
Ask HN: Can I expect extra compensation for fixing product problem of employer? - newyearnewyou
There is a company we acquired that has a product, with an issue that prevents it from working as the diligence team believed. I was not part of the diligence, nor is my job description related to products of this nature (e.g. this is all occurring beyond the scope of the my job description). Nonetheless, I believe I may have a solution to this issue (to fix the product), but it is worth at least $2M to the company. I&#x27;d like to test and share the idea, but I&#x27;d like to be compensated accordingly.
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patio11
Short answer: It depends.

More useful answer: It is the market expectation that salaried employees
devote their work-related efforts to the benefit of their employer. This issue
is work-related, even if not related to your job description; your
consideration for best efforts for fixing it is your salary.

If your employer wants to be extra special nice, they may decide to award a
discretionary bonus. This will be calculated against your normal pay, in line
with other discretionary bonuses [0], and not ordinarily on the incremental
business value contributed by your discovery.

[0] At US companies in the tech industry there is wide discretion in these
with the lower end being 0, the lower end of plausible being "Here is a gift
card for $20 at Applebee's", the mid-range in the tech industry being ~$1k,
and the upper range being "AppAmaGooFaceSoft can be _quite_ generous when they
want to be."

Broadly speaking if you want variable comp you generally have to be taking on
substantially more risk that W-2 employees normally take. If you were a
consultant who successfully sold an engagement with the same outcome, you
might well be able to negotiate $50k or $100k for the outcome.

There exists substantial variability in work cultures around the world with
regards to this question; I know of no geography which is more likely to award
a bonus than the US and many which are materially less likely. There exists
substantial variability between industries (with finance and sales-oriented
professions being most likely to pay directly for an outcome) and within
industries.

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itamarst
To add to what patio11 said:

Even if as an employee you don't get paid a lot directly for fixing it, there
is still some benefits:

1\. You can use this as argument for getting a raise or promotion.

2\. When you look for next job, you can say "and I identified a problem, on my
own, which saved my last employer $2 million". Which should allow you to
negotiate much higher pay.

So overall it might still raise your lifetime earnings by a noticeable amount,
if you take advantage of it.

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xstartup
What makes you believe that tossing problem in the market will not help find a
solution for lesser than what you are demanding?

I've had people quote me millions for fixing some key architecture issues
which I later solved by paying a few thousands.

Most people underestimate what market can offer.

