to travel, decompress, and clear my head from a lot of negativity built up through my 4 yrs of IB/PE. In short, trying to leave in April / May rather than July, which is the typical bonus cycle – most policies have you lose your whole bonus if you don't stay until then.
Has anyone else done this (or know someone who has) and successfully gotten a pro-rated bonus? I've seen it for select banks where Analysts leave a month early and get pro-rated, but PE generally seems stingier to me overall.
Not looking for advice on how to approach this. I know it's firm-dependent and would necessitate a discussion with the Partners. Looking for data points to set my expectations. The prospect of staying through official bonus cycle and then only having 3 weeks before starting something completely new is a tough proposition, especially considering the lack of real vacation I've taken – I'm sure this point resonates with people
I have seen this conversation go poorly at a name brand fund
Interesting - "poorly" as in unsuccessful, or actual negative consequences for even asking?
Unsuccessful with behind the scenes comments around providing a less favorable future reference (relative to what the reference would have been pre-ask), but no firing
I don’t think this is possible. Even in banking, you forfeit all of your bonus unless you stay until a certain date. Getting a pro-rated bonus defeats the whole purpose of giving year-end bonuses so people don’t leave in the middle of the year.
Fair enough - although only reason I’m asking is that I’ve seen some boutique IBs still pay you but you get a month off your bonus if you leave a month early. From the responses seems like it’s not market I guess…fml
9.9999/10 it won't work. You'll hear things like you're not upholding the tenor of your job contract or be thought of as entitled for thinking you are owed a bonus even though you didn't meet your end of the agreement. Also, as mentioned above, broaching this topic with no success may hinder future references you'd want from your current firm.
I totally get wanting to take the time off but just stick it out, collect the full bonus, and don't risk creating any ill-will between you and your firm. Your bschool experience will be fun as it is so it's not like you're going to be deprived of any fun haha
You’re going to have 2 years to decompress. Maybe spend 15k on an amazing 2 week vacation after collecting your bonus to help feel better about the decision
Echoing what the others have said - Not the best idea and you risk burning bridges, especially if you are looking to go back post b-school.
I've seen a few associates do this at my firm. Short of it is they paid the associate for the pro-rata bonus he earned during the year. In one other situation, the associate worked as a "consultant" given some resource needs. It's pretty terrible from a PR standpoint if prospective employees find out. I work at a middle-market shop in Florida.
If the situation is one where there's associates who can backfill your role, then you should be ok from the standpoint of not pissing people off too much. If you did a good job at the fund and had great reviews (even ones signaling you can stay), then they wouldn't want to destroy a relationship with a future potential employee.
What did you mean by this?
I mean that if word gets out that they are not paying associate their rightfully owned bonus for the pro rata portion of the year they will be less attractive when it comes to recruiting. In any process I've always requested to contact former employees to see their views on the company. The PE firm doesn't want a reputation of screwing their associates if they leave 2-3 months early. Leaving 6 months early is different but a few months in my book is not a big deal.
Thanks, useful data point and along the lines of my thought process - end of May vs mid-July didn't seem like a crazy stretch (1.5 months?)…
At the end of the day it's a mental health thing for me because I'm insanely burned out, so even if unsuccessful there's a good chance I would leave early anyway for that reason.
Partners are generally good people and I have a good rapport, so I was a little surprised that nobody else on the thread has seen this much.
It’s definitely worth asking. Not even asking IMO is super lame.
That said, also really worth staying if they say no (unless you’re literally about to have a mental breakdown.)
If your bonus is 200k and you’re working for an additional six weeks, think about it as a six week internship where you get paid ~$5000 a day (including weekends). Pretty sick, no?
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