Hardworking employee receives lower bonus than employee they hired and trained, proving 2.5 years of labor means absolutely nothing: ‘I’m just extremely disappointed’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
May 5, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

We're taught from a young age that our sweat and tears will amount to something so long as we keep at the grind. This is partly true, but not in the way that you're thinking. Relying on others for praise, especially companies that lack loyalty, is the wrong way to roll nowadays. Nobody wants to believe they can keep at the grind for nearly three years and still get inconvenienced and taken advantage of by their employer, but that's the reality of things. We're all cogs in the machine, unwilling to let go because that means we can no longer eat and afford rent. Gotta love life.

The employee who posted this next story explains that a coworker she helped hire and train received a larger bonus than the one she received, and she suspects this might be due to her maternity leave. Though she took a leave of absence, she explains that she did the work of two people leading up to her departure and upon arriving back at the office. Moving forward, she doesn't know if she has the right to confront her boss… but we say, "Why not?"

Scroll below to read the full story.

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  • "I did not miss a deadline or let my work slip once."
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • "I got a lower bonus than my coworker in the same position as me that *I* helped to hire and train"

    As the title says, I just got totally shafted by my bonus this year. A little context... My company has two of the exact same role, which I have along with a coworker. I have been here
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • for 2.5 years, she started in August after my other coworker quit in April. So, I was doing the work of two people for 4 months and I worked on the hiring and interview process for this person.
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • I also took on an extra (work encouraged) class for professional development. And along with all this I was in the midst of a high risk pregnancy. I did not miss a deadline or let my work slip once.
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • I left for maternity leave in October and returned to work this month (if you're reading this later, it is April 2025). My company does their evaluation
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • periods from April-March. So, my evaluation for this year is only really covering 7 months of work. However, it's pretty much the exact same amount of time my coworker has been here.
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • Leading up to my leave, I met with this new coworker twice weekly at a minimum and spent countless hours training her and going over everything that she needed to know for when I went
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  • on leave. I made myself extremely available despite my heavy workload and personal health complications. I felt confident she was in good hands in my absence also since my company hired a contractor to help while I was gone.
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • Cheezburger Image 10500736512
    via Anastasiia Chepinska for Unsplash

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

  • Now, I truly believe my performance has not changed, and in fact, I feel that it has only improved given all the hardships our team has experienced this past year. This is the second time
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • I had to help hire and train a new person sharing the role with me, and I've been gaining a lot of added responsibility. And I've been keeping consistent with my work quality since returning from leave.
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • So anyway, my coworker told me that she got her bonus-$3200. I received only $1900. They usually share a little blurb about why you get the bonus and hers was for her hard work while I was
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • on leave. Which I don't deny or think she's undeserving of to be clear. But also, she was not tasked to train or assist the new contractor covering for me in my
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • absence and admitted that my boss covered for that. I'm just extremely disappointed to know that apparently that warranted almost double the amount I got despite myself being in a similar
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  • situation with less help. And what gets me is technically we both "worked" this year the same amount of months. So it's not like she spent more time than me working, which in my opinion
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • could validate a slightly higher bonus (but not almost double!) Anyway, I am looking for advice on how to bring this up to my boss when we go over my performance this year-I feel so undervalued and honestly a little
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • punished for being on maternity leave despite all my efforts this year. I would overlook this if they're considering giving me a merit-based raise but those are
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  • practically impossible to get. I think I make slightly more than her (we're talking maybe $0.50 cents per hour if that), but I still don't see that as equitable. Help! What would you say?
    via Consistent_Kitchen36
  • Slacking02 You are in control here, | would start looking to find a better opportunity with a different company.
    via Slacking02
  • Accomplished_Emu_658 My thoughts maybe they gave her more because you were out on leave? I am not saying its fair but companies do this stuff. You weren't there "all year" and someone had to fill in for you. I know someone left and you had to do someone elses job, but companies don't care about that.
    via Accomplished_Emu_658
  • I didn't receive a bonus because "company struggles" yet executives got some. And probably won't receive merit raises for same reason and if i get one it will be lower because my boss doesn't believe in 5's on performance reviews. So companies just s k.
    via Accomplished_Emu_658
  • LookLevel1882 your job doesn't value you. you need. a new job
    via LookLevel1882

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