The downside to regional bonuses

The annual bonus was announced at work today.

This is always a big day.  The day that rumors prepare for weeks.  What's going to be the bonus percentage this year?  The doom-and-gloomers always swear up and down it's going to be zero, while others tend to make things more interesting: "I bet it's 125% this year!  Maybe 150%!"

But the downside is always the fact that the bonus percentage varies based on the country one's business unit serves.  There's a general corporate percentage (for those of us who work globally) and then country-specific percentages around the world.

I'm part of "corporate," so I always get the middle-of-the-road corporate percentage, which is fine and dandy with me.  It stays fairly stable around the 100% mark, so there are rarely any surprises.

The tough part is that my father works for the same company, but his business unit supports the U.S., which for the last several years has gotten a crappy bonus percentage.  This year was no different.  The economy, and the fact that the U.S. appliance market is fairly saturated, has made it very hard for the company to do very well in the U.S. for the past few years.

But that's not my dad's fault, for goodness sakes.  He works his ass off for the company.  Reward him as well as you reward all us corporate cronies, because he doesn't spend any less time or any less blood, sweat, or tears than the rest of us.

A regional bonus takes all the fun out of it.  Except if you're in Brazil and raking in a whopping 195%.  Dad, I think both our families should just move to Joinville...