Imagine having an employee work for you who you think deserves a huge bonus, but technically they don’t qualify for a bonus at all due to a few less than perfect performance issues.

Would you give them a bonus anyway, or would you try to motivate them to do better by denying them the bonus?

In this story, one boss is in this exact situation, and he isn’t sure he made the right decision.

Keep reading for all the details.

AITA for not giving my employee a bonus despite all he’s done for me?

Background: One of my employees, I’ll call him D, is a supervisor. He’s smart, dedicated, good heart, not a quitter, and a very hard worker.

He is in mid 30s (a few months older than me), and the job pays around 50k/year.

He was a late bloomer with social skills and doesn’t have much higher education which is why he’s a shift supervisor now rather than higher up.

There were a few problems.

Situation: At 6 month progress review we talked about his performance I told him he’s doing awesome in terms of operations but could stand to improve his organizational skills and follow-through.

Later one of his staff missed her deadline to complete an educational requirement. I talked to D and told him he can’t let this happen again.

He said he emailed her telling her to do it, and I explained “that clearly wasn’t enough”, that he must follow up with whatever is necessary (including disciplinary action if it comes to that) to ensure his staff are compliant with our regulations.

But it happened again.

A couple months later near another deadline, the same woman wasn’t done, so I reminded D to make sure she gets it done.

Well deadline hits and she missed it.

I talk to D and was like “we talked about this and I reminded you.”

He told me she’d told him she’d completed it (he could’ve checked her certificate) .

I told him no excuses, you promised me last time you’d follow up as necessary and you failed.

His decision was fair but also unfair.

Fast forward to end of year performance appraisals. I rate him “acceptable” rather than “excellent” on his organization/follow-through which means he doesn’t get his 2% bonus at the end of the year.

He was always borderline on organization, and the education thing tipped the scale.

Now I think he deserves the maximum bonus.

He sacrificed for me, shed blood sweat and tears, but that’s not how the performance appraisal system works.

He’s second-guessing his decision.

I could’ve fudged it, nobody would’ve known, but I think he has potential to be great and move up in his career. That sloppiness won’t cut if he moves up a few ranks.

He feels hurt, badly. He knows he deserves it, and knows I think so too.

He feels like I’m being a heartless bureaucrat, but I feel I’m doing my job and also teaching him a lesson in the long run despite feeling terrible about it.

AITA?

It’s too bad to miss out on a bonus because someone who reports to you lies about meeting their requirements, but it is what it is.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

The boss wasn’t exactly helpful.

This is a good point.

He admits he deserved the bonus.

Everyone agrees that the boss messed up.

I hope the boss didn’t get his bonus either.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.