Here's How To Make Sure You Get That End-Of-Year Bonus

As another year draws to a close, many workers have year-end bonuses on the brain. Whether your employer regularly doles out Christmas bonuses, or you find yourself having to breach the topic yourself in a meeting, check-in, or yearly review, bonuses are an important way to add to your income, and for your employer to give feedback about your — and the company’s — performance.

The problem is, the gender wage gap affects bonuses just like salaries, in fact, it’s commonly referred to as the ‘bonus gap.’ For this reason, when we discuss closing the gap, we must keep in mind discrepancies in total compensation — not just base salary.

According to the gender pay gap findings from earlier this year, on average, women working full-time earned $1,575.50 while men working full-time earned $1837.00. And, when it came to bonuses, women were regularly paid less than men - with the finance sector being the biggest offenders: they regularly paid women 35% less than men.

There is a pressing need for young women to close the bonus gap now. The only problem is asking for a bonus can be tricky.

Refinery29 chatted with Ariel Lopez, former recruiter, career coach, and founder and CEO of 2020Shift, who provided some tangible strategies for young women looking to ask for — and receive — a bonus and, in the process, help close the gender bonus gap.