- bonus
- bonus bo‧nus [ˈbəʊnəs ǁ ˈboʊ-] noun [countable]1. HUMAN RESOURCES an extra amount of money added to an employee's wages, usually as a reward for doing difficult or good work:
• The bonus is discretionary but linked to performance.
• The car company is offering its workforce a £3,000 cash bonus to take voluntary redundancy.
acˈceptance ˌbonus HUMAN RESOURCESa bonus paid to someone who agrees to join a company, or to an employee who agrees to do a difficult task:• The firm pays a $3000 acceptance bonus and a $2000 moving allowance.
atˈtendance ˌbonus HUMAN RESOURCESa bonus paid to employees who come to work regularly and do not miss work because of illness or other reasons:• Attendance bonus payments are made twice yearly for individuals with a 100% attendance record.
ˈloyalty ˌbonus HUMAN RESOURCESa sum of money that someone is paid as a reward for being a regular customer or for continuing to work for someone:• Payments might include a loyalty bonus for those who stay for the full period.
perˈformance bonus also ˈmerit ˌbonus HUMAN RESOURCESa bonus paid to a manager for increasing sales or profits, saving money, etc:• Our managers are offered a salary plus a small performance bonus for achieving monthly targets.
ˌproducˈtivity ˌbonus HUMAN RESOURCESan extra payment to workers for producing more of something than normal:• We now operate factory-wide productivity bonus and payment-by-results schemes.
2. also ˈcapital ˌbonus INSURANCE an extra payment from a life insurance company's profits to people who have certain types of life insurance:• On with-profits policies, bonuses are maintained at 6%.
ˈterminal ˌbonus INSURANCEin Britain, an extra payment made at the end of some types of life insurance contract:• There is no chance of an endowment mortgage paying off the mortgage early. A large part of the policy's value is often added on the last day as a terminal bonus.
3. INSURANCE a reduction in the cost of insurance when no claims are made during a particular period of time:• If you make a claim in any period of insurance, any no-claim bonus which you have earned may be reduced at your next renewal.
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bonus UK US /ˈbəʊnəs/ noun [C] (plural bonuses)► WORKPLACE an amount of money given to an employee in addition to their salary as a reward for working well: a bonus of €1000/£500, etc. »She received a bonus of $15,065, equal to 40% of her salary.
earn/get/receive a bonus »Teachers can earn an annual bonus of $1,026 if they meet the goals.
pay (sb) a bonus »Bank bosses are still being paid huge bonuses.
»a Christmas bonus
»a bonus award/payment/scheme
► FINANCE an amount of money or shares given by a company to its shareholders: »Investors are set to receive a bonus of at least £1.50 a share.
► INSURANCE a payment made to the customers of an insurance company out of its profits: »Annual bonus rates on some life policies have fallen recently.
→ See also ACCEPTANCE BONUS(Cf. ↑acceptance bonus), ATTENDANCE BONUS(Cf. ↑attendance bonus), CAPITAL BONUS(Cf. ↑capital bonus), LOYALTY BONUS(Cf. ↑loyalty bonus), PERFORMANCE BONUS(Cf. ↑performance bonus), PRODUCTIVITY BONUS(Cf. ↑productivity bonus), RETENTION BONUS(Cf. ↑retention bonus), SIGNING BONUS(Cf. ↑signing bonus), TERMINAL BONUS(Cf. ↑terminal bonus)
Financial and business terms. 2012.