‘"It's their job, not anything above or beyond"’: IT department head tries to deny 25% of department employees their well-earned bonuses, software dev employee is fed up

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Mar 9, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

Employees often look forward to the prospect of a raise or cash bonus based on merit or cost of living. In this job market, if employees aren't given a salary they're happy with, they hope that they'll be given additional compensation somewhere down the line if they work hard. The thing nobody tells you, however, is that higher-ups, more often than not, do not care nearly as much about you and if you can put food on the table as you think they do. That's the harsh truth…

The IT department head featured in this story is no exception. The software developer who posted the story explains that their work culture is extremely toxic and their team is treated like "resources" rather than people. Sure, a person is technically an asset, but a person has to put food on the table and needs an incentive to stay at the company. If there's no promise of upward mobility, how will the company ever stay afloat? Scroll below to read the story and, additionally, some theories about what this department head might be plotting with this extra cash.

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  • A bad boss gives you a low raise, but a terrible boss tries to take it from you completely. And, not only from you, but from 25% of an entire department. Apparently, doing your job disqualifies you from a raise unless you're going “beyond” what is asked of you. I'm not sure that's how it works. Pay me for the work I do that was listed in my job description, then give me a raise based on performance. Period.

  • Cheezburger Image 10476946176
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "Almost denied bonuses because ‘It's their job’"

    My immediate manager is great, she actually treats us like we're humans with real lives. Crazy concept, I know.
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • But either her boss or the one above (I'm unclear on hierarchy since my company does a reorg once a quarter) can only be accurately described using words
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • that both my wife and my mother would both find offensive. She tends to call up teams who aren't doing what she wants, then scream at them until she hears the answers she wants to hear,
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • even if they aren't even slightly true. Then if we don't warp the whole of reality to bend to her inane desires, we get screamed at again. Rinse and repeat.
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • I work as a software developer on a "D ath March" project (if anyone out there knows PM terms). This company is trash, and I never should have accepted the offer, but that's a whole other
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • story involving desperation to pay rent. Neat thing about my company is that if they profit past a certain point, a percentage of that profit is divided up among the employees based on various factors, but our department head has to approve amounts.
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • Cheezburger Image 10476946432
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • My department head genuinely tried to deny anyone in her department getting the bonus this year. That's not just my team, that's a good 25% of the IT department. She said that one-
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • fourth of the people who write the code their company runs on, the people who are the sole reason she even has a job, don't deserve a bonus because "It's their job, not anything above or beyond".
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • They treat us horribly. It's apparently a known thing among the Devs in the area their company is based in that you should not accept a job with them unless you're chill with
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • genuinely developing health issues from the stress. Health issues their insurance won't cover. One former coworker actually developed psychosis and nearly institutionalized himself. Another
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • quit on the spot and is living off the money he was originally saving to buy a house just to get away. They call us "resources". A company car, an IDE, a forklift, Adobe Acrobat, or a hammer are resources. We are PEOPLE.
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • But somehow we aren't deserving of anything special because we're just doing our jobs. H I, my manager had to argue her into approving cost-of- living raises for her department.
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • The one thing I want to ask this idiot is if, when her boss offered her a larger bonus than any of her underlings/resources will ever see, she was "just doing her job" or if she started daydreaming about what she'd spend it on.
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • I'm going to start finding ways to let people know how this a hle thinks of us. Trust me, we all know she's a horrible a person, but this is a new level. She better hope of
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • she never hands over any ammo anyone can use to get her fired. But maybe she'd be grateful. After all, we'd just be "doing our jobs". Alright, rant over, I've got the worst of it out of my system.
    via OneThrowyBoy
  • R-Dragon_Thunderzord Seems like the department head is keeping the bonus for her self.
    via R-Dragon_Thunderzord
  • Busy_Ad4173 About being called a "resource". You do realize the department that handles people in any company is called Human Resources, right? This comes as a surprise all of a sudden? Yes. You are just a resource to drive the bottom line.
    via Busy_Ad4173
  • StolenWishes She better hope she never hands over any ammo anyone can use to get her fired. Fire her yourself - find a better job.
    via StolenWishes

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boss antiwork workplace-stories work stories entitlement toxic-workplace bosses work reddit story IT employee workplace Horrible Bosses it department entitled reddit thread bad bosses Reddit entitled people
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