At my last job, bonuses were used as motivators to “get your 40 hours.” People would say the boss would reward people who worked over 40 hours when bonus time came around. My first year there, about 4 months in, we all received a bonus on employee appreciation day (late afternoon on a Friday – this important for later). Just to note, I rarely worked more than 40 hours, and I later compared bonuses with people who worked there for years and consistently got over 40 and they got the same amount as me. We weren't notified about the bonus, it just came through our email in the same format as our payroll check stubs do. I normally didn't even check my paystub, unless I noticed something weird in my bank account when the direct deposit hit. I imagine several other people did the same. I only knew about the bonus because another girl who worked in my area saw the email come through and went to the bosses office to thank him. I heard her, checked my email and walked over to do the same – didn't think anything of it after that.
He sent the email in the screenshot the following Monday around 3pm – barely giving people enough time to even realize they got a bonus…
The next year, no one received a bonus at all.