Original Message

A retention bonus is an effort to discourage turnover via an offer to increase your salary by a specific amount of money ($20,000) if you remain employed for a specified period of time (1 year), paid out in lump sum installments ($5,000/ $15,000), the largest being the last payment once the term has been completed (11/01/2023).

Now that we have that out of the way, I do not see how a prospective employer would find fault in fulfilling such an arrangement. There is no benefit to staying with one employer for the long haul as new hire pilots are making only a couple thousand less than someone with 5-7 years. Meanwhile it's nearly impossible to find an employer in our industry who doesn't offer hiring bonuses (strings attached of course). As long as you complete your end of the arrangement, what's the issue? No different than working a contract.

We should all be doing the best job we can for our employers while also watching out for ourselves. Nobody has more interest in you than you.