Why did barista level and seniority not decide the bonus?

Manner Coffee paid 2024 year-end bonuses alongside the January 10 payday, but the payout was uneven. Some employees received two payments, while others got only January salary with no 13th-month pay or bonus. New hires with two days on the job reportedly received bonuses, while veteran store-manager-level employees with years of service received nothing at their barista level.

Baristas said bonuses had been shared equally from 2022 to 2024, so this year stood out. Many who worked full attendance, including stretches of three months without a day off, waited without a payment. HR cited warning slips or policy adjustments, which employees disputed. The company has not explained the criteria that connect bonus eligibility to barista level.

The 10th of each month is Manner Coffee's payday, and this year that day coincided with the payout date for 2024 year-end bonuses. What should have been a day of double celebration turned into an anxious wait that kept many baristas awake all night. Some had money arrive in their bank accounts right on time, while others received only their January salary, with no sign of the year-end bonus. What was even more puzzling was that some new hires who had only been on the job for two days received bonuses, while store-manager-level veteran employees who had worked diligently for years came away empty-handed. Accounts within the company varied: HR explained it away citing warning slips or policy adjustments, only to be rebutted by employees. What exactly triggered this year-end bonus payout controversy? Why are the criteria so unclear?

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For many Manner baristas, the night just past was bound to be a sleepless one. The 10th of each month is Manner's fixed payday, and this time it happened to coincide with the payout date for 2024 year-end bonuses, so no matter how early or late they had joined, everyone was anxiously waiting after work for the notification sound of money hitting their bank accounts.

But reality is always a mix of joy for some and sorrow for others. As payday arrived, some employees' accounts received two payments right on time—a year of hard work had finally paid off, and they could sleep soundly; but others, after checking their January salary, waited in vain for any sign of the year-end bonus, left tossing and turning with all kinds of guesses, some even lying awake all night.

Starting last night, several Manner employees took to social media to report that the company had transferred only the previous month's salary, with neither the 13th-month pay nor the year-end bonus paid out. According to these baristas, from 2022 to 2024 everyone had received their share of the bonus equally—only this year was different.

After some concentrated discussion, they discovered that many baristas with more than a year of seniority—including quite a few veteran store-manager-level employees—had been on full attendance throughout last year, some even going three consecutive months without a day off when staffing was tight, yet last night they still waited in vain for Manner's year-end settlement. One employee revealed that no one at their store received a bonus, and management offered no explanation.

What baffled them most was that this year's year-end bonus was like opening a blind box—whether you got it or not was pure luck. Some employees who had joined not long ago received their Manner bonus last night, and even new hires who had worked only two days got the money; by contrast, veteran employees who had worked diligently for years could only watch the bonus slip past them. What exactly the company's payout criteria were this year is truly baffling.

To that end, some spontaneously set up group chats, hoping colleagues who also didn't receive the bonus could together demand a reasonable explanation from company leadership. A few employees chose to take the initiative themselves, leaving comments like "Where's my year-end bonus?" in the comments section while the company was doing a livestream sales event, trying to draw the brand's attention that way.

Others asked the relevant HR staff why they hadn't received their year-end bonus, and were told it was "because you have a warning slip," so it wouldn't be paid. In a similar case, another HR person explained it as "a 2024 policy matter, combined with the number of warning slips and the nature of the violations, plus a comprehensive assessment of the full year's work performance."

However, these two explanations were quickly refuted by other Manner employees. Because if the company really applied such criteria uniformly, then new hires should also fail to get bonuses due to warning slips—but that wasn't the case in reality: some who had been issued warning slips received their year-end settlement on time, while others with no warning slip records at all unexpectedly came up empty.

Currently, under Manner's official Xiaohongshu account, the comment sections of several pinned posts have been flooded with the company's own employees' complaints about this "unpaid year-end bonus" incident.

In the eyes of workers, given last year's thrown-coffee-grounds incident, the company should have used the opportunity to strengthen its various management systems and show employees more care. Yet to this day, nothing is executed based on standardized rules—take this year-end bonus issue: everyone knows nothing about the payout conditions, the company hasn't even issued an internal notice, and management each give different accounts. It's truly disheartening.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.