1. Interact (and socialise) with your manager often – Take time to communicate with your manager more often than you are doing now.  Socialise with him and interact at any chance you have.  The purpose is to move you into his “radar”.  With you in his radar most of the time, the higher chance that he will place you in the recommendation list.
2. Find out what tasks that are important to him and help him achieve it – Take time to observe your boss.  Find out what are the main tasks that he feels it is important to help me go further.  By helping him achieve his important personal interest and goals, you are selling favour.  This goodwill will be beneficial to you as he will consider you in the recommendation list when the time comes!
3. Avoid direct confrontation with your managers – Although many advisors say that it is wise to disagree with your managers to prove your right.  But that is not the case all the time.  Your manager is always right!  If you do want to offend your manager, or want to have a direct confrontation with him, it is best to think twice of the consequences of doing so.  If you really want to do it, do it gracefully and in a gentle manner.  Do not disgrace your managers.  Give them some room to breath too.  Confront in a positive and constructive manner so that both of you can benefit.  By offending him negatively, he will immediately strike you off the recommendation list and you can pray hard for the following year’s bonus.
4. Target your effort to valuable tasks – If you can, shift yourself into tasks that are valuable.  80–20 rule applies here.  Do 20% of the work to yield 80% productivity.  Valuable in the eyes of your managers.  Remember, managers do not see non-valuable or mandate work that most of the time necessary to do.  Valuable tasks focus on valuable deliverables.   Your managers can base on these valuable deliverables for the recommendation list.  Therefore, do not ignore this and focus on valuable tasks!  If you are not

Remember, you want to stay in your manager’s radar.  In order to achieve that, you will need to do valuable tasks and important tasks that are important to your manager.  Be on the right radar, not on the wrong radar.  Do not offend or get into direct confrontation with your manager that will only end you up in the radar.  If all these are done, they should be sufficient for the manager to place you in the recommendation list and of course a better chance for a bountiful bonus!

1. Your company is not making money – Ok this is to make you feel better only.  Everyone in the company is not getting a good bonus this year.  Therefore, do not feel bad about it because you are not the only one.  Especially in a recession, when companies are feeling the threat of poor business or even closing down, you should feel fortunate that there is some form of reward in this period.
2. Your company is plain stingy about performance reward – Ok, now if the economy is good and everyone is making money.  Your company is making money as well.  But your reward is not fantastic at all even in these good times.  Now that is unreasonable.  They company do not really appreciate the hard work the employees have put in.  If that is the situation you are in, it may be time to find another company that rewards you accordingly.
3. Your manager just does not appreciate your work – Tough luck on this one.  Your manager is that type that doesn’t appreciate your work.  What you had been doing for the past one year is nothing but plain work to do them.  It is a job to them and that doesn’t mean anything to him.  There are two ways to work about this.  First, is to really understand your manager thoroughly and find out the things that are important to him, and work on those things instead!  That is, pin-pointing to what he wants and deliver it to appeal to him.  Second, if this is how your manager functions as a leader that does not appreciate his employees, it’s time to update your resume and make plans for your career.
4. You offended your manager in the past – This is another manager problem.  You may have offended your manager in the past in some way or another.  Example, you disagree of his proposal in front of the customer, or you overwritten his decisions on certain task and it turned out working better than what your manager proposes.  These managers are generally narrow-minded and do not see that you are able to contribute to the organisation.  They see their personal interests immediate.  If this is the case, our advice is for you to get a new job instead.  It is meaningful to work under him as he will always be basing on his personal interest instead of yours or the organisation when he makes any decisions.

These are some reasons that you are not getting a bountiful bonus than your peers.  However, at times, everyone in the company gets affected due to economic situation, market outlook, poor business or bad profits.  What’s worst is an under appreciative manager that treat you as pure labour without giving you the right rewards for your effort throughout the year.  Getting to understand these factors may make you feel better.  However, if things are within your control, take charge of it and make plans for a bountiful bonus the next coming work year.

Measuring performance becomes difficult when no direct profit is tied to the things the individual does.  It becomes a quality of deliverables.  Generally, it also depends on their management if they like the employees a not (favouritism) which results in recommendation of the individual. Quality itself is hard to measure and people have different likings in their employees.  So, before you start jumping on the pathetic bonus you are receiving this year, let’s look at some things that will land you a lower chance to get a bountiful one this year!

1. You are doing well in the organisation and area of work but that is not important to your organisation or your management – The first complain that you will receive in all non-profit driven organisations.  Yes, you had been doing well for what you are doing.  You ensure that the servers are running 24 / 7 a day, no down-time.  You always deliver reports timely.  You always ensure that you filed the right document in the right folder.  But all these are not important to them.  Importance is relative to each of us!  If you do feel this way that the organisation is not paying for your hard work.  Time to rethink ways to make you pay well instead!  Work smart, not hard!
2. What you are doing does not appeal to the management – The first point goes to this second point.  Of all the operational work you are doing, making sure that things are fine and normal, it is not important to the management.  It does not appeal to them.  It does not bring them further.  If that is the case, take a moment to understand your management on what it is important to them.  Remember, they are the ones that will put you on the recommendation list and it is always wise to do things that appeal to them!
3. You are working in the wrong department – The department’s function is generally operational and supportive.  They don’t bring in profit.  They don’t bring in strategic value.  They need to be there and someone has to do the job.  If you are in it, it’s either you learn to appreciate that this is the type of department you are in and you will definitely get a smaller share of the bonus pie.  If not, it’s time to move out to someplace that offers better!
4. You have limited exposures in front of your managers – The key thing of getting managers to recommend you is to increase your “exposure” rate in front of them.  They need to know you.  If you spend most of the time avoiding your managers, they will not know you and will not likely put you on their recommendation list.  They will only put those they know and those that bring value to them!  Make some time to interact with your managers.  It can be work or off-work stuff.  The key thing is to increase your “exposure”!

These are some reasons that you are not getting a bountiful bonus than your peers.  Take some charge and make changes to your working style.  Re-think of what is valuable and important to your management.  Increase the chances you interact with your managers and you stand a higher chance of a bountiful bonus this coming work year.